Thief and the Hero

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Splendid and Lifty had come home together by chance meeting in town, to be greeted by the sight of a destroyed living room and second floor and the bloody, bruised bodies of Splendont and Flippy. The two were helping each other put on ointment for the bruises and patching up any cuts they had from flinging each other around.

"What the hell?" Splendid shouted as he went over to check them both.

Splendont scoffed, "Oh, relax. We were having a talk."

"Talk?" The look in Splendid's eyes indicated that he didn't believe Splendont, which he could understand considering he had tormented Flippy and fought Fliqpy constantly before out of spite.

"Splendid, be nice. It was just a talk. Very cathartic." Flippy remarked, smiling when Splendid cupped his face and checked him all over with a look of concern.

Splendont watched with a twinge of jealousy. He gingerly pressed the icepack to his cheek where Fliqpy had hit him the most. He vaguely glanced over to see Lifty staring at him. He looked away, ignoring the ache he was feeling at the sight of him. It didn't help that Splendid was fawning all over Flippy, the sicking cooes he did while he gingerly touched Flippy's wounds and kissed him.

Quit showing off, Flippy.

Just he was about to stand and leave the room, at least to go to the garage to get some supplies to fix the floors, he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He tensed and looked over to see Lifty looking at him worriedly. He fought back a blush as he strained to smile at him. Lifty had said he wanted space from him. So he was actively avoiding him to not run into him. He didn't want Lifty to hate him anymore. He wanted the ache in his chest to stop already.

"I'm going to head out for a while."

He stood abruptly, missing the warmth of Lifty's hand and forgoing his trip to the garage. The house would be fine until midnight hit and everything reset. Splendid looked over at him as he left the room. Perhaps avoiding Lifty wasn't the best option, but what else could he do? Lifty said he didn't want to spend time with him alone anymore.

He didn't notice Lifty following him outside the back door. Luckily, Splendid was too preoccupied with Flippy to chastise him for helping destroy the house. He sighed at the nice summer air, it was well into evening and he hadn't gotten any food in his system since yesterday night. He started to float off the ground, ready to hightail it to the other side of the world to find a decent Italian place to eat at only to stop when he felt familiar hands grab onto his free hand. He looked down in surprise to see Lifty staring up at him. He blinked and plopped back onto the ground, unaware of how his hand closed around one of Lifty's hand.

"... what's up?"

Lifty stared at him before looking away, "I-I– erm, don't... don't leave."

Splendont frowned at this and glanced at their hands, "Well, not like I want to be home right now. Got things to figure out."

Lifty pouted at this, his hands clenching Splendont's hand. Splendont felt the tension leave his body and he tried not be bitter at Lifty's past words. He really didn't want to leave, especially after that therapy session with Fliqpy. He wanted to let Lifty know that he really did care. That he had a burning passion for him. That he didn't mean to hurt him. He wasn't lying. He wanted– needed, to be close to Lifty. So much so that it frightened him. The dependency he had once for Splendid seemed to have shifted over to Lifty. He was disgusted in himself for that. It wasn't healthy.