~Rio, Rio, Rio... Let me take you to Rio, fly'o the ocean like an eagle, and we can chillin' my gazebo, gazebo, oh oh oh oh na na na~
Everything was so pretty. Sky was pretty, most likely much more blue than behind the horizon. Ocean was pretty, so clean and turquoise. But the most prettiest thing was the view to the city of samba, life and carnival -Rio de Janeiro! "So this is what paradise looks like..." little yellow Canary, Nico, sighed as the wind carried him towards the shore. He had a long adventure behind him. Nico was looking out for a nice spot to rest after a flight, and just as ordered he spotted a nice group of sunshades on the beach. He landed on one of them and looked curiously around. There were pretty many people, indeed it was a nice sunny weather for a day at the beach. Now being a song bird, Nico was in the mood for singing when came to situations like this.
Near by Nico was a young Red-crested Cardinal enjoying the midday. Though something was bugging his mind, he tried to put that empty feeling in his heart aside. He had been having it quite a long time already, and was getting confused with it. Maybe he was just lonely, living all alone. Suddenly he heard something... something special.
"Wasn't really thinking, wasn't looking
Wasn't searching for an answer
In the moonlight when I saw your face..."
Nico had his eyes closed now, and he was deep in the song so he really didn't notice what was happening around him.
Pedro flew in the way where the sound was coming. There were so many people that you would he'd have had hard time finding a certain little bird, but the voice was so perceivable that he indeed succeeded at finding the owner of it. The Cardinal settled few feet behind him and listened in amaze.
"Saw you looking at me, saw you peeking
Out from under moon beams
Through the palm trees, swaying in the breeze"
The Canary continued, and Pedro was sure he had the most beautiful voice he ever had heard. It was like honey. He wanted to go to him and tell it, but it would mean that he would stop singing and maybe even fly away from him... so he just listened. Pedro took his gaze away from the Canary for a second and spotted a human youngster, who was slowly drawing closer to the singing bird with a bucket. Pedro gasped at realising what he was about to do. "Oh please little bird notice him... fly away..." he thought crossing his wings. But Nico was in his own world right now. Just as the human raised the bucket towards him, Pedro crashed in between. "Fly away!" he shouted firmly. Nico was brought back to earth and stared blankly at the random bird who croaked at the human angrily. "W-what? What's going on? Who are you?"
"Just fly away, man! He was about to capture ya!"
"C-c-capture?" Nico started with shaking voice and spread his wings, "Aren't you coming, he's going to capture you too?!"
Pedro turned his head to face the worried Canary and smiled. One more angry look a the human, and he flew after his new acquaintance.
"Thank you" Nico said, "You saved my life... um... you didn't give me your name?"
"I'm Pedro. And no need to thank me, lil' rascal."
Nico chuckled a little. "Oh, Nico will do. Nice to meet you, Pedro." He held his wing towards Pedro, who happily took a hold of it. "Nico..." he started, "You have the most amazing voice, bird."
Nico blushed prominently at this and looked away. "Heheh... Wow that's... well I just love to sing..." They smiled at each other for a moment, before noticing that their wings were still holding. "Um... where ya coming from, Nico?"
"From Tenerife."
"That's far away... And where ya staying?"
Nico was about to respond, when he realized that he really didn't know at all. From his chocolaty brown eyes Pedro noticed this. "Aww... Come on I'll show you my place. Lemme take you Rio!"
Nico smiled eagerly. "Thank you so much..."
"Again, no need to thank me" Pedro grinned, adding almost to himself, "I should be thanking you..."
"And that's the famous Jesus statue, and there's the central, and there's the jungle..." Pedro told, pointing at different directions as Nico tried to keep up.
"Care to introduce me places later on?"
"I'd love to, really! Here's so much to see! And we have a samba club..."
"Samba club!" Nico repeated, "I love samba!"
"Awesome, me too! I'm the samba master!"
Nico laughed at his new friend. Friend...? Yeah, it seemed like he got a new friend. Not only a new friend, but his first friend. After the incident with his family, he couldn't... well he couldn't even think about having a good life or friends again. What he didn't know was that he was Pedro's first friend too.
"And this is da place! La casa de Pedro!" Pedro announced as they landed on a little hollow in the tree.
"Ah, que linda..." Nico said sarcastically. Pedro looked surprised, "Gajo fala Português! ...Hey, it's not that bad!"
"Well it is a typical bachelor pad" Nico started, "but I don't mind."
Pedro's expression softened and he showed every corner of his little hollow. "And here I have some fruits, feel free to take anything, buddy."
"Alright buddy!"
Pedro's hollow was indeed pretty messy, living on his own he hadn't been caring what it looked like. But now when Nico mentioned it.. well it might be a little rattletrap. Nico was eating a strawberry and noticed Pedro looking around his nest with pensive expression. "Hey, it's okay. We can decorate together, I'll help. But first... here you go!" He threw an orange slice at Pedro who didn't see it coming and ended facing the ground. "Dammit, Nico!" He threw one right back but Nico managed to dodge it. He smirked at Pedro who didn't give up, throwing another one. This time Nico caught it with his mouth. The duo laughed for a while, both really happy with the whole day. Something wonderful had happened: finally there was someone to laugh with, someone to just be near.
The day turned to evening, and Pedro invited his new friend to watch the sunset with him. Nico had been told it was as its' best when you watched it from the Jesus statue, so they flew over there. "Here, sit." Pedro said and patted the statue's hand. "Cool, I'm sitting on Jesus" Nico noted.
"You got it! The statue is kinda the symbol of Rio, it guards it or something."
Nico smiled at his friends' deep thoughts. Seems like Pedro could be even profound at times.
The sunset was indeed very beautiful with its' many warm colors. It had a mix of orange, yellow, red and white... Nico yawned tiredly and nuzzled into Pedro's side. At first Pedro was confused but quickly smiled warmly and put his wing over Nico's shoulder. "You just sleep, little buddy, you have a big adventure behind."
"And even bigger ahead..." Nico sighed, closing his eyes.
Nico woke up due to sun rays that shined straight to his face. He yawned and stretched his wings, looking around to find himself in Pedro's hollow, even in his nest! But where had Pedro been sleeping all this time? He looked around to find his friend but he was nowhere in sight. "Pedro?" Nico asked, and when he didn't hear any answers he repeated, "Pedro...?" He was about to get up when the bird he was looking for appeared to the entrance of the hollow. "Pedro!" Nico said once more. "Morning Nico! Just lay back down, I got us some breakfast."
Nico smiled and did as ordered, watching curiously as Pedro gathered breakfast together.
"Pedro?"
"Nico?"
"This evening I wanna party!"
Pedro smiled at this. He was that kind of person who was always ready for party. "Absolutely. I wanna samba! We'll go to the club and samba all night!"
"Yay!" Nico exclaimed. Pedro handed him few fruits, cookies and French fries and sat with him on the nest. "Wow, thanks. So you were looking all morning for these? Where did you sleep by the way...?"
Pedro nodded, munching a cookie. "I swepd on de fwool"
"Floor? No way!"
"Yeah way! I carried you home after you fell asleep and of course you got my nest, since I was too lazy to make a new one that late. Don't worry the floor wasn't that bad." Nico shook his head. "Pedro, Pedro, Pedro. You're too kind."
Pedro smirked, "That's what I do."
