"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, a 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 light blue 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, six inches shorter than his seemingly normal-looking brother, sighed while looking up at the ceiling. "I wish we could go to the gym on Sundays." 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 training 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 due to his small size and other disabilities, so she couldn't blame him. They teased each other as friends, but there were more than 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 instead of 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. "Who's up for a card game?" Natalie sang as she removed a deck of cards, from a small black card box, and started shuffling them.
"You know Russ can't play normal card games." Richard sighed as he pushed himself up and away from the wall he'd been leaning on.
"Yes, I can!" The taller male whined while frowning and crossing his arms as if throwing a fit like a toddler.
"Might as well let him try." The female shrugged as a sly grin crossed her pink lips as she dealt out five cards to each of them.
"Yeah!" Russel, chimed in happily without realizing that their female friend was agreeing with his brother.
"Whatever." Richard rolled his eyes finding himself far more interested in the new cassette album that was running lightly in the background than the current games they'd been playing. Nat had brought the new album over, as they both shared a love of music. However, sometimes he wished she'd be more focused on the music instead of doing other things to keep busy as the music played.
"WOW!" Russ gasped with wide eyes as he looked at the hand he'd just been given.
Richard glanced questioningly at his brother before he finally looked at his hand. "What the Hell?!" Was all that left his mouth before his hands fumbled, causing his cards to fall on the floor before him.
"Surprise!" Natalie laughed as her two male friends somewhat morphed into wide eyed drooling males. However, Richard was guilty of that to a far lesser extent as he seemed to be lagging behind in the ways of puberty compared to even his mentally handicap twin.
"Just no!" Richard followed up while pushing the cards on the ground toward his friend hoping this interaction would go away.
"Come on, Richy!" Natalie purred with more than a hint of teasing. All the while using the nickname the smaller male used to go by when he was far younger, but had quickly put a stop to it once he turned eight.
"No! And don't call me Richy!" The small male yelled back as he started to push himself up to leave.
"Come on, Richard, don't be a girl." Nat followed, after standing up herself and then grabbing onto her smaller friend's arm. "It was just a joke!" She huffed while gripping tightly on the slightly older, yet smaller, boy's arm to keep him from running off. "I thought it'd be funny."
"It isn't!" Richard grunted as he tried to tug free of her grip only to fail. "I don't even care who you stole that from. Just take it back!" Richard finally pulled free and then looked at his twin brother who was still ogling the half-naked females on the cards he was dealt. "Russ!" Richards called out not even fazing his twin brother.
"Russel." Natalie sighed while taking the cards from the slow-minded boy's hands, and causing him to pout.
"I liked that game!" Russel called out not even aware of why he liked it so much. "Give 'em back!" He half cried while trying to reposition himself as the stiffing of his male appendage became apparent to even him despite his many mental setbacks.
"I'm sorry!" Natalie called out again. "I just thought you guys would enjoy it." She shuffled the cards once more after sitting down and placing them into the box they'd come from. "All you guys are pervs anyway." She mumbled before tossing the cards in her backpack.
"I'm not a prev." Richard scowled as he took a seat next to her and, he was going to try and press his chest into hers… only to find his face going into her large breasts. That causing him to pull back a bit and become somewhat flustered. She was his best friend… a girl, but still that didn't matter as he didn't care about…. Thoughts of her smile, frown, and different poses she would take crossed his mind and made him feel… if only it was numb. Her lips, her eyes taunting him as he wished he could put his hands on her large hips. "I hate you." He thought as his blood boiled and suppressed the thoughts part of him truly wanted to have. "No." He told himself over and over again as he looked at her being a total cunt, but still his friend.
"Just a friend." He reminded himself as he had the past year. He was lucky he had any friends considering his birth mother was a drug addict who was now locked up in prison. Her drug use after meeting the man, whom he originally thought was his father, caused him, his twin brother and their younger brother to come out permanently mentally, and in his case more physically, damaged. If their birth mother hadn't been caught and put away years ago ely the twin boys, and their 3 other brothers would likely still be living in that dirty little trailer and not getting a proper education, or diet. And he would never have met her. The thorn in his side, but also that little bit of happiness in life that he desperately refused to acknowledge was only brought about because of their friendship.
"Just friends." He thought again but tried to pretend that very thought on the unsaid idea of more never crossed his mind. Despite being 14 he didn't have a drive for what all the other boys his age were clamoring to. Even his brother wouldn't say anything on the subject but couldn't take his eyes off pictures of the opposite sex.
Natalie was their friend and as he knew full well she was pretty, funny, and a bitch. He had no interest in her. So he told himself. Yet all the other boys his age, and some a bit younger were hooked on the idea of girls, for their means in bed. Not that many of them knew what that was all about. The rest of the boys his age still went off about how they were dating so and so until they could upgrade to so and so who would let them do this and then that.
Annoying. Totally BS, and if it was true he hated it even more. That was easy for Richard to say, as he looked to be lagging with puberty. However, after seeing his twin go crazy for only half-naked women on cards, he found himself thankful he wasn't like the rest. Yet also very worried of what he may become.
"Maybe there is something really wrong with me besides being just normal dumb?" He thought.
"I'm sorry, Richard." Natalie laughed weakly seeming to show she was truly sorry. "I know you're not a perv."
"Maybe I am!" Richard stood up angry, as he felt so confused on how he should be acting.
"You're not." Nat grinned slightly while pulling Richard into a hug causing them both to set bck down. "That's why I love you." She continued to smirk as the male next to her continued to be upset. That was until she kissed him lightly on the cheek.
Richard was surprised but stayed silent. Natalie continued to giggle while pulling him close in a friendly hug as she spoke about the days events to him, and his brother that was sitting a few feet away.
Her words hit Richards's ears but never made it through his head to really hear what she was saying. He was far too focused on her holding him close. The tone of her voice and the feeling of her breath breathing down on him as she continued to speak of her daily events to her best friends.
For what seemed like a brief moment Richard's mind went blank. He saw nothing and heard nothing as her grip and breath on him was all that stayed real. It was an odd moment of near perfection until his twin brother hit him over the head and caused him to come to in full view of the two other teenagers in their bedroom.
"fuck." Richard mumbled under his breath as his twin brother, Russ, chreed that he was still alive.
"Welcome back." Natalie smiled before standing up and putting all her belongs in her bags. It was near 6 o'clock and her mother was here to pick her up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ricky." She teased right before turning and making her way out of the boy's bedroom.
"Bye, Nat!" Russel called out before shutting the bedroom door and sitting next to his twin brother. "Did she leave the game for us?" Russ asked hopefully.
Richard let out a small laugh, while not even caring he was upsetting his brother for once. "Nope. How about Go Fish?" He asked his upset special needs brother until he heard the title of his favorite game.
"YES!" Russel yelled while putting both of his arms over his head showing he felt he was winning.
"Well go get it. You should be able to kick my butt a few times before mom is home for dinner." Richard sighed. He was happy Russ was happy, but he was more focused on how Natalie had caused a wave only to settle things to where they were before. "Girls are weird." He thought as Russ tried to shuffle the cards so the two boys could play the game. Richard wasn't too picky about how Russ was now not playing the card game by the proper rules as his mind was locked on their female friend. Not that he'd ever admit that to anyone else.