Housepets: A 'Simple' Date

lightwolf21 · Tue Nov 09, 2010 2:22 am

Housepets: A 'Simple' Date

Based on some of Copper's ideas from the 'Wild Mass Guessing' thread
Written by Lightwolf21
Reviewed by Tha Housedog

Chapter 1

The sun was setting on a crisp winter afternoon. Well, it might have been a bit chilly outside for some woodland critters…but most of the pets of Babylon Gardens were enjoying their heated homes…cats especially, and of those cats, Grape. She leaned over the table admiring a diorama. She’d spent the entire last week preparing the scene. It was the first big project she’d done…having a usual cat-like disposition of lying around the house all day. She overlooked a perfect scale model of the Pridelands battle in The Deredes, which Peanut and she had reenacted with Maxwell and Tarot, using ‘Hyperreal Sensurround’. Well at least they tried to reenact it…before an argument with Grape had caused a complete stop to the fun Peanut was having.

Just a few more touches, Grape thought to herself as she left the room to get some supplies from the garage. In her excitement and anticipation at nearly completing the project, she forgot to lock the door to the spare bedroom she was using to display it.

It only took a second, for Peanut’s curiosity to get the better of him, as he watched Grape walk past the living room’s door to the hallway. He paused the MarioKart game he was playing, and quickly walked down the hallway to the mysterious room Grape had been staying in, most of the time for the past week. what could be so important she needs to keep it a secret from me? Peanut thought, as he tried the door. It was unlocked. “I’ll just take a quick peak.” He whispered to himself as he opened it.

The door opened with a stunning light behind it. He looked inside and found his jaw on the floor. He marveled at the Pridelands scene in its accuracy of portrayal. He even noticed the white dog with huge muscles and red cape featured in the diorama. He picked up the figurine. Just like when we were reenacting it. He remembered the argument he’d had with Grape that day, and he felt a pang of guilt inside him.

“PEANUT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Grape shouted at him from the doorway.

Peanut nearly jumped out of his skin. He fumbled with the figurine and tried catching it, but he brought his paws down too hard on the corner of the diorama, breaking it off and sending it flying into his face. Attached to the corner, the castle, and with it, the lions that had been fending off hyenas fell to the ground with a very dazed Peanut. Lions and hyenas were scattered across the room, along with much of the ‘landscape.’ Grape winced as she saw Peanut get smacked in the face and end up on the floor. She ran over to him. “Peanut, are you okay?” she asked with a worried expression on her face. She then noticed the figurines strewn about the ground. "Peanut!... My pride!" Grape said, picking up the remains of some small lion figures off the ground. Her eyes began tearing up, and she balled her paws into fists. That-place-where-bad-people-go-when-they-die hath no fury like a female-friend’s scorn.

“Gr-Grape…” Peanut suddenly looked worried. He hadn’t meant to hurt Grape’s feelings and now he felt he had betrayed her trust by damaging something she’d worked so hard on. “…are-“

“Get out.” Grape quietly said. She may have said it quietly, but her voice was the coldest Peanut had ever heard it.

Peanut got up and walked to the doorway. When he was about to exit the room, he stopped and turned toward her. “Grape, I’m sor-“

Grape interrupted him by quickly pointing her finger to the doorway behind Peanut. “Out.” She repeated.

Peanut’s ears drooped and he hung his head dejectedly as he walked out of the room. It didn’t seem like Grape was going to forgive him easily, this time. The door was slammed shut behind him as he went back to the living room. With his sensitive ears he heard Grape slightly sobbing and the sound of a broom sweeping the floor of the room Grape was in. I’ll give her some space, for now, he thought to himself.

Peanut thought back to the previous times Grape had been angry at him…they usually ended up asleep on the floor in front of the television within an hour. He sighed as he remembered those times. When was the last time they'd had an argument? Peanut resumed his MarioKart game; suddenly, it didn't seem like it was much fun.

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Chapter 2

The next week progressed as usual, except Grape wasn’t speaking to Peanut…and it was driving him crazy. Breakfast…silence. Lunch…silence. Dinner…well, you get the idea. He even asked their parents to try to reason with Grape, but she was being really stubborn. Peanut’s heart ached. He loved Grape, and to see her treating him with indifference, when she had promised to be mushy with him, was tearing him up inside.

One night, Grape was lying awake in her bed, which was temporarily in the living room. Since the diorama incident, she refused to sleep in the same bedroom as Peanut. Lousy dog. she thought to herself as she turned over on her side for the umpteenth time… Cats don’t sleep well at night, apparently. “He doesn’t know how it feels to lose something he’s worked so hard on.” she mumbled to herself. A figurative light bulb came on above her head.

---

Peanut was also lying awake in his room. He could usually fall asleep quite easily…but the last week had been a bit rough on him. We should have been asleep in front of the television a week ago. I shouldn’t still be ignored by her. Ah, Peanut…usually so cheerful but now, a bit on the sad side. But however one may be feeling, sleep eventually takes them…and the same rule applied to Peanut.

Grape waited outside of their bedroom until she heard Peanut snoring. She quietly opened the door to the room and walked softly across the carpet on silent paws. She maintained stealth as she climbed up onto Peanut’s bed. She finally spotted the binder on a bookshelf overhanging Peanut’s sleeping position. On the front of the binder was written, ‘Spot (Superdog) WIP’. She placed her toes on the edge of the bed, avoiding placing pressure on the mattress. With cat-like dexterity she slowly fell forward and placed her paws on the bookshelf so she was supporting herself at an angle over the bed…and Peanut. She held herself with one paw while she grabbed Peanut’s work-in-progress collection of Spot (Superdog).

Grape smiled mischievously. Revenge is sweet, she thought to herself. She pushed off the bookshelf and leaned back…but she hadn’t counted on the extra weight of the binder. Her arms spun wildly trying to move her center of gravity back but she held out her paws as she came back down against the side of the bookshelf smashing her finger between it and the binder. Nyeow! She muffled the cry, as she winced. She sighed in relief when she saw that she had kept her grip on the binder. Then she gasped. She suddenly looked down and saw Peanut’s paw moving to scratch his ear. Having completed the task, he rolled over and smacked his lips. “Graaaaape.” He murmured. The dog didn't even let her rest in his dreams...

Grape didn’t dare move; she even held her breath until she heard Peanut snoring again. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She looked around and spotted a dresser at about her current waist height; she moved the book to the hand closer to it and placed it quietly on the dresser. She pushed off again and was able to maintain control this time, as she edged her way over to the dresser and, without making a sound, took the binder with her as she left the room.

---

Grape crept through the silence of Babylon Gardens. She was wearing her purple scarf and her breath could clearly be seen in the crisp air. If it was any colder, she would have preferred to stay home…but she was determined. At this time in the morning, not even the nocturnal animals were awake. She proceeded cautiously, fearful that she might have to answer someone’s question, of what she was doing out of the house at this hour… She felt like a criminal and began having second thoughts… No! she quickly told herself. Peanut deserves this. Another voice sounded in her head. …does he really? She shook her head of these thoughts as she approached Joey’s doghouse. She heard the dog sleeping and…another, much smaller animal? Her ears perked up in curiosity as she quietly tapped on the wall of Joey’s sleeping quarters.

A dog’s yawn broke the silence and a moment later, Joey’s head peaked out through the entrance and around the side. “Grape?!” Joey exclaimed groggily.

“It’s a bit early,” a mouse said, as it exited the doghouse, running along Joey’s arm and stopping at his hand. *Whoa!* she squeaked in fear, as she saw Grape. She proceeded to promptly run back inside along the same arm.

“It’s okay, Squeak…she’s a friend.” Joey responded, still half asleep.

“I have to get back, before I’m missed.” Grape said nervously.

Joey started to get a bad vibe from Grape. He noticed the binder she was carrying. “Is that Peanut’s?” he asked, noticing the ‘Spot (Superdog) WIP’ written on the side. “Are those Peanut’s unfinished drafts?” his eyes lit up. “Peanut never lets anyone look at those…” It was like Joey had found the Holy Grail of comic collectibles.

Grape noticed Joey’s eyes sparkling. “Do you want them?” she asked, smiling. She had planned to give them to Joey, anyway…she just enjoyed teasing dogs.

Phase one of my plan for revenge is complete, she thought to herself. She suddenly noticed Joey on the ground with Squeak standing on his chest and fanning the unconscious dog's face with her tiny paws. “He just needs a moment,” she said to Grape. Grape rolled her eyes and placed the binder inside his doghouse…it was surprisingly warm in there. Must be the insulation.

“Just tell him to be careful with it.” She said over her shoulder to Squeak, as she was walking away.

“Okay,” Squeak shouted as she waved goodbye to the cat.

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Just testing the waters here, with an actual 'Housepets!' fan-fic. Please enjoy :mrgreen:

Next chapter is here: viewtopic.php?p=133062#p133062

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