Quick disclaimer: There is an excerpt of "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World in this chapter, and I do not own the song.

That is all. Enjoy!

A sliver of sunlight broke through the curtains' valiant attempt to barricade the window, effectively shattering the darkness enveloping the disheveled apartment above A Loja de Muitos Filmes.

The intrusive beam played across the surface of the couch, as if trying purposely to find something living to waken. It found a target in the sleeping face of a red-chested cardinal. His wing moved in a lazy, half-conscious attempt to bat away the annoying light, but upon realizing it was not an insect that could be shooed away, the cardinal turned to rest on his side.

Unfortunately for him, he turned to his right, where the couch ceased to exist and was replaced by empty air leading straight to the floor.

Pedro plummeted 12 inches to the ground, just missing the carpet beneath the coffee table and instead smacking himself awake on the hardwood floor. His yelp of pain, partly because of his very sudden transgression from unconscious to conscious, was lost beneath the sound of impact.

The aggravated cardinal sat up, rubbing his neck and muttering complaints. He stretched and looked to his left, expecting to see either Nico's still sleeping form or Nico's empty bed of leaves.

He saw only a human apartment chock full of wires, controllers, and candy wrappers.

At first, concern consumed Pedro like a very violent tidal wave, if only because Nico or an empty hollow was the first thing he saw every day. The last time Pedro had been greeted with an unfamiliar morning image, it was because he had collapsed drunk in a bush by the side of the road after being chased by a maniacal cat.

It only took a second for Pedro to realize a similar situation was not happening, and to remember exactly what took place the night before. He looked above him, where a large black wing dangled off the edge of the sofa. Smiling, he fluttered back up to the couch, where Rafael lay on his stomach breathing deeply and regularly.

Apparently, Pedro's fall had woken only Pedro himself. Richie slept soundly in a large black armchair, footrest extended even though the parakeet had no use for it. And Nico was sprawled on a couch pillow resting on the floor, bottle cap completely obscuring his face and muffling the sounds of his breathing.

Pedro flew to his best friend first, gently shaking his sleeping form. "Nico! Nico!"

Nico, a light sleeper, gave a start. "I want to buy a Star for 20 coins…"

"What?"

"But don't slip on the banana peel."

"What are you talking about?"

"No! Don't throw the grenade! I haven't reloaded yet!"

Although part of him wanted to continue listening to Nico's dreamlike ramblings, Pedro shook his friend harder. "Wake up, man!"

"I can't reload unless you get all the rings, Sonic!"

Pedro lifted the bottle cap off of Nico's face, fanning him furiously. The canary mumbled something about ghosts and turned away from the offensive breeze. Forced to resort to physical violence, Pedro whacked Nico on the back of the head.

Nico's wings instinctively went to the injured area as he sat up and cried aloud.

"OW…"

"Are you awake now?"

"Well I guess. Dude, I let you sleep in all the time, why can't you do the same for me?"

"Because we ain't home."

Pedro's words made Nico finally take in his surroundings. "How long were we here last night?"

"Apparently the whole night."

"Doesn't surprise me."

"I got Ralfy. You get Richie."

Both birds flew to their respective targets. Nico managed to nudge Richie awake, but Pedro chose to push Rafael over the edge of the couch.

"OW!"

"I got similar treatment, Raf," Nico said, looking down at the very aggravated toucan from Richie's armchair. Richie rubbed his eyes, shooting Nico an extremely thankful glance.

"You up, Ralfy?" Pedro asked unnecessarily, leaning over the edge of the couch.

"Yes, Pedro," Rafael said through gritted teeth. "Thank you so much for pushing me off the couch."

"Same way I woke up."

"Were you pushed?"

"No."

"And there we go."

Rafael saw Richie and Nico from across the room, froze, and suddenly seemed to realize where he was.

"I was here all night?"

"Apparently so," Richie said. "You guys want some breakfast?"

Nico and Pedro piped hearty affirmatives, but Rafael looked like he had just been visited by Death itself.

"Guys, I have to get home. Eva is going to kill me."

Nico and Pedro's eyes, large and twinkling with the promise of breakfast, shrunk to Rafael's size.

"Aw man, I do not envy you," Pedro said.

Rafael turned to Richie. "Thanks for everything last night. But I have to get home, like, now."

Richie, still a little groggy, looked confused. "Why?"

"I have a wife and kids! Mostly, a wife!"

Realization dawned like the sun on the yellow parakeet's face. "Oh. Right. Eva."

"Okay okay okay, here's the plan," Rafael said quickly, pacing the floor in frustrated circles. "Nico, Pedro, we were on our way home last night when…um…the lock on the Adoption Center for Cats broke and we had to hide in a tree!"

"Déjà vu", Pedro muttered.

"Dude, she won't buy that. We could just fly over the cats. No way they could follow us into the jungle," Nico pointed out.

"Fine, fine, then…we were captured by bird smugglers? No, no, that actually happened and she barely believed me then either…"

"Plus Blu and Jewel would be on your case, and they'd probably report your fake smugglers to Linda and Tulio," Nico said, ever the voice of reason and logic.

"You're right…um…"

Richie raised his hand.

"Yes, Richie?"

He slowly lowered it. "Oh. Sorry. Don't know why I did that. Why don't you tell her Nico and Pedro needed your help getting home, and you spent the night in their hollow because you didn't want to leave them alone?"

"Hey!" Nico and Pedro chorused in offense.

"Wait a minute…that might actually work…"

"That's embarrassing," Pedro muttered.

"You have a lot of experience with embarrassment anyway."

"I don't need more."

"And Raf, dude, she'll hate us even more if you tell her that," Nico whined.

"She doesn't hate you."

"She doesn't like us."

"But she doesn't hate you."

"She already thinks of us as 'immature glory-seeking wannabes'", Nico said, imitating Eva's high-pitched and annoying voice.

"She married the King of Carnevale. She can't expect my friends to be anything but immature glory-seeking wannabes."

"Hey!"

"Relax, relax, I'll just tell her you guys didn't feel good after something you ate and I stayed with you to make sure you were okay. Everything works out. All right?"

"Guess so."

"I can go along with that."

"I'll back up the story."

Rafael flashed a thumbs-up at his friends' chorused agreement. "Great! I'm gonna try to get back later, I think this story will actually work. I'll see you guys tonight. I'm gonna survive!" With that last gleeful proclamation, Rafael soared through the curtains and out the window.

Richie chuckled. "You guys still want breakfast?" He turned to talk to the two birds, but the question needn't have been asked. Nico and Pedro were already in the kitchen.

"Guess so." Richie joined them, trying to think of what options lay in the deep recesses of the freezer. He was too late once again, because Pedro was already pulling out a box of Eggo Waffles.

"Guess we're having Eggos. You guys want some coffee?"

"You have coffee?" Nico looked like Richie had just said he had the one ring to rule them all.

"Yep." Richie fluttered to the coffee maker, pressing buttons and pulling a box of ground coffee from the shadows of the counter. "You like coffee?"

"He stalks this one coffee shop near The Branch," Pedro said. "Always hoping the one barista will leave on break so he can fly into the back and make himself a cup."

"Sometimes it works."

"Yeah. Sometimes."

"Is that how you guys get food?" Richie asked.

They both shrugged. "The human food. Otherwise, we just eat seeds and berries and stuff from the forest," Nico explained.

"That sounds awful."

"It's not so bad."

"So what exactly is this Branch I keep hearing about?" Richie asked, coffee machine humming away in the background.

"Only the coolest place in Rio de Janeiro," Pedro said.

"Birds go to dance and sing and have a good time," Nico piped in.

"Rafael told me you were the headliners."

"Kinda," Nico said modestly. "We're a popular act."

"So popular other birds get jealous?"

"Huh?"

"Rafael told me a little bit about Raoul. But not much."

"Now that is a story to tell," Pedro said smugly.

"We've got time."

And with that prompt, Pedro launched into a highly exaggerated and only semi-truthful version of what had happened two weeks ago.

An hour later, Nico was frantically hopping between colored buttons on the fake frets of a fake guitar while Pedro furiously moved the plastic bar that served as the fake guitar strings.

It just takes some time, little girl in the middle of the ride,

Everything, everything will be just fine,

Everything, everything will be all right!

Nico slammed his foot down on the last button and promptly collapsed off the fret. "I thought you said that song was easy?" he panted, lying on the ground with his sore feet in the air.

"I said it wasn't impossible," Richie corrected. "You guys did pretty well, though. 85% isn't bad."

Pedro lowered his wing so that Nico could high-five it from his current position. "We rocked Jimmy Eat World."

"That's the band. The song was called The Middle," Richie said.

"Oh. We still rocked it."

"That you did."

"What other games you got?" Nico asked, turning onto his stomach.

"Okay, last night we got to Mario Party, Mario Kart, Sonic the Hedgehog, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and, of course, Super Smash Bros," Richie said, counting last night's exploits on his fingers. "That basically covers Nintendo. Well, we can never really cover Nintendo, but Sonic and Zombies definitely cover Sega."

"What was this?"

"Guitar Hero. And you played Mario Baseball, Mario Soccer, Mario Tennis…"

"Why is a farmer such a popular video game character?" Pedro asked, staring at the box for Mario Party 8.

"He's a plumber, first of all. And no one really knows."

"A plumber? With a princess?"

"He's a really good plumber."

"And a racecar driver. And an athlete. And a board game contestant, apparently," Nico remarked, surveying all the Mario themed options fanned out on the floor. "Man, can you believe we never played these?"

"I don't know how we survived."

"It was a dark time until we came here." Nico abandoned the video games lying on the floor to fly back to the kitchen, where a steaming mug patiently awaited him on the counter. He appreciatively sniffed the waves of visible aroma rising from the cup, then dunked his head in.

Pedro smirked. He loved seeing his friend try to sip coffee from a cup at least three times bigger than he was. He turned to Richie. "Wait for it. Three…two…one…"

The moment Pedro counted down to one, Nico tried to dive so far into the coffee cup that his feet left the solid counter. A small plop broke his intense slurping noises.

"Aw, man!" Nico raised his head from the sea of coffee, holding his now dripping bottle cap. "My bottle cap fell in."

Richie laughed. "Why didn't you take it off before trying to drink?"

"Didn't even think of it."

"I did," Pedro whispered to Richie. The parakeet laughed again.

"What are you guys laughing about?"

"Our secret plot to destroy you."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"You shouldn't."

Nico shook his bottle cap through the air, trying very hard to make the coffee drip off. "You will be foiled."

"Nah."

"Fine, then show me your stuff in Super Smash Bros."

"Challenge accepted."

Richie swapped Guitar Hero for Super Smash Bros, re-plugging in the controllers. "Could one of you grab me a Coke?" he asked, brow furrowed at the tangle of cords barely connecting the controller to the Wii. "I'm going to try to fix this."

Pedro fluttered to the fridge, opened it with Nico's help, and knocked over three Cokes, one cherry flavored for Nico. They rejoined a very frustrated Richie in the living room.

"I am going to destroy you as Fox," Pedro said, popping open his Coke and hitting Nico on the arm.

"I was gonna be Fox!" Nico protested.

"Too bad. I've already called him."

"No you haven't."

"I call Fox."

"DAH! No fair!"

"That was totally fair."

Richie let out a quick sound of triumph as the wires for two controllers parted. "You guys know you can both be Fox, right? You'll just be different colors."

"We can't both be Fox," Nico gasped, as if Richie had suggested they cover themselves in catnip and parade in front of the pet store. "It would be madness!"

"Only one can be Fox," Pedro agreed. "And I called it."

"If you say so," Richie said, plugging in controllers and setting up the game while Pedro and Nico squabbled in the background.

"You didn't call it. You just assumed I'd be okay with you being Fox."

"And then I called it!"

"Not fair!"

"You can be Jigglypuff."

"Jigglypuff is awful."

"Exactly."

"I'm going to kill you."

"Not if I'm Fox."

"Guys, guys, guys," Richie broke in, laughing. "Decide, because the game is ready."

Pedro, gloating, moved his icon to Fox. Nico glowered and chose Captain Falcon.

"You will regret this."

Pedro cheered again as Captain Falcon flew off the giant floating Squirtle, Fox standing proudly on the stage beneath the word "Time." Nico threw himself to the floor, his shouts of denial muffled by efforts to asphyxiate himself.

"HA! Some sudden death that was!"

"Nononononononononono…"

Richie, although not quite as dramatic as Nico, was also sullen. "You have to stop beating us."

"Nah," Pedro said nonchalantly, at this point in his victory dance twirling in circles and brandishing the victory sign with both hands. "You're just jealous."

"It took me two years to get to my current skill level. It took you two days."

"Like I said. Jealous." Pedro leaned down next to Nico's limp form on the ground. "I told you I would destroy you."

Nico mumbled an unintelligible answer.

"I knew you would say that." The cardinal, close to bursting with pride and a little something else, flew over to the window. "Be right back. I have some business to take care of." He disappeared into the flower bed.

"He did down half his coke in, like, three minutes," Richie mused.

Nico popped up. A smirk crossed his face. He grabbed his still 75% full Cherry Coke, trying desperately to lift it.

"What are you doing?"

"Help me lift this and you'll see."

Richie obeyed, lifting the back end of the soda can so the brunt weight of the middle rested on Nico's outstretched arms.

"Now help me pour it in his Coke can."

"But he hates Cherry Coke."

"That's the point!"

Richie smiled as he understood Nico's subtle form of revenge. Nico, although wavering a little, managed to keep the can upright and aimed into Pedro's so Richie could successfully pour some of Nico's soda into it.

"Not too much," Nico warned. "He'll notice the weight difference."

Richie stopped pouring, setting the can down next to Nico just as Pedro flew in from outside.

"Awright, you guys ready for another round?" he asked, landing and striking a ninja pose as if he was the one physically fighting in the video game.

"Fine, but let me change my character. Captain Falcon isn't doing it for me," Nico grimaced, happy expression from a moment earlier completely gone.

Pedro waited patiently as Nico and Richie chose characters, knowing that if he changed and willingly gave up Fox, Nico would pounce. His patience ran out very quickly as Nico fiddled between Bowser and Pikachu. "Hurry uuuuuuuup."

"I can't decide, man."

"Depends on if you want to be a little guy or a big guy."

Nico frowned. "Big guy."

"The littler characters aren't very good. Good choice."

Nico's frown intensified. "The little guys are just as good as the big guys."

"Nah."

Nico's expression darkened along with his frown. He violently moved his joystick back to Pikachu. "Little can be good, too."

Pedro, his ego deflating a tad as the seconds wore on, suddenly realized what he had been saying. "Oh, right. Course they can."

Although Nico seemed to be placated by Pedro's admission, his expression remained a little peeved. Pedro shot him an apologetic look and took a sip of his Coke.

He instantly started choking and tried to spit it back out.

Pedro's loud gagging as he tried desperately to get the cherry taste out of his mouth was equaled only by Nico and Richie's laughter. The intensity of the laughter forced both yellow birds to double over completely, gasping for air even as their breath left them in undisguised chuckles.

Pedro narrowed his eyes at the two laughing birds, tongue hanging out of his mouth in hopes that the air would decontaminate the cherry flavor. Accusations begged to fly from his mouth, but the prank had been a good one, not only peeving Pedro but also rendering him incapable of immediate verbal retaliation. He would have to be content with glaring.

Nico's laughter finally waded, and he stopped hitting the floor in uncontrollable giddiness. "How's Fox now?"

"Yoo e'en mo' dem yen yoo wa be'ore."

"What?"

Pedro retracted his tongue, wincing as he tasted remnants of artificial cherry. "You're more dead than you were before."

"We'll see about that." Nico tapped his controller, eyebrows raised in a challenge.

"Fine."

They played another round. Pedro won. Nico, back to sulking, flew to the kitchen, where Richie had kept a steady stream of coffee pouring from the coffeemaker all day for the slightly addicted canary. Nico stuck his head in the mug and drank deeply, nursing his wounded pride with the robust beverage.

Pedro smirked and raised a finger to his beak, motioning Richie to keep quiet. He fluttered silently over to Nico, landed behind him, and counted down from three using his fingers. When he reached one, Nico lifted himself for better access to his drink, and Pedro pushed his feet until the entire canary toppled into the mug.

"HOT! HOT! HOT!"

Pedro and Richie laughed at Nico's frantic shrieks just as hard as Nico and Richie had laughed five minutes earlier. Nico grasped onto the edge of the mug, pulled himself up while holding his bottle cap, and flipped over onto the counter next to an almost tearful and incapacitated Pedro.

Nico's eyes never left Pedro's laughing face as he shook off his bottle cap and wrung out his wings.

"If it's a prank war you want, it's a prank war you'll get."

Read and Review, please! (If you've gotten this far you've already read it, so you're halfway there.)

And now for a quick request: If anyone has any good ideas for pranks, and is okay with sharing them, I would love to hear them! Seriously. I have a limited number of ideas written on my notepad. And they're not very good ones. Bird-size pranks are very hard to come by. And if I end up using an idea, I will give credit where credit is due.

Thanks for reading!