Hello, been a long time but I've finally been able to get out this update. And you can hopefully expect more updates since I'm planning on working on this and occasionally my request fic. C:

Btw, thank you for all the encouraging reviews, especially you Nom de Plume! It was a delight to read the whole review and that you took the time to write such a lengthy review. ^^ I just hope that I don't disappoint you in any future chapters since I honestly don't have this entire thing planned out, but I am working on planning the rest of the story though!

And thank you shewolf94! I'm glad you understand and don't worry, your friends haven't been a problem at all. xD

Warning for language.

xXx

Silence surrounded the small room, a furry green, ringed tail swung in the air gently as forest colored orbs watched its movements absently from below. A leg lifted up and stayed in its bent position as a gloved hand drifted beneath the moss strands to cradle the lazing head as the other stayed in the air playing with the string to the keychain.

The lounging male's eyelids drooped a bit, eyes staring but not really registering the furry thing. His mind was elsewhere, reminiscing on the many things that has happened in the last couple months; every memory centering around the sweet redhead that he's been living with. It all played like a slideshow through his mind; from when they first met all the way to where they currently are.

It just all seems so surreal to him.

Even after all this time Lifty still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he actually has grown close to someone other than his controlling brother. Sometimes, he pinches himself just to make sure that it isn't a dream - it's ridiculous he knows, but really; can you blame him? He's never gotten such kindness from someone without an ulterior motive behind it.

And he still doesn't know how to deal with his growing attachment to the woman, there's still times - though they have gotten fewer - where he doesn't know how to respond to any of her hugs and instead just tenses up.

It was weird, he thought.

Because he has no problem touching her when it comes to teasing her and getting a flustered reaction - maybe it was because they were just for his entertainment.

But whenever she initiates the touches, he feels his cheeks burn, heart beating rapidly and limbs locking and tensing up; unable to bring them up to wrap around her small frame.

Closing his eyes, he released a soft sigh. This was all so confusing and he was going to have a hard time interpreting his feelings but maybe over time he'll understand it.

But what he does know is that he'll be having many precious memories that he'll always remember no matter what.

"I would never kick you out."

"Thank you Lifty, I feel so much better now."

Suddenly, the place on his cheek where her lips pressed briefly tingled with warmth; seconds afterwards his entire face burned at the remembrance of her soft, pillowy lips. His hand lowered from the air to fist into his shirt right above his abdomen that was overcome with a ticklish burst.

With a growl, he twisted to lie on his front; burying his pink face into his sheets, his hand that was cradling his head now yanked at the unruly strands in frustration. Grumbling into his sheets, he wondered how he'll be able to cope with this foreign emotion, especially with the redhead getting more open and touchy feely with him everyday.

He was thankfully pulled out of his emotional distress when the sound of knuckles rapping lightly at his door reached his ears. It'll always surprise him how Flaky would be so polite and not barge in even though it was her house.

Then again she was nothing like his obnoxious brother who would just kick the door in without even bothering to knock.

Making sure that his face has cooled down a bit, the klepto slowly pushed himself off his bed to go open his door to the patient redhead with her lips tugged up into a bright smile at the sight of his face.

"I-I didn't wake you up, did I?" She asked, her fingers wringing the bottom of her sweater.

He shook his head, his face set in neutrality as he answered her. "No, I was up already. Don't worry about it."

The corners of her lips drifted up joyfully. "A-ah, that's good...I made lunch if you're hungry."

Nodding, he lifted a hand to ruffle her hair playfully causing her to pout as she reached up to fix her messy locks, "okay, I'll be out in a second." He chuckled, pulling back his hand once she began swatting at it in an attempt to make him stop.

"Alright," her fingers combed through her hair to straighten it out. She turned to leave when she suddenly paused as if she just remembered something then turned to him with furrowed brows. "Oh...uhm...I-I'm going to have a guest over today..uh, I j-just thought that I should l-let you know incase you'd prefer to stay in your room.."

"Is it one of those gossiping bitches?" He inquired boredly, leaning lazily against the doorway with his arms crossed along his chest.

"S-stop swearing...and Giggles and Petunia a-are not...that w-word you said.." She mumbled at him with a frown, her large eyes set in an 'intimidating' glare. Knowing that she wasn't gonna stop until he agreed, Lifty sighed loudly and nodded his head languidly, causing her to smile again. "And no, it's n-not them coming over."

Hearing what he needed, the bandit pushed off the doorway he was leaning on and took a couple steps backward, intending to close his door and change his clothes for the day. "That's all I need to know then. I'll be out in a few minutes."

xXx

"So," Lifty started as he took a large bite of his food, continuing to talk around his mouthful, "if it's not those two bit- I mean, if it's not those two things that you call friends coming over...then who's coming?"

"P-please don't talk with your mouth full." Flaky murmured, using her napkin to clean up the small piece of food that flew from his open mouth.

"It's not soldier boy, is it?" He continued, casually ignoring her attempts to reprimand him.

"No," she answered, pressing the napkin to his chewing mouth to keep him from talking more. "I-it's Nutty, he said he wanted to come over and p-play."

The green haired male cringed and swallowed the food in his mouth so that his hostess would remove the napkin from his lips. "Ugh, really? The sugar freak?" He grumbled, leaning down to take another bite.

"Y-yeah...that's why I was asking if you preferred to stay in your room during his visit..I know how hyper he can get." She told him with a worried gaze. She's not sure how the thief would take to the energetic boy and his tendency to bounce off the walls once he's eaten candy; she wouldn't want him losing his temper and end up hurting the smaller boy.

Lifty was silent for a few moments, chewing thoughtfully. He figured that maybe Flaky was right; he doubted he would be able to handle the candy lover's energy before he ends up snapping.

He was just about to agree that maybe he'll just hang in his room for the day when he suddenly remembered the pink haired girl's words from not that long ago.

And that was the fact that Nutty apparently used to have a crush on the shy redhead next to him.

He chewed slowly on the food gathered in his mouth as his eyes drifted to gaze at the redhead next to him who was busy picking up a piece of egg to eat; feeling the stare, she glanced at him and sent him a tiny smile before placing the yellow food in her mouth.

Having been caught staring, the male felt his cheeks warm as his eyes darted to stare at his steadily disappearing food instead. It was already bad enough that soldier boy had a thing for the adorable woman next to him but now he has to deal with a grown hyperactive male who doesn't know the meaning of personal space and can bet that the candy freak will be clinging onto his hostess the entire visit.

And knowing how submissive she is - Flaky would just let him hang all over her.

"No, I'll hang out here with you two." He blurted out without thinking.

Wait.

Why did he just agree to let himself be tortured with hanging out with a constant jittering addict?

It shouldn't matter to him whether or not the younger male had a crush on the redhead; with Flippy, he only hung around the two because he didn't like the soldier and wanted to bug him.

No, he was not jealous of the happy go lucky soldier's close relationship with the redhead. Yeah. It was just because he just plain did not like the guy and his stupid lime green hair.

And he was not jealous at all of the candy freak.

A flash of the lazy eyed male hugging his caretaker flashed through his mind; his sharp teeth then crunched down harder than necessary, gut twisting with knots.

Nope, he's not gonna say it. He is not jealous; because he does not have romantic feelings for the redhead.

His fingers tightened on his fork; he just doesn't like the candy lover either. Yeah, that's it, he just can't stand the sugar freak one bit.

He's not jealous.

Nope.

Not one bit.

He just wants to make sure the hyper dumbass doesn't end up hurting his hostess with his ridiculous antics.

His eyes drifted back to the woman next to him, face darkening at the radiant smile directed at him. "Okay. W-who knows, maybe you guys'll end up being friends." She giggled before getting up to answer the door once a frantic knocking was heard.

"I highly doubt that." He muttered under his breath, spearing the food aggressively at the sound of a familiar high pitched voice squealing behind him.

"FLAAAAAAAAKY!" A squeak was heard along with a muffled greeting that suggested that the guest was already smothering his friend with a hug.

This is going to be a loooooong day.

Glancing over his shoulder the already irritated thief was able to catch the sight of the sugar lover rubbing his candy covered cheek affectionately against the top of his friend's head, his arms wrapped tight around her tense shoulders and keeping her flustered and trapped against him.

Seeing that the boy wasn't going to release the by now suffocating woman began to get on Lifty's nerves and with a sneer making its appearance on his lips the bandit pushed his chair back and stood up. Marching over to the locked couple, Lifty reached over and wrapped one arm around the petite woman's waist as the other moved forward to fist onto the back of Nutty's colorful shirt and rudely yanked the smaller male off.

"Hello there, Nutty." His sneer twisted up into a tight lipped smile, voice coming out in an overly sugar coated tone.

The boy blinked his mismatched eyes at the intruder in confusion, brain trying to register who is standing in front of him. He soon got his answer with a loud gasp, sticky lips breaking out into a wide ear to ear grin as he pointed a finger inches away from the agitated man's face.

"Ooooooh! I remember you! You're that twin thief guy that Flaky had me help save!" He exclaimed excitedly, unable to contain his giddiness and began bouncing around restlessly.

"I'm surprised you're still alive! I thought you'd be dead but Flaky really wanted to save you for whatever reason...hey, hey, hey," his mouth was going nonstop, spouting word after word and Lifty could have sworn that he could feel a migraine coming up. "Do you have anymore candy that you can sell me?!" The thief felt an eye twitch, his hand that was resting on Flaky's waist tightening unintentionally.

He doesn't want Flaky to know about his shady business...even if it was just candy that he and his brother sold to the addict.

"You have, right?! You always have," he paused to dig in his pocket and promptly pulled out a bunch of twenty dollar bills, waving it in front of the thief's face who in turn felt his fingers twitch; anxious to snatch those beautiful green papers out of the sticky hand holding them hostage. "Five dollars for each piece of candy, right?!"

A bead of sweat dribbled down the side of Lifty's temple as he shifted his eyes to the side to avoid that lovely shade of green and the urge to downright push the candy lover over and run away with his cash. "I...I...don't know what you're talking about. You addict." Flaky sent him a look and he immediately corrected himself. "I mean, Nutty."

"Whaaaaaat," Nutty continued to whine much to his steadily growing annoyance. Why can't this guy shut up already? "But don't you remember? You and your look alike sold me a bunch of candy when I met you two in an alley! You gave me a whole truck load that almost kill-"

"Nope. Don't know what you're talking about. Don't remember ever doing any of that." Lifty interrupted, a visible tick appearing on his brow - he really can't stand this guy; he doesn't understand how Flaky could stand him for an entire day. Coughing in his fist, the thief turned to the quiet women next to him to hopefully get the addict's attention off of him. "Uhm, so Flaky. Are we going to finish eating? The food's gonna get cold and stale."

"Food?" The redhead blinked cluelessly until it dawned on her that they never got to finish their lunch. "Oh! T-that's right! I almost forgot about it..uhm, Nutty?"

The boy in question perked up at the sound of his name. "Yeees?" He answered, stretching the word out playfully with a toothy grin.

Flaky giggled at his childlike mannerisms. "You want to join us?"

He was practically hopping like a bunny as he nodded his head rapidly and with a squeal, jumped back onto the redhead, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as he stuck himself to her side; taking no notice of her exasperated sigh, much too used to his touches to be that embarrassed.

From her peripheral vision, Flaky noticed the grouchy expression on her guest's face along with the occasional twitch of his eye. She caught him raise his gloved hands in the air, obviously intending on ripping the smaller boy off of her person again.

But before he could do that, Flaky raised a hand, making him stop in his tracks as he merely blinked at her in question. Sending him a small smile, she said to him, "it's okay, I don't mind. Nutty just likes to h-hug people." With that said, she began to make her way back to the table where she ended up having to share her chair with the candy lover.

Staring incredulously at the amount of patience that the redhead held towards her loud friend; Lifty slowly made his way back to his seat, unable to bring himself to tear his eyes away from them.

Especially when that damn candy covered freak had the nerve to actually pick Flaky up and place her onto his lap so that they had enough room. He had a feeling that this twitch in his eye might be a permanent thing once he saw Flaky only smile in response and handed the freak a bag of candy that she had left on the table especially for him.

He knew he should have just eaten that entire bag when he first saw it.

Yes, Nutty and Flaky's relationship is strictly platonic; but for some reason it still bothered him to see her sitting on that boy's lap with his thin arms wrapped around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder as he popped candy after candy into his waiting mouth out of the bag sitting on her legs.

His sharp teeth grinding and fingers tightening on his fork; Lifty watched the display with livid eyes.

That's it. He can't take it anymore; this is just as annoying as when the soldier boy visits.

Food forgotten completely; the thief dropped his fork and shot his hand out, swiping the bag of candy out of the smiling boy's hand easily.

"My candy!" Nutty screeched with wide eyes.

Lifty grinned sadistically and shook the bag teasingly in front of the wide pleading eyes before pulling it back and plucking a candy out, he made sure the boy watched as he tossed it into his mouth; his teeth snapping down harshly on it.

"Give it back!" He whined, reaching a hand out vainly as the grinning thief held it out of his reach.

"Nope."

Taking notice of the commotion, and looking behind her; Flaky caught the liquid gathering in the corners of Nutty's glistening eyes, his teeth nibbling on his lower lip in frustration and automatically felt her heart clench at the sad sight.

Then she became worried because she knows that Nutty will soon become angered and attack the thief.

Nothing gets between him and his sweet tooth.

And despite his constant happy demeanor, she knows this boy can get extremely vicious once denied what he wants.

"Lifty," she called in what she hoped was a firm voice. Catching his attention, her eyes narrowed a bit to hopefully intimidate him. "Give Nutty back his candy."

"What if I don't wanna?" He snarked, making it a point to toss more candy in his mouth and she felt Nutty began to shake in growing anger under her.

"Lifty," she muttered lowly, lips tugging down into a disappointed frown. "I-if you don't give back his candy...I...I...won't let you eat dinner tonight."

"...You wouldn't." He growled, she wouldn't deny him the pleasure of eating her wonderful cooking...would she?

"I-I would." She answered, attempting to challenge his stare but quickly failed as she broke eye contact to stare nervously down at her now cold food. "I'll give the whole dinner to Nutty once I finish eating."

"And I would eat it all." Nutty growled, his mismatched eyes now narrowed and glaring holes into the thief's head.

Giving up, Lifty rolled his eyes and reluctantly handed the bag back to the lazy eyed boy who immediately snatched it out of his outstretched hand. Opening the bag, he quickly retained his wide grin as he resumed eating, leading Flaky to go back to finishing her food.

Stabbing his cold food with his fork, Lifty dropped his cheek grouchily onto his open palm; glowering at the two from beneath his fringe.

She obviously spoils the boy way too much.

Why is all of Flaky's friends so irritating?

If this is how the whole town is then he could be happy with Flaky being his only friend.

xXx

It's only been a couple hours and Lifty still could not bring the corners of his lips up from their downward position. His thumb pressed down on the volume button of the remote; he could still hear the two conversing animatedly in the kitchen - well more like Nutty yapping away while Flaky agreed to whatever he was saying.

His mood was dampened further than it already was when he and Flaky had finished their food and she had collected their plates to go wash. He was just about to get up to follow her into the kitchen to maybe help out with the washing when Nutty - being the noisy little bastard that he is - jumped up and exclaimed about how he wanted to help her with the dishes.

She had giggled and nodded her head, thanking him as she started walking to the kitchen with that annoying ball of energy trailing after her.

And by now he was pretty damn sure that she was done with the dishes and those two have yet to make their appearance.

The volume was on max by now, completely drowning out that loud mouth's whiny voice.

Why were they taking so long?

...

Why was this bothering him so much?

Lifty groaned and lifted the remote to hit himself on the head repeatedly. He doesn't remember ever being so emotionally invested in someone before.

Well, except for the times that he contemplated murdering Shifty after he pissed him off numerous times.

Ugh, his brother is the last person he wants on his mind at the moment.

With the tv blasting, he couldn't hear nothing but the happy jangles of commercials. So he was unable to hear his hostess calling his name over and over while he sat there and repeatedly let his forehead get acquainted with the remote.

It wasn't until he felt her poking his leg did he take notice of the two occupants in the room with him. He looked up to see the redhead's mouth moving as she made down gestures with her hands and could only assume that she was telling him to lower the volume of the tv.

Shrugging, he did just that.

Flaky sighed in relief and tapped Nutty's shoulder to let him know that he didn't have to cover his ears anymore.

"Uhm, L-Lifty?" She started, giving her attention back to him. "Well, Nutty and I was going to play a g-game...and we wanted to see if you want to join in?"

"Depends," he shrugs with a neutral expression. "What game?"

"It's called-" she was cut off by Nutty jumping on her unexpectedly and wrapping his arms around her.

"Blind man tag!" Nutty exclaimed happily.

"The hell is that?" Lifty sneered, glowering at the hyper boy who was completely oblivious to the animosity he held towards him.

Smiling widely, Flaky stepped out of Nutty's arms and moved forward to grab Lifty's hands, who, at the gesture; tensed up with a light blush. Having grown accustomed to the thief always tensing up whenever she touches him, Flaky merely giggled and tugged lightly at his hands, urging him to get up. "C-come on Lifty. Just come play with us."

"...Fine." He's been having a hard time telling her no nowadays.

There seriously must be something wrong with him.

xXx

One brow was raised as Lifty watched Flaky tie one of her dark ribbons around Nutty's head, his constant jittering and giggling making it hard for her to get it securely on him. Losing his patience at her fourth attempt to tie the ribbon only for it to be too loose when Nutty kept bouncing around; Lifty gently tugged the ribbon out of the struggling redhead's hands and tied it expertly himself - making sure that it was extra snug.

Maybe if he was lucky, blood flow would be cut off and the hyper boy will thankfully be knocked out.

But much to his chagrin, that didn't seem to be likely as Nutty took no notice and continued his antsy movements; ready to get started.

"So...what's the rules?" Lifty asked, placing his hands on his hips and gazing at his hostess expectantly.

"W-will you actually follow the rules?" Flaky asked teasingly, smothering a giggle behind her hand. Lifty stared at her incredulously for a second before breaking out into a toothy grin; who knew that Flaky of all people - would make a playful jab at him.

"I might follow them if I feel like it."

She muffled another giggle before deciding to start explaining the rules since she could see Nutty getting restless with every second that passed. "Okay, well the objective of the game is that N-Nutty - the blind man - has to tag one of us."

"That's it?" The thief looked unimpressed.

"Uhm, n-no. We have to try to get his attention - let him know where we are, but still a-avoid him at the same time."

"Get his attention.." Lifty murmured to himself looking at the blind man thoughtfully. "Like this?" He asked, lifting a hand and smacking the back of Nutty's head with a shit eating grin.

Yes, he heard Flaky's stunned gasp.

But it was still worth it.

"Ow! You meanie!" Nutty cried in pain, grasping the back of his head. "Flaaaaaky!" He whimpered.

She sighed and reached over to rub his head soothingly. "Lifty.." She muttered, it seems like she's been scolding him all day today. "That's not how you play..you're just s-supposed to make noise around him to alert him to your l-location."

"Okay, okay, okay," he shrugged uncaringly, not bothering to give an apology. "I'll try to follow the rules."

But he and Flaky knew that he was not going to follow the rules anyway.

Atleast not on Nutty's turn.

It was a couple minutes into the game and this has to have been the first time that Flaky has ever seen her childish friend actually grow frustrated with someone for something other than candy - it seems Lifty can be really infuriating when he wants to be.

Flaky was now watching from the side - having been the first to be caught by Nutty screeching and somehow knowing exactly where she was, zipped to where she was and latched onto her.

Apparently, according to him, he knew where she was because she smells like delicious strawberries.

But now that just left Lifty to catch and he was making himself purposely difficult to nab. And he was enjoying his time poking fun at the current blind man too.

"Hey stupid, over here." Lifty snickered into the now scowling boy's ear who automatically spun around and swung out a fist that the thief easily managed to avoid.

It seems Nutty has stopped caring about giving just a simple tap.

Naturally being able to be silent thanks to his thieving ways, Lifty was easily able to dance around the boy without him ever noticing where he was until he gives out his location.

Snickering again, the moss colored man lifted up a leg and kicked the back of the shorter boy's knee; almost making him fall much to his delight.

"Lifty...p-please stop being mean." Flaky pleaded from the side, hoping that he would listen - the last thing she would want is for Nutty to get so irritated that he ends up breaking out into tears.

When he continued to pick on the blind boy despite her pleas was when Flaky decided that it was time to intervene and switch blind man's already.

"O-okay, that's enough. L-lets switch already." She announced making them both pause; the bandit letting out a disappointed sigh.

"Aw, that was entertaining while it lasted."

Nutty reached up and ripped his ribbon off; sending the offender a withering glare. "I don't like you." He growled.

"And I care?" Lifty shrugged with a smug grin.

Weirdly enough, within seconds Nutty went back to his happy self much to the thief's confusion. "It's your turn Flaky!" He yelled, bounding over to the redhead and beginning to tie the ribbon on her.

Once they got started, Lifty just stood off to the side and watched as Nutty constantly clapped and laughed by the blinded Flaky only to run away as soon as she turned to him.

Clapping his hands, Lifty watched as Flaky turned to him and slowly - very slowly - made her way to him. He could tell that being blind did not help her paranoia one bit; her steps were cautious and slow, hands held out in front of her to make sure she doesn't bump into anything and to tag one of them and her entire frame was shivering like a leaf. When she was just inches from him, the observing male took a step to the side and watched closely as she continued to walk forward, taking no notice of him standing right next to her.

She wasn't gonna tag anyone like this.

Snapping his fingers, he watched her pause before turning around and heading back in his direction. He stood still as a statue as she nervously made her way over, teeth nibbling on her lip as her searching hands stayed in front of her.

Her hands soon found his chest, her fingers splaying across its target and moving across the span of space. Her teeth released her lip as she gasped. "H-hey, I-I tagged someone! I-I actually tagged someone!" She cried excitedly.

Lifty smirked softly down at her at the sight of her proud smile. "Yep, you caught me. Who knew?" He chuckled, stuffing his hands in his pockets casually.

"Ah! You got the jerk out Flaky! Good job! Now you just have to find me!" Nutty practically screeched into his ear; ruining whatever good mood that he just had.

And unlike him, Nutty had no mercy on the tiny woman. He didn't give her any chance to tag him at all and again they had to end up switching blind man's since this was taking much too long.

And now it was Lifty's turn to be left in the dark.

And karma was now biting him in the ass since Nutty was taking this chance to exact his revenge. The hyper boy was doing all kinds of things to get his attention.

One of them was throwing candy at his head.

Another was using his finger to jab him in the ribs.

Slapping him on the back.

Kicking his shin.

And Flaky - who was trying to reprimand Nutty - was completely ignored on the side as Lifty constantly reached out to grab the boy to sock him in the face. He would have just gone around swinging his fist blindly but he didn't want to risk hitting Flaky.

And it seems Nutty too was quite agile at being able to avoid being caught much to his distress.

A fist suddenly connected with the back of his head and he snarled, spinning around and darting forward with his hands outstretched.

Nutty - who was standing in front of Flaky - laughed giddily and jumped out of the way, narrowly missing the thief's hands.

A squeak was heard in the now silent room.

Lifty raised an eyebrow at what he grabbed.

What the fuck?

His hands squeezed lightly, squishing the soft things in his hands and drawing out another girlish squeak. Okay, that is most definitely not Nutty.

He then heard loud laughter next to him, "the jerk is being a pervert and grabbing Flaky's boobies!"

What?

Pulling back a hand, Lifty lifted a bit of his blindfold to see if the addict was lying.

His green eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of one of his hands firmly grasping Flaky's breast, her eyes screwed shut in embarrassment with a bright red face.

His own face burst out into fire as he retracted his hands and backpedaled away so fast that he tripped over his own feet and fell onto his bum. "I-I'm not a pervert!"

Why does this feel like déjà vu?

Flaky continued standing there, hands now covering her chest; still not saying anything as Nutty broke out into maniacal laughter next to her.

Lifty groaned, pressing a hand to his hot face.

Fuck this game.

xXx

Thanks for reading! :D