Thief and the Hero

Chapter Twenty-Four

Well. It seems I have made a mistake.

Shifty stared at him, then slowly smiled, and began to laugh. Lifty stared at him, his eyes wide and full of hurt. Splendont looked between them, mostly confused and dumbfounded at his own response. It was Fliqpy that spoke up.

"Wait, seriously? You two must be playing a nice little game of make believe or something, Splendont. You two act like a lot more than as friends." He commented, confusion in his eyes considering what he and Splendont talked about before.

"Hold on, now, we never agreed to date or anything," his words felt like syrup in his mouth, bitterly sweet and heavy, "we were just having fun. Friends with benefits type thing, never anything more than that."

He watched Fliqpy and Splendid exact looks, but before they could refute that, Lifty spoke up, "I-I-I do-don't under-understand what– wh-why ar-are you sa-saying–"

"God, don't be fucking stupid, Lifty!" Splendont looked over at Shifty, who was smiling cruelly at his brother. "He used you! Because you let him and you didn't think it through with a playboy like him!"

"Pl-playb-boy?"

"He fucks people for the hell of it. He never had any intentions to commit. And if you had just told me you were seeing him, I could have told you this! Instead you were dumb enough to let him string you along and–"

"I never strung him along!" Splendont shouted over Shifty, his blood boiling. "I do care about Lifty, we're good friends!"

Lifty's eyes watered, "W-why ju-just fri-friends?"

Splendont looked at him, his mind racing and confused, "Why would we ever be more than friends?"

He flinched slightly when tears began to stream down Lifty's eyes. He wasn't sure what he said wrong. Being friends should be enough. Splendid came around, an incredulous look on his face.

"Splendont, how could you say that? You two are clearly more than friends!" Splendont frowned at this and Splendid stared at his brother, a sudden realization filtering through his eyes.

"Well, what do you think about your so-called friend, Lifty? You know, the one person I told you to stay away from?" Shifty mocked, snickering as Lifty covered his face.

"Hey, quit making fun of him!" Splendont snapped, reaching out to Lifty, but he moved back from his grasp.

"Why not? He got played and it's hilarious because I told him he would! How ironic that I'm right, yet again!" Shifty laughed, shaking his head and looking around. "On that subject, how long have we been here? Because I'm sure you two had plenty of alone time to have fun or whatever."

"Well it's been at least two weeks–"

"Two weeks?" They all looked at Shifty when his laughter ceased and Splendont frowned. "Hold on– phone. I need a fucking phone–"

"Hey, calm down–" Splendid tried to calm him, but Shifty swung his arm and connected it to his cheek.

Fliqpy went for him in response, but Lifty jumped in front of him, making him stop. Splendont watched Shifty turn and run off towards the stairs, and he decided to follow him. Ignoring Lifty for a moment because that was a whole other can of worms he was going to have to deal with.