So! I haven't typed anything in a while, or written anything for that matter. I've wanted to write something for a while but haven't had the chance or motivation to do so. Rio's been out for a little while now and I just re-watched it yesterday and found that I absolutely love Nico and Pedro. So this story came out of nowhere and I'm not sure where it will end up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rio, I can only wish that I did...

There was something about Rio that always called to the young canary that was stuck in a cage with his parents and older brother. Every year they would be taken to Rio with their humans and every year Nico sneaked away to enjoy the sights and, more importantly, Samba. Samba, since he was first taken to Rio, had quickly become his passion. He listened to it when he could find it on his human's radio and when he couldn't he sang it. His parents and even his brother, Victor, didn't understand why he loved it so much.

"I can hear you thinking from here Nico. What's going on?" Victor murmured, careful of their parents asleep a peg above them.

"I'm just excited. I want to stay in Rio, I want to live there." His eyes started shining with eagerness.

"Well it's your lucky day then bro. Our humans decided to move to Rio. If you hadn't been so busy singing that Bamba stuff you would've heard."

Nico gaped. It wasn't possible. There was absolutely no way the humans decided to live in Rio.

"It's Samba. You're not pulling my tail feathers again are you?" Better safe than sorry after all.

"Of course not, we're seriously staying." He paused before continuing. "For a month."

Nico felt his anger boil up. "That's not funny!"

Of course his parents woke up.

"What did you do this time Victor..." Their mother asked, fluttering to their peg. He hated that cage.

"I didn't do anything! Shorty here-"

Their mother hissed. "Don't call your brother that."

"Fine, Nico here wanted to know how long we were staying so I told him. He just overreacted. Right Nico?"

Their mother didn't notice but Nico could hear the underlying threat.

"Yeah. I overreacted. Sorry for waking you guys up."

Their mother stared at them for a little while longer, finally sighing into the too cold air of the luggage storage area.

"Alright. Just try to keep quiet you two. We should get there soon."

Somehow, Nico knew it was to placate his brother that she said that. A bored Victor was nothing to laugh at.

While their mother flew back to join her mate and Victor settled down to sleep, Nico found himself lost in his thoughts again. Rio was a beautiful place with a forest that he was only ever able to see from the distance. While he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he was afraid to go into the forest alone. Who knew what kind of reception he would get. They could welcome him like family, or they could attack him like an enemy. He was too afraid to see Rio as anything else than a paradise to chance the latter.

Glancing at his sleeping family and the mass of suitcases surrounding them, he settled down on his side of the peg to sleep.

He hated this cage.

Pedro stretched along his nest and looked to the other side of the hollow. There was a spare nest he had built as a just in case measure. He had thought that the nest would make the hollow look a little more full or even just a little more homey. All it had done so far was make it look even more empty and borderline desperate. Rafael visited when he could, but he had two kids and another on the way.

Dragging himself from bed, Pedro grumbled to himself and flew out to get ready for the day. It was a little after noon and he needed to get something to eat.

Gliding towards the beach and frowning at the heat that was wafting from below, Pedro let a feeling of calm overtake him. Something was going to change that day, he could feel it.

The plane landed roughly and jolted Nico from his sleep and his perch. He fluttered, it's hard to actually fly in a cage, up to the top perch and gripped onto it tightly. Everything shook and bounced while the plane tried to slow down.

Nico was finally in Rio again. His heart leaped into his throat and his excitement coursed through his body, warming him from the freezing air around him.

Nico glanced at his disgruntled family and smiled a bit. He planned on spending his vacation his way, not theirs. Theirs consisted of waiting for the humans to get back so they could talk to them. His, well, his consisted of whatever he wanted it too.

The plane slowed to a stop and the hatch was opened, letting the neon vested humans toss the cargo onto the belt to be transferred to the baggage claim. Nico pressed himself closer to the peg he was on, wrapping his wings around it to stabilize himself more for the trip to come. When one of the humans finally got to them, somewhere in the middle of the sea of suitcases, the man sighed and picked up the cage with the utmost care. When he got to the hatch, where the four birds were momentarily blinded from the onslaught of light, he put the cage on the belt and their adventure began.

Nico was given about five minutes of scenery before they were driven off with the rest of the luggage to another, more numerous, set of belts. This was why Nico hated planes.

The belt led them onto another belt and from there a slide. Then they were pulled onto another belt and promptly hit by a black suitcase, knocking all four of them askew. Even though he was hanging onto his peg for dear life, Nico was knocked to the side and had to hang on by his wings.

"I hate airports..." Nico smiled at the agreeing murmurs below him.

Pedro whistled to himself, still trying to find the words to the song he had been creating. It was hard. Every time he thought he had a part of it, it felt wrong. That, and it sounded like a duet and he would happily be the backup singer for it if he could just find someone to help him with it. Rafael was an okay singer but his voice didn't have the tune he needed it too.

Swallowing a couple more fries from the leftovers some tourists had left, Pedro took off from the table, heading towards one of the clubs he'd frequented. The Branch was the most popular club in all of Rio for birds. A lot of its fame was because of Pedro himself in fact. At night the club was Samba only, but during the day it was karaoke for anyone who wanted to give it a go. There were a few that were kind of good. The rest however, not so much.

Glancing up at a landing plane Pedro smirked. More tourists meant more fries and he could appreciate free french fries.

Rafael carefully tiptoed out of his family hollow. His kids and wife, Eva, were, thankfully, preoccupied and if he could get lunch quickly enough, he might be able to go out and enjoy himself for a while.

Gliding a fair distance away before chancing a flap, Rafael began his search for his family's meal. His search was only deterred by a plane flying overhead from America. He'd have to check if any new birds were coming to visit. Some of them wanted away from the pet life and he seemed to be the one to help them out. It was hard being famous sometimes.

Nico glared at the 12-year-old picking up their square cage. He glanced away when he saw a scarlet macaw perched in the rafters above them, watching them carefully. Canaries must not have been a common occurrence around there.

"Hey Nico, I dare you to sing." Victor whispered to him, a smirk on his beak.

"What? No way, the humans will freak out again saying that I'm 'such a pretty bird'!"

"That's why I want you to sing retard. I dare you."

Nico groaned. If he refused Victor would call him a coward for weeks and not to mention the beatings.

"Fine."

Victor snickered and scooted away while Nico took a breath and started to sing his song, Fly Love.

Pedro swooped across the sky, enjoying the 90 degree weather and the faint breeze from the nearby ocean. His whistling paused and he glanced around, a pleasant tune brought from the breeze.

"-Don't know how it happened, don't know why but you don't really need a reason-"

The voice was soft and was, more or less, absolutely perfect. It was the voice. The one he needed for his song.

Listening hard, Pedro was able to find a summer house with the door open. Inside the house, he was able to see from the window ledge he landed on, there was a square cage with three yellow birds and a white one inside. One of the yellow boys had orange on his eyelids and a white chest and under wings. The tips of his wings and the ends of his tail feathers had brown on them. He was singing with his eyes closed and his yellow feathers were vibrant unlike the other two who had black on the tips of every feather. The white one seemed to be the mother and what looked like the father were watching the singing bird with pride. The last bird seemed to be snickering as the humans were saying "What a pretty bird."

The singing bird didn't seem to notice, singing and dancing as much as he could with out falling off of the peg he was restricted to.

As the song came to a close the singing bird blinked and glanced around before bowing his head and shuffling his feet.

Seemed that the singer had stage fright. With the way that, possibly, his brother was laughing he didn't blame the poor guy. Anyone would feel embarrassed if someone was laughing so hard they couldn't breathe.

Taking one last glance at the shy bird, who he thought looked up for a moment, Pedro took off towards the Branch. He'd have to come back with Rafael to get him out later.

Nico shuffled his feet for a bit before glancing up at the window, blinking at a red crested cardinal. He seemed...intrigued for lack of a better word. As the humans walked off Nico fluttered to the side of the cage, clinging to the bars. Victor was still laughing and he wanted nothing more than to leave that cage and never go back. But his family would never agree with him and he felt bound to them. Besides, without them he was alone.

Waiting for the humans to retreat to their beds, he carefully unlatched the cage door and opened it.

"You're not doing this again are you?" His mother asked, frowning. She was born and raised in a cage. The moment Rico had found out how to open it, he had gone everywhere in the human's house and was happy with the somewhat freedom. The consequences, however, nearly made him completely break down.

"It's not that bad. Besides, we've been in this cage forever I need to stretch my wings for a little while."

Before they could reply, he had dove from the cage and glided out the door and onto the sidewalk.

Rio. He was finally in Rio. Even though his family was completely against his views, he would do what he wanted. Speaking of which, where was that cardinal?

Looking at the window he frowned. The cardinal was gone. Glancing at the sun blazing in the sky, Nico found himself flying towards the beach.

Pedro frowned, landing a few blocks away from the yellow bird with the perfect voice. He should have sneaked into the home and asked his name or something. He probably seemed like a stalker now.

Snorting, Pedro continued his flight to the Branch, chuckling to himself. The bird probably didn't even want to leave that cage.

First chapter done! How's it look? It's unbeta'd so sorry for any mistakes. My birthday's today so I'll try to update but I'm also moving soon so I'm not sure when I'll get the chance next.

For a few notes, if anyone has any idea how to format this better, let me know. I seriously need to flesh everything out more but I feel extremely lazy at the moment :P.

I could make this a PedroxNico fic or I could just have them as adoptive brothers. In your reviews tell me what you want and I'll tally them until the 29th.

No flames please! But reviews are much appreciated :)