A/N Another one-shot? Yup! I find them much easier to write, actually. Call me "lazy," but it's true. ;D This was also one of my resolutions for the new year, so you better like it or else! This story focuses on a red-crested cardinal, and I won't tell you who, so don't bother asking! You'll just have to wait and see who it is, like everyone else *hint, hint*!
This story was inspired by Auburn's song, "Perfect Two."
Disclaimer Rio (c) Blue Sky Studios.
"The Perfect Two"
The Jungle fell completely silent as the lights in the club dimmed, now only a single spotlight cascading down on the middle of the stage, signaling the beginning of a performance from a local partygoer of said club. Fog than began to cover the stage, setting the romantic scene in question into action.
A figure was then seen on stage, with a makeshift guitar in hand. The guitar in question seemed to have had been made out of an empty coconut, with a piece of bark from an apparently burnt tree—giving it those unique designs on the neck—and then spider's web to be used as strings, glistening in the light as they were strummed.
The bird on stage then looked up from the guitar in her wings to the deadly silent crowd fearfully, but with passion in her big, blue, sparkling eyes, taking a deep breath before exhaling, as she slowly began to strum her homemade guitar, beginning her first performance at The Jungle, and probably her last.
She had a very severe case of stage fright. Yeah. So this would most definitely, more than likely, be her one and only performance, at least for the public eye, anyway. She still performed in her hollow, but that was only when she knew that she was alone.
Her singular spotlight soon became many lights, all congregated on her, before they dispersed throughout the stage. Some even strobing to the tune of her song. As she had requested prior to her performance the day before.
Oh, oh,
Yeah, yeah.
You can be the peanut butter to my jelly,
You can be the butterflies I feel in my belly,
You can be the captain and I can be your first mate,
You can be the chills that I feel on our first date.
The fog was now swirling around the bird gently, giving her an angelic glow, the strobe lights continuing their dance around the stage. She took another steady breath to hopefully better control her ragged breathing, strumming along with her guitar as she did so.
You can be the hero and I can be your side kick,
You can be the tear that I cry if we ever split,
You can be the rain from the cloud when it's stormin',
Or you can be the sun when it shines in the mornin'.
This was all for him. She could do this. She had to do this, especially to get his attention. There was just no other way around it. If this was the only way for him to notice her, then so be it. She'd get on stage everyday if that were the case, all just for him to acknowledge her.
Don't know if I could ever be,
Without you 'cause boy you complete me,
And in time I know that we'll both see,
That we're all we need.
She even went above and beyond to write him this song. She even surprised herself because she had never, ever written a song before in her life, but the lyrics had come so easily to her. It... it scared her. Never in her wildest dreams did she believe that she could ever write something... something so beautiful, if not simple.
'Cause you're the apple to my pie (pie),
You're the straw to my berry (berry),
You're the smoke to my high (high),
And you're the one I wanna marry (marry).
There were now background singers behind her, on-stage. They were standing just a little ways away, off to her left. She wasn't planning on having background singers in the beginning, but the King of Samba had made it his business to make sure she had the best first performance in The Jungle, given her stage fright and all. He wasn't about to take any chances.
'Cause you're the one for me (for me),
And I'm the one for you (for you),
You take the both of us (of us),
And we're the perfect two.
We're the perfect two,
We're the perfect two,
Baby me and you,
We're the perfect two.
Most birds pushed her away, finding her presence annoying, but he didn't. Nope, not him. He somehow snuck up on her, into her heart, surprising even the red-crested cardinal herself. She never had loved someone as much as she loved him. She didn't have many friends, none actually, but that didn't stop her from writing this song for him. Actually, it gave her the courage that she needed to perform here, on-stage, this very night.
You can be the prince and I can be your princess,
You can be the sweet tooth I can be the dentist,
You can be the shoes and I can be the laces,
You can be the heart that I spill on the pages.
You can be the vodka and I can be the chaser,
You can be the pencil and I can be the paper,
You can be as cold as the winter weather,
But I don't care as long as we're together.
Don't know if I could ever be,
Without you 'cause boy you complete me,
And in time I know that we'll both see,
That we're all we need.
The lower half of her chair was now completely covered in a thick blanket of fog, even her feet were obscured by view. The strobe lights continued to do their dance on the stage, sometimes going out onto the silent crowd, stopping, every so often, on a random couple.
'Cause you're the apple to my pie,
You're the straw to my berry,
You're the smoke to my high,
And you're the one I wanna marry.
'Cause you're the one for me (for me),
And I'm the one for you (for you),
You take the both of us (of us),
And we're the perfect two.
We're the perfect two,
We're the perfect two,
Baby me and you,
We're the perfect two.
She closed her eyes, as she tried her best at containing her raw emotions. Her angelic voice the only thing filling her ears at the moment.
You know that I'll never doubt ya,
And you know that I think about ya,
And you know I can't live without ya.
I love the way that you smile,
And maybe in just a while,
I can see me walk down the aisle.
'Cause you're the apple to my pie,
You're the straw to my berry,
You're the smoke to my high,
And you're the one I wanna marry.
As her performance was ending, the strobe lights came back on-stage, all congregating on her one last time that night, turning back into a single spotlight in a soft white light.
'Cause you're the one for me (for me),
And I'm the one for you (for you),
You take the both of us (of us),
And we're the perfect two.
We're the perfect two,
We're the perfect two,
Baby me and you,
We're the perfect two.
The lights came back on in the club, signaling the end of her performance. The fog soon dispersed, revealing the stage underneath.
After leaning her homemade guitar against the small wooden stool that she had just been sitting on, she then made her way toward the front of the stage, keeping her eyes glued to the ground as she did so, afraid of the still-silent crowd that was watching her with a Hawk's eye.
Soon, however, the once-silent crowd applauded so loudly, startling the poor red-crested cardinal so much so, that she literally jumped out of her feathers. The crowd chanted "ENCORE! ENCORE!" so loudly, that most of them were now out of their seats, jumping up and down in nothing but pure excitement for another possible performance. She hadn't been expecting that!
She rubbed the back of her neck rather sheepishly, bowing, stunned, so much so, that she hadn't even realized that the one that she had played the song for had landed on-stage, just behind her, too focused on the applauding crowd in front of her. She never had a standing novation before in her life! It honestly felt... really, really good.
She could get used to this...
Maybe.
He excitedly made his way over to the oblivious bird, who was too focused on the applauding crowd, to notice his presence, but that was fine by him. He wanted to surprise her.
And that was what he did.
"That was beautiful. Did you write it yourself?" he asked, his voice suave and sophisticated.
Her head whipped around in his direction. She was now rubbing her neck sheepishly even more than what was really necessary. The red-crested cardinal with big, blue, sparkling eyes couldn't keep eye contact for long, too embarrassed by the unexpected praise.
"I... did. I... I actually w-wrote it f-for... you." She mentally slapped herself for stuttering, but all of her doubt vanished when she felt one of his flight feathers lift her chin so that she was now looking up at him, in his eyes, albeit shyly. She had never once in her life been this close to a boy before, especially a boy that she liked.
He chuckled when she tried to look at the ground, instead of up at him and into his eyes. He might be a boy, and boys do tend to be oblivious to the concept of love, but he was different from boys his age, especially where romance was concerned. He knew when someone was lovestruck. "You're really cute, you know that?" he asked nonchalantly, with a glint of something or rather in his sea green eyes.
The red-crested cardinal was mesmerized by those eyes, unable to complete a coherent sentence, without stuttering like an idiot, let alone an actual thought. She was definitely lovestruck. "Uhhh... no. I... I didn't k-know t-that." She would've slapped herself silly right then and there if it hadn't been for the kiss.
When the already-applauding crowd saw the public display of affection happen on-stage, they cheered louder than they ever had before. Even wolf whistles were heard, coming from the crowd, mainly from the male of the species, and then "Oohs" and "Aahs" from the girls.
But there was one girl in particular, the one currently on-stage, who felt like she was on cloud nine, as she kissed her now-mate back with all of the passion she could muster in their first kiss.
A/N Sequel? What do you guys think? Hopefully this story won't be deleted... I've got the worst of luck when it comes to the Rio fandom and I have absolutely no idea why!
Reviews are much obliged! Flames'll be burnt to a crisp. ^_^