BTF - Treehouse Chapter Two - The Setup The night wore later with a dozen more rounds of Never Have I Ever before their lantern ran out of fuel, and they all headed out into the pale moonlight for a tipsy walk with their empty bottles to throw them at the passing freight trains. A bit later, and the group was aimlessly walking along the service road alongside the tracks, toward town.

“We need a camera. Like a Polaroid. No - a video camera,” Colin said, out of the blue. The others looked confused.

“Huh? Why?” Belly asked.

“Because we're going to make a movie that'll shut Mikey up once and for all,” Colin said, with a grin flashed over at Belly. “You're in, right New Kid?” the raccoon asked, without even looking to Zach.

“Huh? Wait a second…” Zach said, realizing what they were talking about when he saw the look in Colin's eyes. Belly looked a little sheepish, as well.

“Why not?” Colin laughed, “You wouldn't take one for your bro?" the raccoon challenged as he looked over to the cat, who looked a little dumbstruck. "It's not like we're asking you to fall in love with him or something. Just help get his stupid dickhead dad off his case," the raccoon said, scooping Zach up in his arm. “C'mon, New Kid! An excellent move like that would totally make you a full member of the group,” he said. Kelly laughed.

“Maybe we could stop calling him New Kid finally,” the rat teased as he walked along with the others, and they all laughed at that.

“Yeah, a new nickname's part of the deal. What'cha say, New Kid?” Colin asked, grinning that charismatic bandit grin of his. Zach fidgeted.

“Uh… do you think it'd work?" the young cat asked, suspiciously.

“He's just an asshole. He'll find something else to be an asshole about…but maybe it'd shut him up about the virgin faggot stuff," Belly said, awkwardly rubbing at his shoulder. He doubted it'd do much good, but didn't want to take the wind out of Colin's sails. “Maybe, at least…if we can make you look less like a boy.”

“Nah, trust me guys; we can shut him up about everything," Colin said, in his usual frustrating manner that implied he knew more than he was letting on. Likely because he did. The raccoon squeezed Zach in against one side and Belly against the other under his arms. Zach really did want to be a ‘real’ part of the group, even if it was just some silly formality or mock status; he was already treated as one of the gang.

“…Yeah, alright. Fuck Mikey, let's shut him up,” Zach said, and the other boys cheered. The scheme was on.

The rest of that night whiled away much like most others did. The crew wound up at the bowling alley, Kelly got his pocket full of half-smoked cigarettes and the group had pilfered a few unattended drinks from the bowlers before getting kicked out. They went dumpster-diving afterward, behind the local big- box stores that divided their side of town from the more middle-class side of town Zach was from.

Colin gave Zach a boost as Belly kept a lookout, and Kelly held the dumpster lid up with a broom handle he'd found.

“No clothes in this one either. Ooh,” Zach reached in, and dug through a bag to pull out a few bags of expired potato chips and cookies and tossed them out to the waiting rat. “Why do we need girl clothes anyway? If we're going to make a video of Belly getting laid aren't we going to be naked anyway?”

“We don't want Mikey to be able to tell it's you, though,” Kelly said, “That'd just make it worse. But if you're in a dress, with tits - oh, man, maybe we can get a wig too!” he laughed, as did Colin, while stuffing the snacks into his backpack.

“Yeah! A wig and makeup,” Colin joked, as he helped Zach back down. “Maybe behind the Goodwill. People dump stuff on their dock all the time,” the raccoon said, walking off down the alleyway. Belly abandoned his post and joined them as they passed him.

“What am I supposed to do, even? Just show Mikey these pictures-" Belly was cut off.

“Video, if we can help it. You can't fake video proof,” Colin said. He'd been thinking about this.

“Fine. So I just show Mikey this video while he's raging out and being a dickhead? I don't think that'll work…” Belly said as they passed under a streetlight on the pole between buildings.

“What do you have to lose by trying?” asked Kelly as pragmatically as ever, running ahead a bit to push open the lid of another dumpster for a peek inside. Colin was checking randomly as he walked by as well.

“Come on, have a little faith," Colin said, in that way that implied a certain level of confidence in his plan. "Even if it doesn't work, it'll still be fun to make, won't it?” the raccoon grinned, before leveraging himself up onto the edge of a dumpster and tipping in, rummaging through the refuse before throwing out a few packs of expired batteries and some bingo markers. Zach laughed at Colin's comment. “See? New Kid's into it still.” the raccoon argued from inside the dumpster, eventually throwing a whole bag out into the better light and hopping down to tear it open and go through it. The others gathered around, as Belly looked across to Zach and met his gaze. Zach grinned at him.

“…Yeah I guess you're right,” the opossum said sheepishly. “I mean, if it's not weird for the New Kid," he said before he pulled something out of the various packaging. “Ooh, a flashlight.”

“It's not weird unless you make it weird, dude! I'm pretty sure it's gonna feel awesome for me too,” Zach snickered, soon realizing that there were a lot of flashlights; cheap, shitty flashlights with varying cartoon branding. He sat down and put a couple expired batteries in one, and it lit up. “Aw, good find Coll-boy!” the young cat said. He doled out some more batteries until all four kids had their own flashlights, and a decent stash of spare batteries before hauling the bag back into that dumpster and heading off for the Goodwill.

On the short walk down the road, Zach got an idea, and after a minute of fiddling, grabbed the nearest hand to him- which happened to be Kelly's. He grinned and pressed it to his lap, where he'd stuffed the flashlight down the front of his jeans and out of the fly. He made sure the rat's hand was wrapped around the barrel of the flashlight before he could see what was going on.

“Look, dude, I finally grew a dick just like you guys!” Zach laughed, and Kelly recoiled with a shout of surprise once he realized what he was - figuratively - doing.

“Aahh! Not cool!” the rat laughed, running off a few paces, as Colin and Belly both laughed. Zach chased him.

“Aw c'mon Kellogg! That felt good! You guys didn't tell me how awesome these things are!” he said, stroking the flashlight stuck out of his jeans lasciviously, despite the traffic passing them. “Aw, man, this is really good,” he stroked it faster, “I think I'm gonna'..!” He pointed the flashlight at Kelly and turned it on. “Aaaaah! Yeah, that's the stuff! All over you!” the cat laughed. The other boys were howling with laughter as Kelly cried out in mock protest.

“Aw, man! It's everywhere! Why did you have to do it ON me?!” Kelly laughed. Before long, the other boys were chasing him with flashlights held to their groins, and the group ran off around the corner of the closed Goodwill building. Zach was quick to hop his way up onto the loading dock and start rummaging through the few bags and boxes with the aid of his newfound flashlight. Belly, same as always, kept a nervous watch out at the corner of the building.

“Jackpot!” Zach said abruptly, rifling through a bag. There was a bunch of stuff- but what caught his interest was the bag full of hypercolor fabric. “Duuuude! Aerobics outfits?” he laughed, holding up a neon-pink and blue set. The bag had tights and leg warmers too.

“Oh, no way!” Kelly laughed, abandoning his box to come check out the outfits with Zach and holding one of them up. “…This looks like it's about your size too. Try it on!” he said with an urgent little hiss. “Belly! Anyone around?”

“No, I don't see anyone. What're you guys doing?” came Belly's voice from down the alley.

“You'll see!” Colin called, laughing as he watched Zach stripping to try on the athletic wear. Zach waved at both of them and shooed them.

“No staring, pervs! Jeez. One pussy comes out and you guys are obsessed!” he laughed at them, even if he didn't really care. The guys were cool, and he trusted them to not steal too many looks as he changed. A few moments later, Kelly ran down to the corner of the building and fetched Belly, taking up his post.

“Belly, there's something Coll-boy wants to show you. I'll take watch,” the rat said with a grin. Confused, Belly went to join them.

“What's up, guys…?” Belly froze in his tracks as he looked where Colin nonchalantly pointed. Zach was sat on the edge of the loading dock, crotch at nose-level with the opossum and grinning like a dork under the orange lights. The outfit fit perfectly, and if it weren't for the familiar face and lack of tits along with the lack of hips, he'd pass for a girl instantly. “Hoooooly shit,” Belly managed to get out.

“It's rad, isn't it Belly?” Zach chimed in, grinning crookedly as he performed a fittingly catlike stretch on the dock and really showed off. “We could just use some scissors to cut out the crotch in the tights and pull this leotard aside and…hey, are you okay?" the cat wondered, as Belly looked a little lightheaded, and leaned against Colin who caught him readily.

“Easy, Belly,” Colin laughed, “Not showtime quite yet. Put it away,” the raccoon teased, and Belly soon stood upright and shoved Colin playfully.

“C'mon, I'm not pitching that much of a tent,” he said. He was, though. “It…it looks good, New Kid, yeah.”

“It looks great, New Kid,” Colin agreed, laughing. “C'mon, let's see if we can find anything else. Pack that shit up in here,” the raccoon said, plopping his backpack on the loading dock. The crew, together, scored some new clothes, mostly old t-shirts and worn out shorts, and a few odd things they might be able to sell off in the trailer park to make a few bucks.

“So what're we doing about a camera, anyway?" Kelly asked, openly, as he puffed on one of his secondhand cigarettes. Belly shrugged.

“There's the multimedia room at the library? I really don't know anywhere else other than maybe school, or someone in the park,” the opossum wondered as they carried the fruits of their evening's labors back to the park, following the railroad tracks. Colin's ears perked.

“Wait, that's perfect. You think you can lift Mikey's library card?” the raccoon asked Belly. Kelly and Zach looked at each other, confused.

“Mikey has a library card?” Zach asked, dumbfounded. Belly rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, he's not exactly a big reader. The library loans movies out for free. It's cheaper than the video store," Belly said, trudging along. “What do you need HIS card for though, Coll-boy?”

“Trust me, man. It'll be worth it. Can you get it or not?” the raccoon urged. Belly sighed.

“Yeah, yeah. I can get it. Better be worth it though,” the opossum kid said, kicking a stick that laid in his path on the access road.

“It will be, dude.” Colin said confidently as the gang got back to the park, finding it was finally quiet. Save for crickets and the hum of window air conditioning, the uneasy peace in the park called the whole crew to their respective beds, and they parted ways.