"You guys wanna play a different game?" The young teen girl suggested after her latest roll of the dice had pretty much doomed her to come in last place, in the current board game they were playing.
"Don't be a sore loser, Natalie." The far smaller squirrel, teenage boy of the same age, scolded before then groaning at his dice roll.
"I win!" The twin brother of the smaller squirrel cried out with joy as he held his arms in the air with excitement.
The smaller, brown and tan, male and the mainly block-quilled hedgehog female glanced at each other and shrugged after eyeing the dice and seeing that the male, of normal size, was 3 points shy of a win. "Close enough" The female stated happily before stretching out and laying on her back from her seated position. She quickly rolled over to her side, so that she could look back at her playmates of the same age once again. "Sooooo…" The young hedgehog purred. "New game?" She then demanded, more than asked, as she pushed herself to her feet aiding in her walking over and digging through her backpack that was on the bottom bunk of the twin's bed.
"Whatever." The smaller squirrel sighed while leaning back on the wall behind him.
"But I like this game!" The other boy protested as he tried to set it up again, but failed at doing so properly.
"You're the only one, Russ." The boy of four inches shorter than his seemingly normal-looking brother sighed while looking up at the ceiling. "I wish we could use the gym on weekends." He let out as a mumble.
"Ha!" Natalie laughed with a snort at her friend's last statement. "How many times has that punching bag beat you up now?" She questioned while sitting back down next to the two boys. Her cocky grin was met with a cold scowl from Richard, the far smaller squirrel, and her best friend.
"I bruise easily." He shot back as he ran his thumbs over his other hand's knuckles as if he were recalling his injuries as he spoke. "A..a…at least I work out." He tried to use it as a win over her but was so unsure that he stuttered a bit.
"I do yoga with my mom, and defense with my dad and I don't get hurt." She responded with a laugh but then toned down her teasing after noticing Richard tensing up. The smaller boy's anger had been excessive as far back as she could remember, but he did get picked on a lot, so she couldn't blame him. They teased each other as friends, but there were a few times he'd stopped talking to her for a short time over the years, despite growing up together, as she'd pushed him too far. Now that she was 14 she was finally starting to understand other people more than just still trying to figure out herself. "But, I don't do the same training as you." She spoke in a light tone hoping to find forgiveness from her good friend.
"You don't." Richard sighed with a nod. The male squirrel then looked at his female friend and smiled. "You should come train with us someday." A shy smile crossed the young teen's face as he looked away quickly.
Natalie looked at Richard shocked for a moment. "Is he blushing?" She wondered to herself before a large smile perked up on her face. If he wasn't now, he soon would be.