[b][center]Prologue[/center][/b]



The sun rose slowly, casting its light through the trees of Littlebark. It must have been the hour of dawn. Light beamed through the open slits of space between trees. As if to intentionally annoy him, a bright beam of light filtered directly in a certain chubby rabbit's face. 

“Ugh…I hate that window," Dade huffed to himself. His curtains were nothing but a thin bed sheet that was older than him. It did nothing to shield him from the light casting on his face. It never failed. As some would think of it as a natural alarm, Dade just saw it as Mother Nature trying to slowly make him blind. 

He sat up, stretching and hopping out of bed. Dade scolded himself for being so careless. A thump like that could wake the rest of the heathens others called his siblings. He was often envious of Clair, Harvey and even the twins. They only had one sibling whereas he has dozens of them. But...he loves them. Each and every one of them. He just wished he had some peace for once. 

Last night he was only asleep for what he felt was 3 hours due to their constant noise. He groaned aloud and rubbed his eyes.Taking a deep breath, the chunky mammal gingerly placed his foot on the floor. As quietly as he could Dade walked on the tips of his toes. Sneaking across the floorboards, even remembering which exact boards squeaked under his steps. He finally took a breath when he stepped into the hallway. It wasn't hard to just walk past each of the bedrooms. 

After a quick and anxious breakfast of trying to be as quiet as possible, Dade crept across the living room towards the front door. No one would question why we left as he was well 18 and he never went far. 

The rabbit stepped out on the porch, stretching once again. He took in the fresh air and the wet, dewy smell of the grass. It was definitely early. The sun wasn't even fully in the sky. Shrugging to himself as usual he was the only one who seemed to be up. 

Even with the pinkish orange run rising, bathing the forest in light; a spectacle that would make anyone in Littlebark smile. But Dade just found himself sighing to himself. After the twins left a lot of things changed. At first many years ago Dade was ecstatic. It would be just him and Harvey like old times. But that wasn't exactly what happened… As the twins left, of course Harvey spent much of his time in his presence. But soon Harvey began to branch out and spend more time with the other kids. For some reason, Dade couldn't bring himself to try and make friends with the others. 

He felt disconnected from everyone else. The only one he actually hung out with was Kratz. But he still held the most of his heart for the blue bird. When Harvey made time for Claire, Peri-Peri and even Rooter it meant less time to be spent with him. The one time he tried to make friends with someone else it ended with him being mocked and ridiculed for being such a “stick in the mud”. But he couldn’t help it. He went from person to person and each had a reason for not wanting to be around him; ranging from “too whiney” to “a total buzzkill”.

 Maybe it was true, but none of them gave him a chance in the present. All those traits are things he did in the past, as a kid. Now that Harvey is always off with someone else, Dade doesn’t have a reason to be so clingy. And his “stick in the mud” ways he considered behind him. As he entered his teenage years he began to realize how restricting the rules he lived under really were.  

The way he was raised often made him unconfident and ashamed of himself. The feelings he had for others, especially Harvey, was deemed wrong by his mother. Just friends and nothing more. He tried to hang out with Technobear, but he quickly regretted it when he was taken to a loud club full of people with no concept of personal space. He left it early, but no before explaining to Technobear why. 

Dade huffed to himself. He wanted to have more friends, people he can hang out with and have fun. It was lonely and stressful being at home. Siblings crowding every corner of the house. There was so much he couldn’t do. He couldn't have a toy that wasn’t educational or watch anything of the same category; Getting a good night’s sleep was an almost impossibility; Even the lock on the bathroom door was broken, leading to siblings casually walking in the middle of his showers. 

It only got worse in his teenage years as his body began to go through many changes. His siblings were now 3 times more annoying than before, he was always in a bitter mood, and he found it harder to sleep against all the conversations in the neighboring rooms. The worst in his opinion was the constant embarrassment of that awkward growing between his legs. It was the worst. From waking up to random times in the day, Dade honestly thought something was wrong with him, but he knew his mother would never talk to him about something like that, so he just fought through it every time. 

The rabbit shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He figured the only thing to actually do is take a walk like he always did. The forest was actually kind of pretty in the early morning. It was the only thing around here that Dade could actually enjoy by himself. The dew drops sitting atop the blades of grass quickly got his bare feet wet, but he didn’t mind at all. It was oddly comforting to feel the sensation of cool droplets soaking into his foot fur. Dade was aiming to just walk aimlessly around Littlebark, but as usual he found himself at the outskirts of Harvey’s house. He found his feet taking him there even with no desire from his brain. But he always wanted to see Harvey. Starting from the age of twelve years old Dade found his heart beating quicker and he often fumbled over his own words. And when Harvey would look at him and smile, he could feel the hotness spread across his cheeks. 

“Hey, Dade! You’re up early," a familiar voice made the bunny’s ears perk up. Dade looked up from the grass to see Harvey smiling over at him. 

“Uh, yeah. I just decided to go for a morning walk. I go on them all the time. The sunrise makes everything...pretty," Dade chuckled awkwardly.

[i]Oh, God. What am I even talking about?[/i] Dade thought to himself. 

“Yeah. It really is," Harvey nodded. “Uh, Dade. I…”

“Hey! What are you two lovebirds up to?" Dade groaned internally at the voice of Fee. 

“Hey! Fee!" Harvey called over to his other best friend. 

Dade just rolled his eyes at the pink imp. He couldn't help but wonder where Foo was. He hadn't seen any of him lately. Even though it was a long time ago their parents took them back to their homeland, when the twins became legal adults they came back and picked up right where they left off. 

“You two are up early," Dade stated with just a hint of bitterness. 

“So are you two, why so prissy?" Fee bit back a wide smirk on her face.

Dade couldn't help but scoff and chuckle a bit. Sure she got on his every last nerve, but he had to admit he missed the two imps. 

“So guys. I got something planned for this weekend. But I'm not gonna tell you right now. Just know it's gonna be awesome," Harvey said in a rather hushed tone, as if someone was out listening.

“Sounds awesome," Fee smiled. “I'm gonna take off, Harvey. Me and Foo are gonna mess with Randall.”

Before Harvey could advise her against it, she was already off.

“Heh, I tried." Harvey sighed warmly, watching the female imp bound off. Even after all these years it seems the twins still have the same mindset. They were still Fee and Foo. 

“Well the twins are gonna be the twins. Even after all these years you can’t change that," Dade sighed. He couldn’t stand it when Harvey would feel responsibility for the delinquent pair’s actions. If they want to run rampant even at this age, then why should Harvey stress himself about it? Harvey is amazing. He’s so kind, caring and even puts the well-being of his sister, the twins, and his best friend before himself.

“Well, I guess it’s just me and you," Harvey looked up at Dade and smiled. Dade felt his heart jump, his paws starting to sweat, as he looked directly into Harvey’s eyes. He couldn’t think of what to say. 

“Uh, yeah." was all the rabbit managed to say. He tried to focus on other features besides the bird's face, but he continued to fall deeper into his eyes. 

“Hey, uh. Are you alright, Dade?" Harvey asked, snapping Dade from his trance. 

“Um, yeah. Uh, actually I think I’m gonna talk a walk to, uh, clear my mind." Dade blushed under his fur. 

“Oh, okay. I’ll find you later to tell you what I’m planning," Harvey nodded. “See ya”. With that Harvey turned back up his porch to go inside. 

As soon as Harvey was inside Dade turned and made a dash down the trail, hoping to get as far into the woods as he possibly could. He felt so foolish, just standing there staring directly at Harvey. He ran down a slope lowering into the dense foliage. He often stayed there when he was sick of his siblings. It wasn’t hidden or far away, but it was a place that he could get himself together. 

He stopped abruptly, now taking a look around. He was in a space that was completely unique. There was bare dirt in the shape of a wide circle with a tree stump perfectly in the center, thick green foliage kept this space hidden enough. He sighed and sat down on the stump, thinking out loud to himself. 

“What am I doing? I looked like an idiot back there. Harvey’s eyes. His eyes made me feel stuck. I could have asked him out..”

“Ask him out? Seriously?" Dade jumped up. He scanned around quickly only to be met with Fee standing above him on a thick tree branch. 

“Ugh. How long have you been up there?" Dade grimaced, hiding the absolute shame he felt. 

“Long enough to hear about your little crush on Harvey. Ha! That’ll explain why you’ve been trailing behind him for years," Fee laughed. 

“Hmmm. Are you gonna ask him out? Take him on a little date, go dancing? Take him to the bedroom? Oh, Harvey. Harder!" Fee mocked, now doubled over in laughter.

“Sorry, Dade. But news flash. You’re way too uptight for Harvey. Way too bossy, angry and you’re a major control freak," Fee drilled. Opposite to what Dade thought, Fee wasn’t saying this out of malice, but as a straight fact. She was aware of Dade’s affinity for Harvey, but she never felt it would actually work out. She thought Dade was lucky that somehow they became best friends in the first place.

“Rrr. Shut up. You don't even know what you're talking about!," Dade got up and ran out of the clearing. He didn’t care where he was going. All he cared about was getting away from the twins. The things she said were cycling into his mind. Bossy. Angry. Control freak.

“That she-beast…She's…she's...Right," Unconsciously Dade found a stump to sit on and catch his breath. “Ugh. They’re right. Nobody actually likes me…I barely have any friends…”

In his own self loathing Dade let his negative emotions stir until he let it out in one agitated yell. But he wasn’t aware that somebody out there heard him.