written by pilkopants and shooptastic on tumblr

(edited for online reading)

please enjoy c:

The Bird and the Bee

Chapter One

Bouncing lights and stage frights, that's what their band was doing.

Antonio, who had recently been accepted full-time into a band, that even had a tour bus with beds that stacked like coffins in the catacombs, was exhilarated to be on stage regularly. Just playing guitar for people, that's all he wanted.

Things could be rather problematic, though, the lead singer never came out of her dressing room unless it was with the spiky, platinum white blond haired 'boyfriend', for things hadn't been confirmed, and they had started fighting a lot.

Other than that, he was resting on the couch in the green room, two hours until the first song, strumming on his guitar while the drummer and the bassist conversed. Antonio regretted to think he wasn't exactly welcomed yet.

Lovina had spent the last fifteen minutes slotting the back of her phone back into place and touching up her make-up, having thrown it across the room when her supposed boyfriend had dropped a flippant text about how he wouldn't make it to see her tonight.

As was the usual standard, the narcissistic, small-minded, arrogant—

She shook her head, used her pinkie finger to try to dab her eye make-up into a decent standard, and checked the time. She had to be out for a sound check shortly, getting her breath back and forcing herself to stand tall at the mirror, shoulders back, chest out.

All confidence, which was all it took.

Antonio had recalled hearing a loud crash to the wooden door and murmurs of a possible dent from other techies, but he never really concerned himself with it.

Sure, the lead singer had it all. Confidence and looks, a nice voice on her hands to sing— but she was someone else's. Antonio didn't go out for people with boyfriends. It was all too much trouble.

He kept strumming, switching to a jazzy-Latin number, singing softly under his breath. He didn't want to make too much noise. He looked up from his strumming, now humming once the longhaired, made-up woman tromped her way out as if she owned the place.

Antonio smirked, turning back to his strings. She was such a silly woman.

She put her head into the green room through the open door, standing tall and letting her lips form into an unimpressed, but unexaggerated pout, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You've not been called yet?" She asked, almost haughtily, looking directly at Guitarist.

Guitarist didn't have a name yet. He was new, and was busy practicing something that she would not be singing. It was nice, but she reminded herself to stay in command. Antonio looked up again. Oh, she was still there. He stilled his strings with his hand giving her a friendly smile.

"Ladies first," He said to her, motioning to the stage entrance. "I was only being polite; I can tune my own guitar."

"I should hope so," She replied jokingly, turning for the stage and feeling any little smirk that had graced her lips drop immediately. She couldn't bring herself to feel confident or ready about anything at all, walking onto the echoing stage of the little venue, looking out to the empty tables and chairs in front of her. She was thinking of them being filled with people laughing and drinking and she felt like freezing, but her well-trained feet continued forward to the front of the stage to check her positioning.

Antonio looked in, seeing her jerk and panic for a split second, then steady herself. She couldn't be nervous; Antonio thought with a soft strum of his instrument. She was Lady Lovina. Vargas. She'd been across the world twice and gotten in only two scandals in her entire life.

He got up, feeling the wave of concern wash away just like the sand on a beach. Might as well give the nice techies something to do while she ripped her piss all over the stage on how a light didn't shine on her right eyeball just right.

Lovina stood still and held her hand up to her face as the light check went on, looking around the stage every so often to see the full effect. She raised a hand to stop the light technician flicking between colors and shook her head slightly.

"Use less green!" She shouted up, watching him switch back to the paler lights. Better. She gave him a seemingly relaxed thumbs-up and crossed to the piano.

It was as if she was the lights manager. It was scaring him a little.

"Is that all in tune to your liking?" Antonio asked the sound tech, a rush of pride filling his bones when he nodded and hooked him up to the large speakers on the stage-right side. He sat down in his spot on the stool, not even daring to pluck a string, and waited to talk to the 'lovely' woman.

She had a cute little rump to her he'd give her that.

Lovina stayed standing and played a short little burst, and nodded, pleased with the sound and nodding to a nearby tech, who agreed with her. Good.

She turned to Guitarist and went to call him over, realizing she had been told his name, but had been thinking of other things at the time. She just jerked her head at him and asked, "Come over here?"

As all other men who would have floated over to her and sniffed her neck to smell the scent of Tan-In-A-Can or perhaps something from a mainstream actor's perfume line, he calmly walked over with an expecting look to his eyes. Hi, I'm Antonio; I'll be strumming for you this evening.

He slung the beloved blond guitar over his shoulder and into his arms. "Need something?"

Lovina nodded and held her hand out for him to shake. "Yes..." She used the other hand to gesture him into giving his name.

Oh, how polite, and it had only taken her three shows to formally introduce himself.

He took her hand and gave it a strong shake, giving a half-smile. "I'm Antonio," He said in forced matter. Tone it down, boy. "Antonio Fernandez Carriedo." He let go, fixing the cord to the amplifier.

Well, that would have been her first guess after José or Diego, or something else vaguely Spanish sounding.

She took a second to nod, recovering from the firm grip of his handshake, and cleared her throat.

"Antonio, the instrumental before the last song, we were putting in a few extra phrases at the..." She trailed off and played a short riff on the piano for him. "For about four bars; is that okay?"

That was all. No, 'so where are you from?' or 'when did you start playing guitar?' He was tempted to ram through the precious four bars just to spite her.

"Sounds good," He nodded, watching her slender, shaky fingers tap on the keys. "I'll remember that."

"Good," She told him, going back to watching the piano as her fingers slowed. She felt him standing beside her, waiting, so she forced herself to look up and give a brief nod. "Thank you."

He nodded and went back to his hidden little stool, leaning against the cool brick wall of the venue to raise his finger and thumb to his eye.

He shut the other one and pinched her ego-filled head.

Lovina stood tall and quiet, playing and singing her piece for the sound check quickly, already wanting more than anything to go back to her dressing room and lament how fucking ridiculous her life was, nervous wreck performing almost every night with a boyfriend who had more time for a cold beer than he did for her.

She knew the rest of the band sounded good, and so barely listened as they played through the songs together, sitting down at her piano and taking the chance to just sing and play. She never performed the sound check; it was more therapeutic to take it calmly.

Oh, Antonio knew this one!

He sat up in his chair, waited for the chance to enter into the song, and turned the dial of the speaker down so it wouldn't over-power her. It was almost a reflex, now. Since his music teacher in middle school taught him how to play after-school every three days, he'd prompt him with a song and Antonio would play the rest. He strummed the chords, a little bit of the harmony, too.

She didn't seem to mind, although, she probably didn't hear.

It took a second for her to notice the other voice, straightening up in her seat and having to force her fingers to keep moving.

She turned to Antonio slowly and looked at him over her shoulder, continuing the song to allow him to continue too, but her expression grew less and less relaxed.

Antonio smiled at her, seeing her shoulders crawl up to something less natural and a bit spikier.

"You don't know me," (1)

He sang at her, inching forward in his stool. God, he had to calm down! She had a boyfriend that made her throw her phone across the dressing room, only to make a dent in the door! Imagine what she'd do with the microphone beside her, resting on a stand.

"You don't know me at all."

"You could have just propped me up..."

She went on, almost frowning when he sang the other part back at her. She turned back to the piano to bang on the keys slightly more loudly, her voice picking up too as she continued the verse with Antonio's fucking harmonies. They went on like that, until she grew too irritated to keep looking forward and standing to play and look over her shoulder at the same time.

"... why the fuck would you want me back?" She almost spat, staring at him, daring him to go on. "Maybe it's because..."

He caught her snake eyes, almost imagining a forked tongue to whip out of her finely glossed lips.

"You don't know me at all," He half whispered, half hissed at her, only to find himself leaning back and strumming without a care in the world.

Aah, he'd probably get a pushpin in his bunk on the bus, maybe a shove or maybe just a drop in his salary.

Antonio certainly could hear those hard bashes on the keys as the piano answered her call with a scream of mercy under its chords.

Fine.

She wasn't going to let him get her distracted, pushing on to the bridge, reminding herself to straighten up and not appear as defensive as she felt.

"So, what, I'm trying to say is, what," She went on, fully expecting him to chip in, and silently seething at his cocky, laid-back approach to inviting himself to sing.

"What?" He straightened up, slowing his strums to small little plucks. She totally hated him; totally and completely hated him. In addition, if that meant he didn't get to eat out of the bus's fridge that was fine with him. There was nothing but white meats in there anyway. If you ever wanted to make it big as someone who only made albums when they felt like it, she needed to tone down the bashing of her keys.

"I'm trying to tell you— it's not going to come it like I want to say it..." Lovina played shortly and sharply, turning back to the piano, "...'cause I know you'll only change it..." She stood perfectly still and stared forward, a very slight frown on her face as she waited for the whisper from behind her.

And in the most mocking voice a man could give to imitate a girl, he spoke—

"Say it~!" with a little bob of his head.

She wasn't even having fun.

"You don't know me, you don't know me,"

He continued in his normal singing voice, watching her slam on the keyboard. She must have been one to finish a song before she screamed at someone for doing something wrong.

"At all!"

She had hit a sour note as soon as she'd heard him, correcting herself quickly and pressing on with determination, finishing the final chorus and pushing through the outro while he went on with 'oh's and 'ah's. When she finished definitely, she kept her hands on the piano and looked forward, forcing herself into to give him the satisfaction of flashing an irritated glare.

Antonio clapped his hands at her, whistling a little bit.

"Ay, chica, you may have a boyfriend, but every songbird needs to escape its cage," He told her, yelling out from the other side of the stage. "You're amazing. I wish I'll have the pleasure to sing with you again."

She had gone through an entire range of emotions in just a few seconds, bursting between bristling at his tone to feeling dirty spite flame at the mention of her 'boyfriend', and then she was intrigued at his choice of words and flattered, just to round everything of nicely.

Lovina took a few seconds to take a breath and look up to him, her tone nowhere near as vicious as she had hoped. "Just play the guitar."

Aw, what a chiller. This girl was like ice.

"Alright, alright, whatever you say, mi princesa, eres divina," He waved, set his guitar by the stool and went to fetch a bottle of water.

Well, now that his voice and his charming words were warmed up, he was ready to go on stage. Thanks, Ms. Vargas!

Lovina didn't answer and made sure she waited for the rest of the band to round up before going herself. She went off backstage to find Antonio near a cooler, taking a bottle of her own and sipping it, purposefully not meeting his eye.

If he wanted to talk, he could, she wasn't starting anything. She was just having a drink.

"I advise taking an extra one, just to refresh if your voice fails you in one of the songs." He mumbled, handing her another one, one that had formed ice in the top from its spot in the back. "Just in case," Antonio threw in a wink because she hadn't bitched at him before, why not now.

He snatched his own extra-just-in-case bottle, just in case he had to sing back up, which he severely doubted.

She nodded, giving him no thanks, and took the bottle from him. A long pause passed, where he drank his water and shrugged at her, with what seemed to be his default smile, and went to turn, so she spoke up. "What's your deal?" She asked, taking a few steps towards him and crossing her arms, flinching at the ice on her skin, and trying to cover it quickly.

"My deal?" He asked for only to clarify. "Uh… I have no deal. I'm just having fun; I'm enjoying my free career as a guitarist." Antonio screwed on the cap to his bottle. "Why do you ask?"

She scoffed and shook her head, her tone uppity. "So, you're not one of these flirty guys who turns out to be gay so you feel comfortable with them? But you're not really gay and you're just trying to get me to trust you?" She asked, as if she'd seen right through him. "Well, don't bother. Because I'm spoken for,"

Antonio bit his lip, not understanding a word. "Well, really, I don't know what you're getting at, but I'm not gay, and you have a lover, and I'm only trying to spend my years of youth I actually have to myself on having fun." He opened his arms as if to say 'taadaa', and strolled on past her once, the band was getting on and he needed to be checked again.

Lovina frowned and spun around to him, offended at being left standing on her own. "You can't just have fun all the time!" She called after him.

"Which is why I'm having fun now!" He called back, waving his bottle of water at her. "You should try it!"

Smart-ass.

She had a quick breather, having to collect herself again before she was too worked up, and stood at the side of the stage until she was needed again. She sipped her water and watched Antonio slowly chipping away at the other band members, too, enigmatic and open, although she wouldn't allow herself to be certain on how genuine he was just yet.

. 0 .

(Various songs will be used in this fiction, so a number will be displayed by the opening line for the reader's advantage.)

(1) - You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds ft. Regina Spektor

Thank you for reading, and there will be more to come!

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