The first chapter of "More than meets the eye". :D
Note: They're humans with animal features so they will refer to each other as animals every now and then. But of course you can think of them as however you want. ;)
(Re-uploaded and re-edited)
It's a lovely day in August, Lifty and Shifty are just coming home from an unsuccessful bank-robbery. Shifty blames Lifty for the failure of course.
"You dumb-ass!" he yells at his younger brother when they enters their home/hideout. Lifty closes the door behind him and mutters
"What did I do?"
"You stupid idiot! You could have seen the police coming! It was, like, your task!" He shouts at his brother and walks into his room with Lifty following him.
"I'm sorry, but I can't see through walls ,you know!" Lifty answers irritated.
The older one lies down on his bed with his hands behind his head in a relaxing way, looking at the younger one.
"Yes, but I thought that you could see through GLASSDOORS!" He shouts in an angry and irritated tone. Lifty's ears drops and his tail as well. "S-sorry Shifty..." His voice fades away with a light whimper. Shifty only rolls his eyes at him as if he thinks that he is pathetic.
"Stop weep, you big baby. You're so gay." He mutters to the sobbing boy in the doorway.
Lifty does not like it when Shifty calls him names, especially names that he doesn't understand.
He frowns at his older brother and asks
"W-what did you s-say?" unsure if he wants to know the answer.
Shifty sits up on the bed while he eyes his brother up and down.
"You don't know what that is?" He grins at Lifty who's looking questioning back at him.
"It means that you're a sissy, a twat, a girl! You're no fun anymore and you can't do anything right! When was the last time you got home with any loot?"
Lifty feels a lump that starts to grow inside his stomach.
"You don't have to be so mean, you know! I'm doing the best I can!" Lifty tries to hold his tears back. Shifty doesn't care for his whimpering brother.
"Shut up you big crybaby!" He groans at him. Lifty turns around and walks out of the room. He can hear Shifty's voice from behind him shouting
"Good, leave me alone, girly boy!" Lifty ignores the mean comment and hurries out of the building. Shifty is always like this when something hasn't gone according to plan, he's never showing his little brother any affection in any kind when when it's so. Now all Lifty wants is to get away from his 'evil twin' and the bullying. Shifty once twisted his tail so badly that an orthopedic had to fix it again.
Lifty starts to walk down the street, heading for the town. The leaves on the trees are starting to get yellow, the air is fresh and a little chilly but not so cold that you will need winter clothing, though. He decides to go to the playground. 'Not too many people there, I guess...' he thinks while he avoids peoples stares, he doesn't have the best reputation in town.
When he finally reaches the playground he sits down in the sand and starts drawing in the sand with a stick which he finds lying around. Cub sits next to him, playing with a toy car, not bothered by him but when Pop notices that Lifty is sitting there with his son, he hurries to pick his child up and walks away. Lifty actually feels a little hurt by that but he understands why Pop doesn't want him to be near his son. He also notices that the others on the playground moves keeps their distance.
'They thinks I'm a freak...' The tears starts coming back again. He feels like the biggest thug in the world. He pulls his legs up and puts his arms around them.
He whimpers and sobs. 'I hate myself...' He thinks.
"Did ya do that?" someone who's standing next to him asks. Lifty freezes when he hears the voice. What have he done now? Something wrong again? He hurries to wipe the tares away before he looks up at the person next to him. It's Nutty, a squirrel who's addicted to candy and always seems to be happy. He's the same age as Lifty but much cuter, at least in Lifty's opinion since he does not like his own looks. Nutty has a lazy eye though that's lime-green while the other one has the color of honey. The raccoon is surprised to have the candy loving squirrel talking to him.
"W-what?" He asks looking away from him in an attempt to avoid their eyes to meet. He swallows hard and waits for the squirrel to answer.
"The sand drawin'... did ya do it?"
He sits down next to the raccoon who stares at the sand. Lifty nods slowly. He's confused because the squirrel is talking to him.
"It's good." Nutty says and smiles at the raccoon who's just a little taller than himself. Lifty looks at him with a confused look on his face. He's not use to complements so he blushes a little.
"Th-thank you..." He stutters.
Nutty tilts his head a little, still smiling.
"Um...Lifty, Would ya like to go to the ice-cream bar with me?" He asks with his hoarse yet sweet voice. Why is he being so nice to him? He knows who Lifty is. Lifty hesitates. The idea of that someone would even consider to associate with him is unlikely. But he sure is curious about this light green haired kid with candy stuck to his hair.
"Well, ya wanna come with me?" Nutty asks after a while of silence. Lifty nods without really thinking the thing through.
"Great!" Nutty giggles and grabs Lifty's hand to drags the raccoon with him.
They stops outside of the ice-cream bar. Lifty eyes the bar up and down with an unfunny feeling about this.
"THIS ice-cream bar?" He asks at Nutty who lets go of his hand.
"Yeah, it's the only one in town, ya know." The squirrel replies with a giggle holding up the glass door for Lifty. The raccoon's ears drops and he starts fiddling with his fingers in a stressed way but decides to go inside anyway.
They sits down by a table and picks up a menu each. Then Giggles, a girl in their age as well, walks up to them with a note block and a pencil in her hands.
"What can I, like, do for you today, Nutty?" She says with a sweet smile on her face. She's one of the cutest girls in town, no wonder she's never single.
"Hm, let's see...oh! I'll take one of them!" He points at something on the menu, Giggles nods and writes it down. She then turns to Lifty who quickly hides his face behind the menu.
"What can I, like, give you then?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll take the same as he did!" He says so fast that he almost bites his tongue. The female nods and walks away.
Nutty gives the raccoon behind the menu an concerned look.
"Whatcha' doin'?" He puts a hand on the menu and lowers it so he can see the blushing boy look back at him with a distressed look in his face.
"I think you know the deal, dude." Lifty hisses at Nutty. The squirrel thinks for a while before answering.
"Ya've robbed this place?" Lifty hushes the squirrel.
"Not so loud!" He whispers. Nutty frowns at him.
"Ya did?"
"So what if I did it? You knows that's what I do!" the raccoon whispers and raises the menu to cover his face again.
"And that leads to the question: Why didn't you leave me? Why did you want to be with ME of all the people in town?" He proceeds after a few seconds. Nutty's ears drops and he doesn't look as happy anymore.
"Well...ya looked so lonely and I know how it feels..." Lifty gives him a strange look. He has never seen Nutty sad, he thinks it's kind of creepy.
"What do you mean?" Lifty asks curiously.
The squirrel sighs and looks sadly out the window at Cuddles and Toothy who's outside flying kites and having a good time.
"They're only beein' nice to me out of pity..." He hangs his head dejectedly.
"Pity?" Lifty asks.
"Yeah, 'cause I'm odd" Nutty explains to him. Lifty feels so bad for him.
Lifty is shunned but at least he's got a brother who can be shunned with him while Nutty have no one.
"I'm sorry, Nutty." The raccoon tells the squirrel. Nutty now looks at him and smiles
"Guess we have somethin' in common, huh?" and Lifty have to smile back at him. He's feeling touched and have to stop himself from saying 'Naaaww' and tilt his head. He doesn't want to look like an idiot.
The squirrel suddenly becomes silent. Lifty does not like that silence, it's uncomfortable and out of no where.
"By the way...why ain't ya with ya bro' today? I thought ya always hang." Nutty asks after a long silence and so the lump starts coming back in Lifty's stomach. He wants to get up and away but for some reason he stays put.
"We...we had a fight..." Lifty have no idea why he just told Nutty that, it's something about him that feels right.
"Oh, sorry. Was it serious?" the squirrel asks. Lifty bites his lip while thinking about what he shall say.
"N-no, not really..." He then answers.
"Do ya draw much?" Nutty must understand that it's uncomfortable for Lifty to talk about this since he changes subject.
"No..." The raccoon answers low. Actually he does draw a lot.
"Ya must be kiddin' me! Ya're awesome at it!" The squirrel giggles in disbelief. Lifty blushes behind the menu and thanks the boy.
No one have ever treated him nice before, it makes him feel good.
Now Giggles comes back with two big banana splits with chocolate-sauce. She puts them down on the table and says
"Here you go." with a smile. When she walks away Lifty finally puts the menu on the table.
Nutty begins to eat his banana split while Lifty is just staring at his.
"What's the matter? Dontcha' like it?" Nutty asks with big eyes since it must be impossible for him to imagine. He keeps eye contact with Lifty for a long time. Finally the raccoon answers.
"Not so much..." He mumbles while looking at the banana split in front of him with a slight smile on his face. The squirrel gives him a friendly smile and keeps staring at Lifty for a long while, the raccoon thinks it's strange and asks Nutty why he stares at him.
"What is it?"
"It's strange...that's not ya usual grin." Lifty looks at him, not quite sure if he understands what he means.
"Ya look...much nicer like this..." He mumbles a little absent, still looking at him. The raccoon blushes at him.
"Is that a good thing?" He then asks carefully, trying to keep his voice down.
"Yeah, I think so." The squirrel says. They both looks at each other for a long time until Nutty brakes the silence.
"Do ya want me to help ya eat the rest of ya banana split?" He asks.
"Yes please." Lifty answers with a smile and the both of them tarts to eat it.
[Later]
Nutty follows Lifty to his house, talking a lot.
"Well, here we are." Lifty says when they're only a few steps away from the out door. Nutty eyes the building up and down.
"Neat." He says. Lifty looks at it too. It's definitely not 'neat'. It's an old house with red brick walls and a green roof with holes in it that's badly repared with some planks. The lamp that's hanging above the door is filled with flies and flicking. There's also graffiti on the walls. But still the squirrel are just smiling as he always does when he's happy.
"Oh well, see you tomorrow Nutty!" Lifty tells his new friend. "Yeah, see ya' tomorrow, Pear!" The squirrel hugs him and runs off. Or maybe half-jumping and giggling. Lifty stays on the spot for a while still feeling the hug. He's not use to hugs but he likes them. 'I could get use to this' he thinks before entering his home.
"Your new boyfriend?" Shifty asks Lifty when he closes the door behind him.
Lifty snaps at his brother
"What are you talking about you moron?"
Shifty walks up to his brother.
"The green candy-freak, you dumbass! Do you know what people are going to say?" He crosses his arms and glares at Lifty. He's probably still angry because of the failure earlier today. He looks more intimidating than Lifty remembers him to be.
"He's n-not my b-boyfriend!" He protests. The lump is back, as always when he feels frightened and sad.
"Save it, pansy!" His brother tells him.
He's not so much taller than Lifty, only a centimeter or two, but he sure can make Lifty feel small.
"Why do you have to be such a weirdo? If I hadn't promised mom that I would take care of you I would have dumped you years ago!"
Tears starts sipping down Lifty's cheeks.
"Why do you have to be so mean to me?"
Shifty looks down at his younger brother.
"I'm freaking tired, that's why!" He answers in a mocking voice. He then walks in to the kitchen but before entering he turns to Lifty and says
"You can fuck him as much as you pleases as long as no one else has to see it!" Then he walks into the kitchen.
Lifty sits down in the middle of the outer hall. His ears drops. This day is a big mess. Shifty is grumpier than usual. On the other hand there's Nutty who fills him with such glee. But then again he'll always be shunned by the people in the town. 'Shifty is such an idiot...' Lifty thinks. He then rises and walks into his room but before he closes the door he can hear his brother shout
"Don't jerk off to a picture of him or something, queer-o!"
Lifty groans at the bad 'joke' and slams the door shut. He lies down on his bed and stares at the ceiling until he falls asleep.
Please review. :)
(I made Shifty a little nicer cuz when I read it I realized that he's being TOO mean) :S