Chapter 15

I do not own Happy Tree Friends. All credit goes to Mondo Media

~EPILOGUE~

Russell and Lumpy watched their daughter play with the small waves as they sat on the beach. The former pirate leaned on the other's shoulder and lifted his head slightly to gaze at him. Lumpy had an arm wrapped around his shoulder and pecked his forehead gently. "So, Flippy told me something interesting."

"Oh? What's that?" Russell pulled away to give him a look as Lumpy smiled in response. "He's thinking about a surprise for Flaky." Russell shot up at the statement and gasped with wide eyes. Lumpy coughed to cover his laughter as the younger male stood up. "Is it what I think it is? What the fuck took him so long?"

"Well, he was scared that he was gonna hurt Flakes, and that kind of got in the way of asking," The taller of the two lowered his head to think. "And I think he was scared of what Flaky might say."

"That's bullshit. You know Flaky's gonna say yes."

"That's what I told him," Lumpy replied while getting to his feet. "But he was still doubting." Russell crossed his arms and slightly puffed his cheeks, quietly calling the veteran a dumbass. He heard Umi call out to him and he turned to see her pointing to something in front of her. Russell rolled up his pants and sped towards her, lightly splashing some of the waves, and glanced down to see her pointing to a sea urchin resting near her feet. "Sweetie, don't touch that," He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her out of the water, trying to find a safe place to put her down. "They can hurt you and I don't want that." He set her down near his right and kissed her forehead. "Mama, why do some fish try to hurt people?"

"That's just who they are," Russell responded softly, looking down to see a small fish swimming near his feet. "Some fish don't like people, and they try to kill them."

"What kind of fish do that, Mama?"

"There are sharks, squids, sometimes octopuses, and some other fish you'll learn about when you're older." Umi started to kick at the water, and she laughed when the fish near her started to swim in different directions. Russell smiled and heard someone else enter the water, and turned around to see Lumpy wrap arms around him with a peck on the lips. Umi nuzzled her father's leg with a grin before looking out towards the horizon. The two parents each took one of her hands in his and followed her gaze. "Hey," Russell turned to his husband and was greeted with a kiss and a nuzzle. "I love you."

"I love you too." Russell pecked his cheek and picked up Umi in his arms before the three of them grabbed their things and made their way home.

Shifty entered the house to hear the TV across the hall, and entered the living room to see the twins wrapped in their coloring books while a marathon of Adventure Time showed on the TV. The two looked up and smiled at their father, who glanced around to see if his brother was around. "Where's your papa?"

"Papa went to take a nap." Zack piped up before returning to the page he was coloring on. Shifty nodded and ruffled both of their heads before going upstairs to his bedroom. He quietly opened the door to see his twin stretched out on the bed and faced towards the window. Shifty slowly crawled on the bed and wrapped an arm around his torso, his hand sneaking under his shirt to stroke his torso. He felt a scar on Lifty's stomach, which reminded him of the nightmare that the two went through when Zack and Jack were born: Lifty was shouting that there was something wrong, and no matter how hard he tried, the twins weren't moving at all despite his constant pushing. In the end, the doctors had done an emergency c-section in order to keep all three of them alive.

Lifty released a slight moan and shifted somewhat in his older half's arms, which caused Shifty's hand to be closer to his crotch. He lifted an eyebrow before smirking and sneaking a few fingers under the waistband of his pants. They began to move closer towards the younger's member until a voice spoke up. "Can't you go one second without trying to give me a handjob?"

"What can I say? I can't resist you." Lifty rolled over to face his twin with a slight glare as the older grinned. He closed his eyes and Lifty noticed a hand gently stroking the scar, and placed his hand over his twin's. "Hey, it's okay. I'm fine." He pecked his lips with a sweet kiss and pulled him close. Shifty nuzzled his hair with half-lidded eyes as they held each other for as long as they could. "Papa? Daddy?" Shifty turned around to see Jack standing in the doorway, and he sat up in response. "What's wrong, bud?"

"U-Um there's a spider under the couch." Shifty swung his legs off of the bed and pecked his twin's cheek before heading for the hall. "I'll be back soon." Lifty nodded and closed his eyes as the two left the room and slowly succumbed to sleep once again.

The triplets were crouched near the oven as they watched the cookies inside slowly bake while Nutty was cleaning off the kitchen counter. He glanced at them with a warm smile. "You know, you don't have to stay there. Go in the other room and watch TV."

"But then we won't get any cookies, Mommy." Candy pouted but kept her eyes on the oven.

"I'll call you when they're ready, I promise." The triplets stayed in their position for another moment before sitting up and heading for the living room. Nutty sighed and relaxed his shoulders as he did one final wipe down before stepping away. He backed into someone's chest and turned around to see Sniffles wrapping arms around him with a peck to his jaw. "This is the fourth time you've been baking something. What's all of this for?"

"I'll tell you later," Nutty replied while cupping his cheek with a smile before pulling away. "If I wasn't baking this for someone else, then I'd be eating both of those cakes with out any trouble." Sniffles grimaced at the statement and held the other's hips gently. "I hate how you can do that. Remember what happened the last time you were given more candy than you could handle?" The candy addict nuzzled him in response as the memory came back to him: he paid a large amount of money to the twins in exchange for a truckload of sweets. In the end, Nutty had choked on the candy and almost died from eating it all.

Nutty leaned forward and slowly pressed their lips together, causing Sniffles to step forward and trap Nutty between him and the counter. The greenette grabbed onto the surface behind him with a slight moan as Sniffles forced his lips apart with his tongue. The inventor's fingers slipped underneath his pants and stroked his sides gently as their tongues danced aggressively. Sniffles pulled his mouth away to see a panting, flushed mess in front of him, and the sight was enough to turn him on.

"Mommy and Daddy are being gross again." The two turned to see Sammy peeking from the doorway with a confused gaze. The couple pulled away slightly, and Nutty looked at the oven to see that the cookies were close to being burned, and he pulled away from Sniffles to pull them out and place them on the counter. "Sammy, tell your siblings that the cookies are ready." The toddler nodded and left the room as Nutty slid the cookies onto a plate. He turned over to Sniffles, who looked a bit personally offended that they were interrupted. Nutty winked at him as the triplets ran into the room, and he handed each of them a cookie. "That's all you'll get. This is for a very special day and I want to make sure there are still enough cookies left."

"Okay."

"Oh, and Daddy and I have some stuff to take care of in the lab. You know you're not allowed in there."

"We know, Mama." Danny replied while taking another bite out of his cookie before he followed his siblings back into the living room to watch cartoons. Nutty strode over to the bluenette and grabbed the bulge in his pants, causing him to almost double over as he grabbed the other's shoulders. "Go on. You know you want to." Sniffles hauled the other over his shoulder and quickly stormed into the lab, slamming and locking the door behind him so they wouldn't be interrupted.

Lilac peered out of the living room window to stare at the patches of flowers in their backyard, struggling to peek his head above the window ledge to get a better look. Handy noticed this and stood from his usual spot on the couch to grab the toddler by the waist and take him outside, causing Lilac's eyes to widen with happiness. "Papa look, they look so pretty!"

"Yeah." Handy set him down so he could see what he planted, and he couldn't help but chuckle at his son's excitement. Lilac called him from across the yard, and the orange-haired male stepped over to see him pointing at a particular flower that caught his eye. "Papa, what's this one called?"

Handy smiled in response and held him close. "They're called lilacs. It's where we got your name from."

"Does that mean I'm pretty too?" The man nodded and kissed his temple gently and stood with the toddler in his arms. "Come on. Mama is supposed to be making dinner. Be a good boy and she'll make grilled cheese."

"Really!?" Lilac's eyes lit up in response with a grin, and he struggled to run back inside the house. Handy set him down and he ran back inside to eat. The older smiled and turned back towards the garden that he and Petunia worked so hard to create. Petunia had first brought it up when she was pregnant with Lilac, and she felt the backyard was a large empty space behind the house; it took them the rest of the pregnancy to complete it. Handy couldn't help but think back to when he returned home and saw Petunia collapsed near the lilacs, and was seconds away from giving birth. Half an hour later, he was holding a screaming newborn, and when he asked Petunia what his name should be, she only said the name of the first flower she saw. Later, he had called Sniffles so he would make sure that everything was alright and he had nothing to worry about.

Handy glanced over to see a small patch of blue petunias resting in the corner of the garden, bending down to gently take one in his hand and not noticing his lover step outside the house and strode over to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just thinking." Petunia lowered her eyes and nuzzled him gently before stepping away to pick some other flowers. He turned around with a lifted eyebrow and stood up. "What's that for?"

"I'll tell you later," Petunia replied with a smile. "For now, it's a surprise." Handy shrugged before stepping over to kiss her cheek and walking back inside the house. The bluenette smiled with closed eyes as she continued to pick another handful of flowers and glanced at the sky. "The sun is going down. I hope it happens." She soon made her way back inside the house with an averted gaze from the garden.

The moon was high in the sky as Flippy and Flaky made their way through the park with Flaky snuggling up to his arm with a smile. The two had just left a restaurant for their anniversary dinner, and they were currently on their way home. Flippy glanced down at the red-head nuzzling him and couldn't help but smile. He lead the younger to sit on a fountain in the middle of the park, holding both of his hands gently. Flaky leaned on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. "I enjoyed today; it was fun."

The veteran kissed his cheek gently and nuzzled the side of his neck. "I'm glad you liked it, but the real fun starts tonight." Flaky slightly blushed and released a quiet sigh as he felt light kisses trail from his neck to his ear before the green-haired male pulled away. "Oh right. You haven't gotten an anniversary present, have you?" Flaky's eyes widened as he pulled away with an apologetic look. "I-I'm sorry. I was so excited about today, I didn't even think about it."

"It's fine. I think my present will make up for it." Flippy smiled and handed the red-head a small package wrapped in peach. Flaky lifted an eyebrow and unwrapped the small box to see a black case, and Flippy watched his expression change from puzzled to shocked as he opened it to see a gold ring that encased a red spinel in the middle. Flaky almost dropped the box as his head shot up to glance at the slight blush that Flippy wore. The veteran brought his hands up and held the box with the other's hands. "Listen Flakes, I've been thinking about this for a long time, but so much shit has happened that kept me from doing this. Even after everything settled down for a bit, something else happens and then I get scared that something might happen to you, and I don't want to lose you. And, I felt that I needed to do this before some other crazy shit happens. So, what do you say, Flakes? Wanna marry me?"

Flaky was speechless for a moment as his gaze traveled from the ring to Flippy's eyes before he closed the box and pulled away, feeling tears begin to sting his eyes. He let out a choked sob, causing Flippy to panic in response. "Oh fuck, I didn't want you to cry."

"You're so stupid," Flaky wiped the tears from his eyes before glancing up at the veteran with a smile. "I've been waiting for you to ask me all this time. Can't believe that's what's been stopping you. If you wanted to marry me before something happened to me, you should have said something sooner."

"So, you're not upset?"

"What does this tell you?" Flaky leaned forward and caught his lips with his own and they both closed their eyes. Flippy cupped one of his cheeks and deepened the kiss before they both pulled away. "I'll take that kiss as a yes, then."

"Yes." The red-head replied in a whisper before pecking his lips again with a nuzzle. Flippy pulled him off of the fountain so they could head home and share the news. "You know, for a minute, I thought you were gonna say no." Flaky stopped in his tracks to give him a stern gaze. "Flippy, I have been in love with you for as long as I can remember. Even when I was pregnant, I wanted the baby because it was yours, and even though Fliqpy raped me, I never blamed you. If I didn't want to marry you, I wouldn't be standing here, now would I?"

Flippy didn't know what to say, only knowing that the red-head was right. He sighed with a smile and pulled him along. "I can't deny that." A giggle was his only response as they exited the park and continued on their way.

In a matter of minutes, the rest of the Tree Friends were informed of the engagement, and the couple got various reactions: Russell immediately demanded that he be the Maid of Honor, Nutty told the two that he already baked a wedding cake(although by the sound of his voice, the two knew that he had just gotten finished with Sniffles), and Petunia had various wedding ideas that she was willing to share. Flaky had said that they'll talk about wedding plans later, and he promised that he'll get them on board.

Everything was peaceful and had returned to normal, and the Tree Friends wanted to make sure it stayed that way. But, this is Happy Tree Town; nothing here is ever peaceful.