The Lonely Rabbit and Broken Thief

Chapter Eleven

Cuddles had been wracking his brain with ideas all day on what to do for Shifty. The spontaneous date he took him on was a ploy for him to get close to Shifty again. He missed him.

Cuddles began to reevaluate his relationship with Shifty. Shifty had always been on his mind when they broke up, but he realized there was miscommunication and too many things he wasn't aware of that made them both resentful in their relationship. He was too self-conscious about his image and what he parents thought before. Shifty had unresolved trauma and took it out on Cuddles on his bad days. They were both young and inexperienced. Shifty was a first for Cuddles in everything besides kissing. Cuddles was Shifty's first for sex. He had truly in love with him. He still was.

It was only thanks to seeing Lifty that day in the game shop that Cuddles had the courage to start talking to Shifty after so long of ignoring him out of hurt and spite.

Now he has more problems because I didn't fight for our relationship when he broke up with me...

He never asked why or what drove him to it. They may have had issues, but they were happy together. Now, Cuddles knew how to talk about things that bothered him without dancing around to spare feelings. He didn't give two shits about what he parents might think.

I have to earn his trust and love back. I have to do things right this time.

He sighed and leaned back on Giggles, who huffed at his exaggerated theatrics. Contrary to what people in town thought, they weren't dating. Giggles was one of his friends that he had hung out with for years whenever he wasn't with Shifty. Plus she was a lesbian and had a crush on Lamby, who had a crush on Flaky, who was an asexual. It was a tricky love triangle.

"Cuddles, why are you moping? You went on a date with your ex today that you were really excited about and now you're being a baby." She huffed, elbowing him while trying not to spill her drink.

"He only went because he wasn't doing anything. He still hates my guts, Giggles." Cuddles moaned, rubbing his head in frustration. "I don't even know why he started to hate me. I mean, we were pretty solid before. I don't know what happened!"

Giggles sighed and managed to push him up, "Why not ask?"

Cuddles frowned and sat beside her on the park table, "He might hate me more for not knowing. I love Shifty, but he's so vindictive if the offending party doesn't know or understand why they offended him. I'm already on a thin line because I had purposely flirted with Lifty to get a rise out of him–"

"Cause you're an idiot."

Cuddles glared at her, "Yes, thank you. I know that. Anyways. I told you I've been going over to his house a lot. But I think he's only keeping me around because he hasn't found anyone new to be around."

"Well, true... you should just... talk to him? A heart-to-heart. Clear up the past, establish what kind of relationship you want with him now, and figure it out from there."

Cuddles dropped his head on the table and hummed in response. He kept things like Shifty's depression and self-harm to himself. No one, not even Lifty knew about that. People knew he was an alcoholic to an extent. His drinking was much worse than they thought. Only Cuddles knew about his past. Shifty only ever told him. So he was the only one he could rely on to understand even though he wasn't relying on him right now.