PLEASE READ THIS WARNING: I do not own, Rio, Blu, Jewel, or any other related character. I own the plot and OCs in this story, but all other characters and related themes are owned by Blue Sky Films and 20th Century Fox.
Bad news guys- my studies are catching up with me so… yeah, expect to see less updates from now on. Like I said, FFN might be my dream but it's not my life. Sorry everybody.
Anyways, on a more jubilant note, NtY… it has reached 10K hits, as of 22nd August. And guess what- this is EXACTLY four months since this story was last published. Wow, guys. Thank you so much for everything; to be honest I wasn't sure where I was going with this story, but you guys have made this experience so much better. So thank all of you. X) Now to just go on with my lemon… this may take a while. ._.
Cerulean Oboe: Haha, what's wrong with that. ._. I'm not American; Asian, I am. But still, thanks dude. :)
Spidermaster: I do too, that's what these Fanfics are for, my friend. Thank you, anyways, I'm going to work on those two things now. xP
Birdguy432: That's pretty creepy. O_O Haha, just joking, of course I shall. I always love new stories here. Thank you, I'm so honoured. :D
Darksabre102: Like I said, read and build up your vocabulary. Don't worry; you'll be a great author, you just have to be confident in yourself. Heh. :P
Storylover Alpha 01 – Dux Ducis: Yeah, I know my chapters ARE pretty potent… ugh. I've seen more romancey, but whatever. You got your wish one way or another. :O And thanks for spoiling the whole damn ending to everyone, man. X_X Jkjk, thanks a bunch!
: Thank you my friend [though looking at how you responded to Love? I got kinda freaked out…] and I know, that part was real hilarious to write. xD
Mord44: Yeah, yeah… thanks, and I know it was too small of a word, but what was I supposed to use [with Blu not really being malicious…]
Ghostofinu: Thank you; I will. ;)
WolfOnFyre: Heh. I know what it means [you perverted son of a mother XDD] And thank you. Now I shall faint with you –collapses-
ARSET27: Eh, why? It wasn't supposed to be foreboding or whatever… :/ Never mind. And I assure you, I'm not pulling the same stunt twice…
SenorIdioteque: Haha, thank you very much. :] Yeah, I'm from Singapore, but the fact is my Chinese stinks worse than stinky tofu and my English… well it isn't the best, but still. I speak it every day. XPP
One day I have to stop with 'em side-notes… anyways let's just get on with this [sigh]:
~Blu~
One of the most vivid memories spent in Minnesota that I would harbour for eternity was that, when Linda was 10 [and I was 2] her parents gave her a doll for Christmas, after been hounded for this particular toy for 2 whole months by young Linda. Now she claimed to a rather ignorant and clumsy Macaw [who probably hadn't changed since then] hatchling that it wasn't just any old ordinary doll, it was a Sweet Cindy. It could walk, talk, poop and tell Mommy she loved her- now what kind of ten-year-old wouldn't love that? However, being the young and spoilt hatchling I was, I got jealous and suddenly every fibre of my being loathed that foot-tall plastic suck-up, up till the point where I would kill to… well, kill that inanimate object. I just couldn't see why it would deprive me of the love that had been previously directed solely at me, and I wouldn't tolerate it. I had been Linda's 'child' [in a sense] and I just wished that obstacles like Sweet Cindy would disappear from me forever.
Eventually, though, this was fulfilled- I testify that I had nothing to do with it, but details aside Linda had 'lost' her doll and for the next few hours she drowned her face in her bed sheet, bawling her eyes out. I remember feeling that, even though it technically wasn't my fault, I had virtually brought this upon her, and internally cursed myself for desiring something that would implicate the person I loved. And I lay my puny body next to her head, sharing her sorrow and mourning the loss of my enemy. But here's what I remember most- she turned to me after a while, her cheeks tear-stained, and she vowed that she would be a better mother to me and invest more devotion towards me than before. And from that point onwards she provided me with the best care any 'parent' would give her 'child', never neglecting me and treating me like her own. Now it would be my turn for my own biological child.
Let me be the umpteenth person to say that parenting is one of the most arduous responsibilities of all uphill tasks. Even though this might not qualify as the most horrific shock of the millennium, I must confess that I as a solitary individual am unfit to be a father. Call me pessimistic or cloaca-less, but the fact is I have weighed and examined the various features that a would-be role model father and I would share- I have found a stunning lack of this, and safely concluded that I would be incapable of raising my future hatchlings. Believe me when I say that –like every other male in the world- I crave [and not in the perverse sense, mind you] for a family to share with my beloved mate, for hatchlings that would call me 'Papa' and say 'I love you', for children I could give all my devotion to and raise them the best way I could. But the fact is that such a time hasn't come yet.
Some ever-so-optimistic portion of my head then gestured over to Jewel, needless to say the most beautiful and perfect bird I had ever met. All those doubts that clouded my mind like a haunting cumulonimbus whooshed away, and I was confident that as long as my mate was next to me and there to fill in the holes my flaws had drilled in my heart, we could be good parents. This would be as certain to occur as Jewel staying by my side, in my wings and crooning how much she loved me- not a single doubt hovered over this.
Of course, the opposite of this is also true- should the raging passionate fire of our love get extinguished, there would be no plausible way for me and my hatchlings, should they remain with me, to survive.
In the risk of sounding like the most humongous ignoramus on the face of the planet, I am completed befuddled of Jewel's situation. Here are some reasons for this:
1. I awaken –still exhausted from [let's be frank here] intercourse- to find my mate sobbing.
2. She riles up at me at one harmless word, immediately thrusting my love of her into doubt.
3. Her appetite is astoundingly ravenous; gobbling down 1.5 bowls of bird feed- this is probably not even thinkable.
4. She throws up, almost instantaneously, becoming disorientated and her temperature skyrocketing.
5. Subsequently when Tulio attempts to help her, she bites him [on a side note I must feel rather sympathetic towards the former, having been attacked twice for doing his job].
6. Out of the blue, her consciousness trips and she slumps on the ground.
Now I'm not the best or quickest problem-solver ever, and all this while I have been metaphorically scratching my head to decipher such a mystery. Of course though, the confusion is dominated by an anxiety- I have never been more frightened-out-of-my-wits in my entire lifetime, waiting outside the damned clinic for my mate's predicament and hopefully [though I highly doubt it] - here's the worst case-scenario: she has an extremely rare and fatal disease and her life would be on a line… such a thought sent a shiver down my spine.
For the fourth time in ten minutes, I pluck out a feather from my wing with my beak, much like how a human bites his nails. I scowled; did it look like I cared that Jewel could rage against and seriously injure me should her temper self-destruct again? I wanted to see my mate, to be with her when she needed someone to hold her, to comfort her, to assure her that her mate loved her, to take all the punches and insults. I wanted to be the very first freaking person to know what Jewel's disease would be, and how it branched out to the above unexplainable phenomena…
My inner thoughts were interrupted by the flapping of two pairs of wings. I didn't even have to take the glance over my shoulder to see a navy-blue and cerulean Macaw behind me.
Ronaldo walked up to me, with Lisa trailing him by the tail feathers, and I almost gaped in shock. His turquoise eyes twinkled with some crazed joy, as if in a jubilant celebration. Lisa's expression was like mine- worried and bewildered with Jewel's situation.
The former, however, merely grinned at me, almost sadistically. "Blu, meu amigo! Congratulations! I must admit that I didn't even you and Jóia would get so far so soon, but here you are! I'm impressed and bless you, cunhado, sincerely!" {cunhado = brother-in-law}
I turned to him, my eyes shooting daggers at him furiously at his gleeful 'congratulations'. What kind of cruel, sick animal would curse his own sister by taking joy in her illness? How could Ronaldo, who claimed to have protected and even romantically loved his sister and calls me 'amigo', spit such acidic sarcasm at me and jewel, spiting us in such a hateful fashion?
I squinted at this Macaw. "What the hell are you talking about?" I accused, his cheery smile instantaneously fading away, in its place a puzzled frown. "How dare you curse," I prevailed, "me by 'congratulating' me for experiencing such an unknown predicament of my mate falling sick and for me to be totally in the dark about it? How dare you?"
Before I could lunge at his throat, Ronaldo held his wings out, slightly raised as if in surrender. "Whoa, wait Blu. You… you don't know what's going on with Jóia? She's not really sick… she's-"
I scowled, half furious half bewildered. The fact that Jewel was sick and Ronaldo knew her situation… it seemed startling, preposterous even. Assuming that Jewel's big brother was an honest, decent chap, the current situation and Jewel being healthy… they contradicted each other almost completely. "Well," I cut off impatiently, while trying to calm myself, "obviously I don't. Since you know, could you please enlighten me?" The fact is, I didn't mean to direct all of my fury and anxiety against my brother-in-law, accusing him of cursing his beloved sister, but right now the confusion swirling in my head is enough to make me kill to make sense of the situation, why Jewel is acting so queer, throwing up when she wasn't ill [like Ronaldo claimed], eating almost glutton-like and her mood so erratic…
…
…wait a minute…
"Ronaldo," Lisa interrupted, her Portguese accent strong and curious and her tone affectionate and endearing. She tugged Ronaldo's wing with her own; the latter turned to her with concern in his eyes. "O que está acontecendo com Jóia? Ela está agindo muito estranho ... por favor, me diga e Blu." {O que está acontecendo com Jóia? Ela está agindo muito estranho ... por favor, me diga e Blu. = What's happening to Jewel? She's been acting very strange… please, tell me and Blu.}
Ronaldo breathed a heavy sigh, not one of exasperation but as if to build up something in him, a revelation that would supposedly send the world gasping and murmuring. "I have a feeling," he half-whispered, and his eyes staring into space. "I have a feeling that Jewel's pregnant."
With a mere 7 words the mental jigsaw gears of my mind, their edges serrated and poking at the perimeter of my head, drew together as if everything were imploding, clicking together and forming a virtual halo of enlightenment, a discovery that fitted every scattered piece of the whole puzzle together and generating the light bulb of realization inside my mentality. But around me physically, everything went blank, and I staggered back several steps before my talons found themselves rooted the ground. It was so ironic, how all these broken edges of the puzzle drew together to make sense, and that finally I know what Jewel was going through, but nevertheless I was completely petrified. Mind you, petrifaction could also mean to turn something into stone, and this completely applied to me, stunned and paralysed by the sheer fact… the sheer fact that Jewel could be pregnant.
No, she was pregnant. I've had too much experience with crappy soap operas and crappy Fanfiction to know that more often than not, the three symptoms of pregnancy -cravings, mood swings, morning sickness (there, off the bat)- pointed like a gigantic arrow that flashed 'LOOK HERE YOU MORON' over to this one blatant yet invisible possibility. And that was that right now my mate carried my child.
In my whole life with Linda I had never one time saw her engage in any sexual activity, whether accidental or on purpose. She confessed to me once that she would be terribly afraid should she conceive- she had no sense of responsibility [back then she was eighteen-ish] and for her to have a child would be unthinkable, absurd even. So, she said, better safe than sorry, better abstain than engage.
People imagine that such declarations like this would cause people to scream with joy and yell in sheer ecstasy… but not for me. Now as a 15-year-old Macaw my mate had my child and I was totally unprepared- I internally slapped myself for going against such simple principles. I wasn't ready, not in the least, which is why I thrust any possible buffer time between now to the point where such a predicament arrived. Now all of these just vanished into thin air.
It wasn't until after a while that I could hear Ronaldo's muffled [though it wasn't anything to do with him] voice: "Blu! Blu, cunhado! You okay?"
I didn't move an inch, although I could feel myself shaken by the shoulders by Ronaldo, as if I didn't need any more shaking in the first place. I guess the title 'uncle' was never such a humongous, gargantuan responsibility as compared to 'father'.
At least I knew why he had congratulated me, but if I could regain the power of speech, I would protest and say, no, I shouldn't be as excited and joyous as he was. The initial shock hadn't worn off yet, and worst of all, the future looked bleak, hopeless, and I had no clue as to how to move on without getting my children harmed. I had to let them live- it would be pretty cruel to just throw my mate's eggs over the edge [no, that's an understatement] and I would definitely have an obligation [at the very least, considering that my heart really did want a family] to raise them. The method as to how to achieve this was unknown to me, however.
"Blu!" I heard Lisa's alto voice shrill in my head. Immediately I jolted from whatever state of trance I had been trapped in, regaining my consciousness of this world [I had been physically conscious this whole time, mind you]. I looked at Ronaldo and Lisa blankly- Ronaldo eyes were like slits, but their level of worry and concern never wavering. "I'm here," I answered unthinkingly.
"Blu…" Ronaldo started, putting a wing around me. "Answer me honestly- are you ready to become a father? You should've been more happy and jubilant than totally in shock…"
I exhaled deeply- I knew that hiding or prolonging the revelation of the truth would be completely futile. "No… it's just," I sighed again; why did it take such simple actions in order to muster one for present, yet so long to prepare one for the future? "It's just that I really have no idea how to raise my children… I mean I know I'm supposed to love them and take care of them and ensure they have a healthy and happy childhood but-"
"Isn't that what a father actually is, Blu?" Ronaldo said, a smile creeping across his face. "Isn't raising your children supposed to be love and devotion and their interests before yours?"
"But, Ronaldo," I said- by this time I have tears stinging my eyes. Call me a softy but the fact is raising children… it was everything that Ronaldo said [which is frankly harder than it sounds] and more. "There are so many things that I… I don't even know what to do. I'm so afraid that I'd screw up and just let Jewel and everybody down… I'm just a clumsy, socially awkward ignoramus who can't even survive in the outside world alone…" And I didn't care; I burst into tears on the spot, burying my hands in my wings- there were so many things that could go wrong, countless even. I can't even list down all the possibilities that might happen- there was only a ray of light emerging from the clouds that signalled I possessed the capability to be a good parent. All other places were filled with traps, sinkholes, and so many, many threats that awaited some fool to come and let the whole world crash on him like a meteor…
I felt a pair of muscular wings embrace me, not in a romantic way I would give to Jewel, but one that held some emotional support rather than protection, that held that sense of encouragement with a vow never to waver it. "Don't worry," I heard Ronaldo say, in a comforting, father-like tone. "You'll be a great father to your children. You just have to believe in yourself."
"Sim, Blu." Lisa seconded. "You have Jewel, after all. She loves you, and she'll be next to you." I looked up at these them, these two birds that I hardly knew, but now were comforting me like as if they were my closest friends… they may have had their quirks and history, and were queer strangers in my eyes, when in fact they were decent people trying to help me when I would be down and out…
"But," I muttered, sniffling. I may have looked immature and cry-baby-like, but the fact was I was extremely lost and everything looked hopeless to me. How I would overcome such a situation… I didn't have a single clue. "But what if-"
"Ah, don't worry about anything, meu cunhado." Ronaldo said before I could even voice out my own concerns. "You can protect and care for your children. I mean did you look at the way you attacked me that time? You looked like some enraged bull charging at me! Haha!" Ronaldo emitted one sharp laugh, one that was cheery and hearty, and he grinned almost impishly, yet that tint of joy was present. My vision had started to clear up, the tears drying and evaporating into the atmosphere. "I heard this one saying once, you know, that if you feared something so much that you feared that you didn't worry about it more than you already did, it meant that you're ready. Trust me, Blu. I might not be a father but…" -he looked away briefly, unsure how to place his words delicately- "I have some second-hand experience."
I stared into the deep, compassionate eyes of Jewel's big brother. Ronaldo… his immense magnanimity and patience to me was puzzling. He viewed me [or, at least, I would predict that would view me this way] as a rival, a nemesis, even, in love. He could claim Jewel's heart back from being with her for 15 whole years, whereas Jewel had known me for less than a fortnight. Mind you, the title of the mate is rather overrated, considering that 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce- it would not act as a seal to keep him away from Jewel. But he chose not to, not only respecting his sister's decision but my own interests as well.
I really did feel for him- he had literally been 'here first' and was Jewel's first lover… but now he lay down his own heart and interests, giving me his blessing and the thing that he knew would leave a wound in his heart, as if removing Cupid's fired arrow. It would be agonising, mentally tormenting even, but he chose to do it for me and Jewel. Even now when I'm literally revealing that I'm not a capable father, he is bothering to prove to me wrong and spur me on, shining a halo of light and hope into my mind. Why would he do this completely perplexed me.
"Ronaldo…" I muttered, forcing a smile on my face. "I have to thank you, for giving me and Jewel your blessing and comforting me when I needed it. I… don't know what to say…"
"You don't have to say anything," he said, rather quietly yet with no sense of maliciousness or sarcasm. "Just… just promise me you'll take care of Jewel and your family, is that clear? Or… or I might have to chop off your cloaca and feed it to the snakes!" He laughed heartily, dismissing his last remark as a joke. My pupils shrank into my eye whites, and again I could most positively say I was petrified. Lisa even had her wings over her beak in shock [who had, by the way, been over there all this while just smiling at us.
Ronaldo's light-hearted expression then turned more firm and serious. "But seriously, you have to give me the assurance that… that you'll love Jewel, as well as your and her children. You need to do… what I want to do. Please, just promise you'll take care of 'em. If you can do this… Jewel's all yours, meu cunhado."
I smiled genuinely this time. I knew that this was a responsibility I had to fulfil… it was something that as a father and mate, I would need to provide, or else I would just be an irresponsible jerk of an assh0le. I couldn't afford to be one, especially with a mate I loved faithfully and children that I would devote my time and strength to. I had to prove to Ronaldo, the one who had his dreams of a future with Jewel and more suppressed by me, that I could be the one who could love and protect Jewel for the rest of my lifetime… this promise, I realise, is more than essential to keep.
"I will, Ronaldo. And thank you, I promise, I'll be a good mate to her."
"That's my boy!" He exclaimed, slapping me on the back in a friendly fashion [though with more force than he probably intended] and laughing heartily again. "Meu cunhado, I just know you'll be a good mate to her and a good father to your children. I believe it, meu cunhado!"
I stared quizzically at him, before [by some telepathic oddity] Lisa chuckled lightly, her soprano voice almost like pixie dust, and she merely replied: "Meu cunhado means 'my brother-in-law'."
The corners of my beak jerked up again cheerily. "I believe it too, meu cunhado." I never did manage that bit out in proper Portuguese, but Ronaldo grinned at me. And I knew at that point of time we would be great brothers-in-law, and that the possibility of a raging rivalry between me and him completely vanished, leaving behind the seedling of friendship. Now I knew why Jewel loved, whether as a brother or lovebird, Ronaldo so much- he had the capability to pull one up when he was down, to support one when he needed it, and most of all he was amicable. So why should I behold any grudges against him? I insinuated every fibre of hatred I possessed in regards to him, and replaced it with a golden and budding friendship… he was truly fit to be a brother to Jewel.
Then, very abruptly, the door swung open, and I saw Tulio stagger out, his glasses haphazard and his movements clumsy. "Oh, that Jewel…" he muttered under his breath. I glared at this, even if the context was not explicitly said, and I could feel Ronaldo's wing tap on my back again.
His eyes were then fixed on us, and he flashed an uneasy frown. He knew what I was thinking- it was visible in his expression anyways. "Well, um… I've got news for you Blu," he started. And I braced for the words that would determine me and Jewel's future, the words that would send me yelling in the wind with ecstasy and dancing with joy that we had a family to love and care for, the words that were so laughably predictable… that anyone would guess what would happen next…
"Jewel has the stomach flu, nothing more to it… she's not pregnant."
-dramatic music is playing right now-
Anyways I won't talk too much here, except hope you liked that little bonding between Blu and Ronaldo. Had to brighten the mood SOMEHOW. Heh.
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…oh, and if you have 5 minutes or so, go ahead and review. Love 'em. X3
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