Thief and the Hero

Chapter Seventeen

"I got it."

Splendont had left Lifty on his bed after they had cleaned up. He had to wear long sleeve and kept his pants unwrapped because he had bruises from where Splendont had grabbed him. His scarf was wrapped tightly around his neck because Splendont left bruises. Shifty was none the wiser.

"Wh-what'd y-you get?" Lifty asked, excitement in his voice as he tried not to look like he was struggling to get up.

"A house."

Lifty blinked at that, "Wh-What?"

Shifty smiled, a genuine smile that he didn't see very often, "Yeah. The guy who owned the house in the town over? Grover Seal? He was selling the house. And I outbid the lady he was considering."

Lifty stared at him, "S-so, that m-means—"

"We're getting out of this shithole."

Lifty got up, his soreness forgotten, and ran over embracing his brother. It had always been a dream of theirs to own a home. After living in the system and being homeless in their younger years, and living in this crummy apartment for a few years, all they ever wanted was a real home they weren't fearful of losing. Shifty had always talked about it when they were kids, but he stopped after a while. Lifty assumed he gave up on it because they were always poor.

"Wh-when do we-we move i-in?" Lifty asked, moving back from his brother.

"In two weeks. I have to fill out some more papers. We have to start packing." Shifty said, an excitement in his voice Lifty hadn't heard in years. "Ah, but you can't tell anyone."

Lifty tilted his head, "W-why?"

Shifty's smile faltered a bit, "I don't want any rats following us."

Rats. He was talking about his gang. Lifty knew this because when they weren't around, Shifty would rant about them. He hated Dreamy most of all, but it was unclear to him as to why. Prim annoyed him with her need to look like a Barbie doll. And Truffles was a literal pig that liked to mooch off their food whenever they were over. It was obvious why Shifty didn't want them to know where they would be living.

Lifty nodded, "I-I-I can keep i-it secret."

Shifty smiled, "Good."

Shifty grabbed his hand and took him out of the room. Lifty forced the smile to stay as he was very aware of how his body was aching from the movement. Splendont was very rough with him last night. But that didn't mean he didn't enjoy it, in fact, he was very satisfied with the sex. Unfortunately, his body gave out to it all and he was disappointed they didn't go longer. A blush formed on his face at the thought and he fought it down as Shifty stopped him and went to grab a bag he had left on the counter.

Lifty stared at it when Shifty held it out to him, "Here. For you."

Lifty glanced up at his brother and grabbed the bag, slowly sitting on the ground so he could pull out what was in it. As soon as he grabbed the object and pulled it out, he felt his heart stop.

It was a brand new PlayStation Four Pro. He looked up at Shifty, who had a nervous smile on his face, and back at the bag. He reached inside and pulled out four different games: Uncharted Four, The Last of Us, Call of Duty, and Ratchet & Clank. These were games he had an interest in when they all came out. He looked up at Shifty, who crouched down across from him.