Three's A Crowd: A Grapenut Story

[The Game]

Chapter 1

Grape squeezed her eyes tighter, trying to stop the tears. Sadly, her tactic didn’t work. It only reminded her why she was crying in the first place.

Okay, that’s it; I am going to go over there and give her a piece of my irrational anger.

Had she honestly said that and still thought it would be a good idea? Grape slumped down in her seat, still unwilling to open her eyes.

“Grape?” The cat next to her asked. He was fiddling with his scarf, obviously not sure what to do about a crying Grape. “Are you…uh…are you okay?”

Grape dared to open an eye. Her golden iris found Max and focused on him for a second before tears blurred her vision. She shut her eyes quickly and shifted so he couldn’t see her face. “Do I look okay?” she spat crossly.

Max winced, as if she’d slapped him. His gaze found his toes. “Oh…uh…I’m sorry,” he mumbled. There was a heavy silence in the car while Grape fumed in her seat and Mrs. Sandwich concentrated on the road.

Desperate to hear some kind of sound, Max said the first thing on his mind. “In all honesty Mrs. Sandwich, I though physically chucking someone off the premises was only something you did.” He dared to look up as he said, hoping to hear a happier sound from Grape; a giggle at least.

“Max, hush,” Mrs. Sandwich said quietly. Max’s hopes were shot down and he was reduced to playing with his scarf and staring at his toes again.
************************

“Thanks for the ride Mrs. Sandwich,” Max said politely as he wiggled out of his seat. Mrs. Sandwich smiled wearily.

“You’re welcome Maxwell. Have a nice night.”

“You too.” The car door slammed, and Max was left standing on the sidewalk as the car sped off. He grimaced, thinking about the silence that had filled the car the whole ride. Why had he said something so stupid? He shuffled to the front door, staring at his toes the whole time.

“I’m sorry Grape,” he muttered aloud before stepping into his home.
**********************

Mrs. Sandwich had to coax Grape out of the car. The purple cat had finally stopped crying, though she wore a melancholy expression.

“Grape, honey, it’s okay. You had good intentions,” Mrs. Sandwich said as she led Grape into the house. Grape didn’t reply, instead stared intently at the ground.

“Do you want dinner?”

“I’m not hungry,” the answer was sharp. Sighing, Mrs. Sandwich lowered herself to be eye level with Grape.

“If you’re sure. Please stop looking so sad,” she said. Once again, Grape didn’t reply. She stood stiffly when Mrs. Sandwich hugged her, then turned on her heel and streaked to her bedroom without a word.

Peanut paced in front of Grape’s door. Every few seconds, he’d march up to the door as if he was about to knock on it, then he’d lose his courage and go back to pacing. This happened until he finally wouldn’t let himself turn away. He took a deep breath and tapped lightly on the door.

“Grape? Can I come in?”

“Why?”

“I want to know if you’re okay.”

“I’m not.”

“Can I still come in?”

There was a dramatic sigh, but the door opened. Peanut found himself face to face with the intensely cross looking Grape. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Grape finally broke the silence. “Well?”

“Well what?” Peanut asked, confused.

“What do you have to say? What magical Spot comic did you make just for me to make me feel better?”

“….again, what?”

Heaving an aggravated sigh, Grape glared at Peanut. “You know what I’m talking about! Every time I’m even slightly sad, you do something really crazy to try to make me feel better. What antic do you have up your sleeve this time?”

Peanut blushed lightly and looked down at his toes. He murmured something that Grape couldn’t understand.

“Sorry, I don’t understand Mumble,” Grape said sarcastically. “If you don’t have anything to say, stop wasting my tim-,”

“I said, “All I have this time is an invitation’,” Peanut said loudly, looking up at Grape. The cat raised a skeptic eyebrow.

“An invitation for what?”

Suddenly, Peanut threw his arms out and engulfed Grape in a hug. “For a hug of course,” he said, grinning. Grape struggled against his embrace, but eventually gave in and hugged him back.

“That was cheesy,” she said, after they’d been sharing the hug for a while. A hint of a smile appeared on her face.

Peanut grinned widely at her. “But in a good way, right?”

The smiled widened, until they were both facing each other with large smiles on their faces. “Yeah; in a very good way,” Grape said as she quickly pecked Peanut’s cheek. “Thanks, Peanut.”

“No biggie. Seriously, it was my pleasure,” Peanut mumbled. His face was hidden by a deep blush that made Grape giggle.

“Good night, Grape.”

“Night, Peanut. Love you,” Grape said over her shoulder as she closed the door to her room. Peanut was left standing with a goofy smile on his face, along with a deep red blush.

“Love you too, Grape.”
***************************

This idea was created by Copper and The Housedog. (So you have to clap for them too!!)

[lightwolf21]

Yay for speculative fan-fiction work! Good job on the writing, The Game. ;3

[valerio]

At last we can dream...
Thank you, Game, this was mostly needed

[Blue Braixen]

D'awwwwwww...

[Aarden]

Thank you, Game, this was mostly needed

[copper]

Very nice. I can't wait to see where you take this.

Dawww! Peanut always knows just what to do at exactly the right time!

[Penwrite]

D'awww, what a sweet end to chap. one. I can't wait for the rest!

[Karl]

Peanut knows the right things to cheer up Grape

[EmoPeanut]

In my opinion, you should stop right there. Not because your writing is bad, its because at the end it stays in Rick's Cannon and provides Grapenut. So I think it is good as a one-shot. Just my two cents.

[The Game]

If I left it as a one-shot, the title wouldn't make sense.
And it's based on a Wild Mass Guessing guess, so I already have the idea and it's not going to waste.

[copper]

OR... You could do something completely different that has the exact same storyline. I already have a few ideas about a male Res. This is gonna be fun no matter what you do, though, so just write your story the way you want to, The Game. I am sure going to love it no matter what you write.

[The Game]

You just made me feel ten times better about writing

And now that you mention it, since Res has been revealed as a boy, maybe the whole plot could change...hmmm.....

[copper]

You just made me feel ten times better about writing

And now that you mention it, since Res has been revealed as a boy, maybe the whole plot could change...hmmm.....

You're welcome.

No matter what you are thinking, go with it. All of my guesses are spur of the moment. They are more genuine that way.

[The Game]

Chapter 2

Grape was curled up, reading a letter on the couch. She'd read the letter at least twenty times since she'd gotten it two weeks ago, but each time was different. She had no idea what Res was implying by it, or if he was implying anything at all. Was he looking for just friendship, or maybe more? Was she looking for something more?

"Gra-ape!"

Quickly, the cat shoved the paper under a cushion and threw her face on it, pretending to be asleep. She heard Peanut's thumping footsteps approach her, then begin to shake her violently.

"Wake up! There's, um, someone at the door for you. He looks-- he looks really important, and he said it's urgent." Peanut faltered a few times, looking away from her. He jerked his paws back suddenly, as if she'd burnt him. "S-sorry."

Grape turned over, scowling, and faced the dog. He looked stressed, much unlike the smile that usually shone on his face. "It's fine, I wasn't sleeping well anyway. Who is it at the door?"

"It's--uhm-- well..." Peanut stopped, as if he was choking on his words. "Just go," he finally said. "I think he wants to talk to you in private." He extended a paw for her to take, then jerked away from her again. He watched her get up with his paws behind his back as he chewed his lip nervously.

Grape eyed Peanut curiously but didn't ask him anything. It was sudden, but he's started having strange changes in his mood. He'd be smiling and laughing, but the moment he saw her he'd clam up and start to pale, usually leaving the room afterward. Every time he tried to touch her he'd rip his paw away, like a force-field around Grape kept him at bay. Grape couldn't figure out, but she hadn't exactly given it a lot of thought. Most of her time went to reading that letter...

She walked to the front door, shivering, as the door was wide open. And standing in the door frame, shifting from foot to foot was...

"Res?" Grape asked, taken back. He smiled at her, albeit shakily.

"Hello Grape. I was...just wondering...maybe we could--eh-- talk. I got your call but I couldn't call back because of...well, something came up. My flight was moved back a few days because of severe weather, so I thought maybe I could come and see you..." It was the most Grape had ever heard Res say at one time. The shock of it took a while to sink in, leaving her blinking rapidly at him.

"...Grape?"

"Oh! That's fine Res, I wasn't doing anything anyway. Come in; I think my mom just made faux hot chocolate. Would you like some?"

Res nodded. "If it's no trouble..." He began to wrap his scarf around his fingers, trying to get rid of the nervous energy.

"It's no trouble at all," Grape replied as she lead him in the living, where'd she had been only a few minutes before. Peanut was standing there, staring at the wall, too lost in thought to notice Grape had returned.

"Peanut?"

The dog jumped and spun quickly. Grape gestured at Res. "Peanut, this is Res. Res, I'd like you to meet my best friend, Peanut." Res gave a cautious smile to Peanut, but oddly, Peanut didn't give one in return.

"Grape has told me a lot about you. In fact, sometimes I can't get her to stop." Was Grape imagining it, or did Peanut sound hostile?

Res gulped; he was unable to meet Peanut's eye now. So he noticed the hostility too... "I'm flattered. I didn't know I was interesting enough to be told about..." he cleared his throat anxiously.

Peanut's eyes never left Grape. "It was nice to meet you, Res. If you need me, I'll be in my room," he said in a monotone. He brushed by Res as he walked by, making the already jump cat whimper quietly. Grape was stunned. Peanut had been acting weird, but this was completely unlike anything she'd ever seen. No matter what happened, he always, as in without fail, had that annoyingly happy smile with his tongue lolling lazily out of his mouth. The anger and bitterness didn't fit his personality. He was too cheery to be gloomy. If something made him that upset it was either his Spot comics getting destroyed or something involving his love life.

Folks, we have a winner.

Grape watched Peanut go feeling guilty. So this was her fault-- of course. He didn't care about anything else as much as he did about her, so she would have to be the only things that could upset him so much. "I'm going to go ahead and apologize for Peanut. He's been stressed about some…issues lately,” she explained as she poured two cups of steamy “hot chocolate”.

“It’s alright, I understand. It must be hard to suddenly have your best friend obsess over someone else,” Res replied as he took a seat on the couch. Grape took a mouthful of hot chocolate before realizing what Res had said.

PFFFFFT!

Grape nearly dropped her cup as she spit out her drink. “What?”

Res was looking at her like she had grown a third arm. “Why did you just do that?”

“Because of what you said!”

“What did I say that was so surprising it made you spit out your drink?” Res was utterly confused now.

“That I’m obsessing over someone!”

Res choked on his drink. “You mean I said that out loud?” he looked away nervously.

“Yes, you did! And I’d love to hear your explanation of it,” Grape hinted. She turned, giving Res her full attention. He sighed a placed his cup on the table in front of them, before allowing his paws to rest in his lap.

“He told you that he emailed your fan-fiction to me, right?” The gray cat started.

Grape nodded, too focused to even be embarrassed.

“In that email, he also told me that it would be a pleasure to meet me in person, how awesome it was that my owner wrote Pridelands, et cetera. But, he also told me how much you loved my letter, and fantasized about the friendship we would have—“

Grape took the opportunity to blush deeply.

“—and what you told Max on the car ride home from the book signing.”

Grape hastily began to rack her brain, trying to remember every detail of the ride. Instead, she could only remember threatening Max and crying her eyes out, and hugging Peanut good-night.

“About me being one of your best friends ever.” Res finally looked up at her, and could see the realization on her face. "Max told him about it."

“And now he thinks that you’re trying to edge him out of the picture,” Grape murmured. “That stupid dog! I can’t even count how many times I’ve told him nothing will ever stop him from being my best friend, and still he doubts me?” Her paws curled into fists. Her anger sizzled away as suddenly as it had come. “Why would Max tell him that?”

“Why wouldn’t he is the better question.”

Grape put her face in her paws. “Max and Peanut have never been close, but they’re never unfriendly to each other on purpose. It usually just happens,” she sighed.

Res put a soothing paw on her shoulder. “Maybe Max was tired of that. Have you ever noticed that either of them just wanted you—without an extra person?”

“Not that I can remember. Peanut, he’s jealous of Max, but he’s always wanted me to be happy. But there’s no way Max is the bad guy in this, is there?”

“There’s no bad guy in this period,” Res said encouragingly, “Just two pets who want to be the most important in your life, like you are in theirs.”

Grape sat silently, as she took in what Res said. Max had told Peanut in hopes, getting him jealous? Just to make him mad? Whichever one, it worked; Peanut was unnaturally cold to Res because he was jealous that Res would shove him out of the picture even more then he already was. Even with the numerous occasions Grape had told Peanut that she loved him, and nothing would ever come between their friendship, the doubt he felt since she and Max had gotten together remained. Possibly, it had gotten even stronger now that Res was added in the picture. And it really didn’t help that she still felt like Res could be one of best friends, and had dared to utter that out loud.

It was then, that Grape realized just how much Peanut really needed her, even if she didn’t feel the same way. He needed her friendship, at the very least, and Grape had been slowly depriving him of that without even realizing it. She looked up at Res. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this little Bermuda Triangle of Feelingse…”

Res chuckled and sipped his drink. “After you took on security without even blinking, I've felt like I owed you. And, even if you hadn’t done that, you were the only one in that coffee shop to talk to me; and you didn’t treat me differently after I told you who my owner was. You did more for me in ten minutes then anyone else has done for me in months.”

Grape smiled. Hearing that just made the whole thing much more bearable.

************************
This is what happens when I'm bored, and it's summer.

[valerio]

Daww, so much in a single update!
Love you, Game! This is going to turn even the more interesting, can't wait for further updates!

[Barkeron]

Peanut in his own way, makes the hurt go away, yet at the same time he has a bit of a jealousy streak.

[EvanAierkan]

This is what happens when I'm bored

If this is what happens when you get bored, then I hope you will stay bored for a while so we can get more updates. Because this? was awesome.

[copper]

Very cute update, Game! Just awesome stuff!

I hope you can write more stuff. It is rare,, but I always ebjoy a nice Game fanfic!