Chapter Text
Homework is just the worst thing to have ever been thought up in the history of forever.
It doesn’t help if anything can help to distract you, such as…
“...that’s just wonderful sweetie! Now, it’s getting a bit late, so you should probably get back to your studies. If there’s anything we could help you with, don’t hesitate to call, okay? Don’t forget, we love you! Call again soon, okay? Bye!”
Please mom, he calls about every day, do you have to lay it on so thick each time?
Not that you can blame her, you like talking to your brother too.
Turning around, you take a look at your brother’s side of the room. It hasn’t changed since before the summer. Then again, none of you participated in anything with a prize pool, so of course he wouldn’t have been able to steal the show with that amazing talent of his.
He also didn’t bring anything over from college. Were there no contests for him to enter there either?
No, wait, of course not. He was way too busy studying, he’s been saying stuff like that all the time in his calls, last year as well. He always did manage to pass with flying colours though, so it definitely helps!
Though, now that you think of it, this year was a bit different. He had been acting a bit off over the phone and, while he didn’t really want to tell mom and dad, he did confide in you that he almost failed a few of his classes.
Sometimes when he’d call he just sounded so incredibly tired. Of course it worried your parents as well, but to you it sounded way too much like how he sounded after…
After MARI passed.
You confronted him about it once, over the phone, but he’d just deny it and say it was merely fatigue. At the end of the day, you didn’t have anything to prove otherwise, so all you could do was to give your support and hope for the best.
Remembering that he started sounding better and better again recently, you can’t help but feel a smile forming on your face.
It didn’t stop the weirdness, though. Just a few days ago he called with a request if you had any old pictures of MARI laying around.
Brushing aside all of the awkwardness that conversation brought up, you did promise him to look around. While you don’t have anything here anymore, you’re sure that BASIL would at least have some pictures left. Who knows, maybe he gave some to AUBREY, so you’ve got a good excuse to drop by her again as well.
Of course, the one place you’re SURE of that has pictures of her would have to be SUNNY’s new place. If not from their own pictures, then the ALBUM is going to be right there too. Last time you visited it was right there, proudly displayed in his new room.
Going there just to pick up the ALBUM would be a bit of a long trip though. Hmmm…
What if…
What if SUNNY would go to HERO’s place with the ALBUM and you’d just meet him there!?
Oh, oh! And what if you’d take AUBREY and BASIL along too! HERO would probably love to see you all together! There’s no way his mood wouldn’t improve even further than it sounds like it has already!
Oh boy, this is so exciting! You can’t wait to get to planning this! First, you need to get in touch with SUNNY, he’s the lynchpin in all of this, after all, then second…
“KEL, it’s time for dinner! Get down here in 5 minutes or HECTOR gets your portion!”
Aw crud, that sucks.
Wait, dinner…?
It’s that late already? But you haven’t even made any progress with your…
Double crud.
Homework is just the worst thing to have ever been thought up in the history of forever.
“Hey MELVIN, do you think you could check the report over? I think it should measure up to the rubrics now.”
MELVIN gave HERO an astonished look, “Wait, do you mean you finished the report? All of the gaps that were there? For real?”
“Yeah, it took some doing, but it wasn’t that bad. Most of the sources you found held more than enough information, so-” Was as far as HERO could get before being tackled in a hug by an overly dramatic MELVIN.
“It’s so good to have you back in top form again! You just saved my weekend bro!” MELVIN cried out.
Rolling his eyes at the spectacle, ANDY pulled the exaggerating actor back by his collar, “Calm it buddy, you’re choking him. Besides, you’re not off the hook yet. The paper on last week’s dissection assignment is due on Tuesday, and I’m not going to do that alone.”
As MELVIN’s crocodile tears threatened to turn into real ones, MARIA could only laugh at the display. With a smile on her face, she thought about the times KATE had said how out of sorts HERO had been with his studies.
If seeing the reactions from MELVIN weren’t enough, she saw the improvements herself when HERO had assisted her in that practical assignment. His insights and hand-eye coordination were leagues above what he showed in that first one, a few weeks back.
“Oh yeah, about that.” HERO turned to her, “We should probably get started on that too. I’ve got my notes on me, so how about we go work on that after the next period?”
“Ah, right, that’s...” MARIA’s smile quickly turned into an apologetic frown, “We’re going to be working on some board stuff. We still need to find a few people for the next activity, sorry. How about we meet up this weekend too?”
HERO gave her a smile, “Sure thing! I can get started while you’re working on that. Where do you think we should meet up?”
As the two happily exchanged information, the rest of the attendants in the breakroom looked at each other with some ‘knowing’ smirks. With the amount of comfort those two are now conversing with each other, it really did seem LUKE’s intel was on the mark.
“How tragic, our star-crossed lovers have to split.” MELVIN laughed, “Don’t want her to leave your side, huh?”
“Tough break, lover boy, she’s taken for today.” KATE snickered at HERO.
HERO just gave them a tired look. They’ve only started teasing them for a few short days now, but it’s already gotten very annoying, very quick.
If only his attempts at clearing up the misunderstanding helped. Instead, those were seen as attempts at deflection and merely gave them more ammunition to continue teasing.
MARIA gave them a lighthearted eye-roll and a smile, “Oh jeez, guys! You’ve been making the same jokes every day now. Come on, we already told you that we’re just friends!
LUKE came over to them both with a teasing grin, wrapping an arm around both their shoulders, “Sure you guys are! Of course! We’re all just friends here! Just like how KATE and me are just friends! We’re all just very very close friends together.”
“Oh come off it, LUKE.” HERO tiredly shrugged his friend off of him.
As another round of chuckles emerged from the group, HERO just sighed to himself as he started thinking about the coming weekend.
Hmm. His pantry currently doesn’t have anything fresh. Perhaps he should go by the store.
It’s just about noon. A bit before HERO had asked her to come, but MARIA has always thought that being able to take your time was something to be valued.
Additionally, hanging out with HERO has been a lot of fun, so that’s something she’s been looking forward to as well.
Taking one last look at the delicately written note he had given her, MARIA stepped into the building before her.
Having memorised the number, it took no time at all to find the door it belonged to.
With a deep breath, MARIA raised her fist to the door.
…
It was time. The clock struck half an hour before twelve.
Should prepare lunch for them, now that he had everything ready.
HERO gave himself a smirk as he tucked in his sleeves, ready to get started on the day. He had plenty of time to get to cooking something before MARIA showed up.
Letting the window out and setting the stove on, he quickly got to work.
Eggs, flour, onions, shrimp- this was one of his favourite recipes. He could practically do this with his eyes closed if he wanted to at this point in his life.
Chop chop chop, go all the vegetables and meat. Stir stir stir, go all the flour and eggs, creating the perfect batter mix.
The shrimp was cooking to a nice red colour on the stove, a satisfying crackling filling the air as he concentrated.
He hummed to himself a nice calm tune, occasionally shaking his hips as he continued his work.
He forgot how much fun cooking could be sometimes. It was always a treat to make something when you’re in a good mood.
Let’s see, what next? Ah, the shrimp is ready. Time to get the batter cooked then.
Like making pancakes, HERO poured his delicious mix in the pan and added some Asian spices and garlic to accentuate the flavour once it was done. Flip flip flip, off it goes into the air like a flying saucer.
The air was cool and the sun was hitting just perfectly into the room. He hasn’t felt this relaxed with himself in years, he didn’t think.
What time was it?
Still ten minutes before noon. Nice!
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and a voice came out, “Hello? HERO? It’s MARIA!”
Oh?
HERO took a quick pause to shout, “Coming!”
Turning the stove off and washing his hands, he made sure he was all clean and ready as he came over to open the door.
With a surprised smile, he welcomed her in, “Hey! I didn’t expect to see you showing up so soon.”
“I was finished with stuff early. Thought I might as well come over to get started on the project as soon as we could.” MARIA smiled back pleasantly, only to widen her eyes as she paused and sniffed the air, “Oh wow, what’s that smell?”
“Lunch is that smell.” HERO smirked, “I’m making us something to eat before we work on the project. Come in.”
Inviting her in, HERO was quick to go back to his palace as MARIA looked around the room to study it. Most of her attention was taken by the sight of food being cooked as her stomach growled to show how excited it was over the surprising news, though.
“Wow, I didn’t know you could cook.” MARIA commented.
“Yeah? Nobody told you yet?” HERO chuckled, “Then prepare to be surprised.”
If there’s anything he’s confident in, it’s his ability to make a tasty meal.
With that, he turned the stove back on and kept working as MARIA spectated on the side.
She watched on with mesmerized awe at the way HERO moved. Such practiced hands and firm balance over everything. The fact that he was able to multitask over several things at once was a feat that she was incredibly jealous of.
Watching him work was like watching a factory machine perform its functions. In a way, it was beautiful. Like a man in his natural element.
It was soon that MARIA realized that HERO wasn’t just a cook. He was a real Chef with a capital C.
…
This is so freaking good.
“Haha, enjoying yourself there?” The chef chuckled as he regarded the girl opposite of him, who was currently stuffing her face with her second helping.
Said girl had no time to answer. Eating this was the current priority, full stop. A curt nod is all she could spare.
Having seen similar reactions before, HERO knew how pointless it was to expect any answers. Still, he kept a semblance of a conversation going between bites.
“Do you think people would consider us morbid, seeing how we’re eating without a care in the world after just talking about looking at someone’s innards?”
This time the question was answered in a way, albeit by MARIA violently coughing.
Approaching her in worry, HERO prepared himself to provide help in dislodging whatever was currently stuck in her throat.
It seemed to remain a nice gesture, as the coughing ceased and instead MARIA was now just breathing heavily while she said, “Is… it’s fine… I’m okay. Phew, just ate a bit more than I could chew.”
“Yeah, you should probably slow down a little. Don’t be like my brother, he never listens to me whenever I say that.” HERO spoke before looking to the side, “Granted, he always manages to inhale whatever’s in front of him at any time, so he doesn’t really need to, as infuriating as that is.”
At this comment, MARIA looked up at him, “Oh, you have a brother?”
Taking a seat again, HERO replied, “Yeah, I do. His name is KEL and he’s just 3 years younger than me. He’s a bit of a troublemaker, but his heart is in the right place.”
Trying to pace herself more with the delicious food, MARIA continued, “Oh, that must be so nice! I'm sure you two have a lot of fun together.”
“And how about you?” HERO asked after taking a sip from his drink, “I take it you don’t have any siblings, then?”
MARIA’s smile dropped as she stared at the table, though only for a moment. After quickly recovering her posture, MARIA nodded, “Yeah, that’s right. I occasionally wonder what it’d be like, though.”
That was... slightly worrisome. Still, HERO decided not to push her, seeing how uncomfortable it made her look.
Misjudging his look as one of judgement, MARIA quickly tried to change the subject, “By the way, this is probably the best thing I have ever eaten.” With a short giggle, she told him, “You probably could have been an excellent chef if you’d have gone to culinary school instead.”
“Oh, jeez.” HERO scratched his neck with a modest grin, “You really think so?”
“Yeah! Like, I could seriously see you as the next Iron Chef, showing up on talk shows and reality tv to talk about how good you are all the time. I’m serious.” MARIA giggled.
“Funny you say that…” HERO chuckled back, “Back when I was a kid, I always had a dream of growing up to become a professional chef. It was something I used to really strive for.”
“Oh?” MARIA smiled, “Why did you end up in medical school in the first place then?! You could be a world-famous chef with this kind of talent! This world would be a better place with lots of amazingly delicious food by now!”
One day, you’re going to be a world-famous chef, and you’re going to cook me lots of yummy food!
HERO’s smile faltered a bit at the memory. It flashed by in an instant, too quick for him to stop it.
All he could really do was stare back at MARIA and remember the face of the girl who once believed in him, all those years ago.
Awkwardly glancing away, he mumbled out, “Uh… That dream kinda… I gave up on it when my girlfriend passed.”
MARIA paused her fork right before it hit her lunch, glancing up at him in realization.
“Oh.”
Welp… She should’ve seen that coming. The delicious taste in her mouth, while still amazing, felt more bittersweet now.
...
“Well, anyway-” MARIA switched from the awkward topic to a new one, “No wonder your brother always inhales everything in front of him! If I had a brother who could cook half as good as you, I’d be inhaling everything on sight too!”
She quickly engorged herself once more, bringing the plate up to her mouth and shovelling it all down her gullet with a fork.
HERO slowly smiled at this, already letting the previous conversation fade away in the back of his mind as he gently told her, “Just don’t choke again. My cooking isn't that good enough to die for.”
To hell with that, MARIA thought. His cooking was like ambrosia! Besides, a little choking never killed anyone before.
…
MARIA accidentally swallowed too fast and got it in the wrong hole again. HERO had to do the Heimlich maneuver to save her life.
…
As lunch started crawling to a close and all that could be heard was the sound of utensils being used, the relative silence was broken once more by MARIA, “Hey HERO, would you… do you think you could tell me what it’s like growing up as an older brother?”
Swallowing the last bit of his lunch, HERO took a bit of time before he started, “Well… I guess I could try. Honestly, for as long as I can remember, I’ve always been together with KEL. We’d basically do anything together, going to school and playing afterwards. Being the older of the two, I always looked out for him. That only really increased when we started hanging out with our neighbours and we became a part of a bigger friend group.”
MARIA was listening intently, nodding occasionally.
“It didn’t change the dynamic back at home, though. KEL being KEL, he’d always try to avoid doing chores. I tried to ease him into it by helping him out with his chores, though I guess it turned out I got stuck with those too.” HERO chuckled. “I never did mind it, though. It was just the same with helping him with his homework. Well, unless I really wanted some time for myself, but that… heh, that was not often a problem. He would always be able to step towards his friends if he got really stuck.”
MARIA switched between looking at HERO as he talked and closing her eyes to imagine the scenes he described. Opening her eyes, she noticed a change in HERO’s expression. His bright smile had turned to a more wistful and even slightly somber one.
“That’s not to say we always got along fine. It’s only natural for siblings to argue from time to time, and we had plenty of squabbles. They never really lasted long, but...” HERO went quiet as he reminisced about that horrible time in his life. He really had let KEL down back then, huh? To think, even after he ‘got better’, he still left him behind. He should have done more for him. Been a better brother. For all of them.
MARIA recognised that look, “MARI must have affected him too, right?”
“Yeah… she did.” HERO sighed, “He handled it a lot better than me though. You know, he’s the one who finally made me face the world again after her death. If it wasn’t for him, I would not have been able to get where I am now.”
As HERO looked down and turned to silence, MARIA took the time to think about what she learned about HERO’s little brother.
Seems like he’s the type that, despite usually acting carefree and lazy, can pull through for the people close to him when they really need him to.
That… he sounds like a wonderful little brother.
Sighing, MARIA gave a somber smile as she played around with her fork, “Honestly… I’m really jealous. I’ve always wanted to have a little brother or sister myself. Might have made my life growing up less boring and lonely if I did…”
“Did your parents not want another child?” HERO asked.
…
A simple question that was met with a suffocating silence.
Seeing as she was having difficulties, HERO gently told her, “You don’t need to answer if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s… it’s fine, really. I just...” MARIA took a few deep breaths, “To answer your question… Yes. Once.”
Noticing how she tried to push through her thoughts, HERO attempted to give her a soft, encouraging look.
“Back when I was little, my parents told me how I was going to be a big sister. Even though I didn’t really realise what that all entailed, I was so excited and happy and so were they. I couldn’t really care whether I’d get a brother or a sister, but when my parents told me the results from the echo sometime along in the pregnancy, I was jumping for joy. They said he was gonna be a boy.” MARIA recited, a dry smile on her face.
HERO’s heart sank at the implication.
MARIA’s voice started to shake a bit. Still, she continued, “I… I didn’t really know what was going on at the time, but I vividly remember the image of my mom acting… strange during the last stage of the pregnancy. I remember feeling scared and worried as the doctor arrived at our home and my dad sent me out of the bedroom. I can still hear my mother’s cries and screams, but… never a baby’s.”
HERO sat frozen to his chair, looking at the girl in shock. She looked so small right now.
“I’m… I’m so sorry.” The words were out of his mouth before he even registered them.
“Thank you.” Came her quiet reply, “He would have been sixteen now, if...”
If he had lived… MARIA chose to leave unsaid.
He’d have practically been the same age as them… HERO kept to himself.
It was strange how the coincidences just kept coming… Plenty of differences, yet the similarities are impossible to deny.
“After that, my parents… it was a confusing time for me. There’d be days where barely a word was spoken, followed by days of intense attention and affection for me, to then once again return to silence or even anger.” MARIA continued somberly, her hand fiddling with her fork once again.
If only she knew how fake it all was back then. Then again, she needed something, anything, at the time.
“That… I cannot imagine how tough that must have been.” HERO empathised. He couldn’t start to think of a world where KEL wouldn’t have been born.
“As I said, it was just very lonely. I never really got along with anyone else, at least not until… I met AL.” MARIA said as she thought back on the past. It was really only after they started hanging out that she opened up more to the other kids.
HERO thought back to his childhood. While he used most of his free time hanging out with the group, he never really had too many problems fitting in with his classmates. MARI, too, seemed able to get along with just about anyone. How different would things have been if they never met?
In any case, it was clear to him that ALBERT meant a lot to MARIA. Perhaps as much MARI meant to HERO.
She told him that ALBERT was her best friend, but…
“Did you… have feelings for him?” HERO blurted out, followed by a quick, “I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”
MARIA gave him a soft chuckle, “Oh, that’s okay. It’s...”
Her smile quickly dropped again.
A million thoughts raced through her head, and yet she knew that there was no getting around to what she wanted to say.
Almost too quiet for her conversation partner to hear, MARIA wistfully spoke, “I did.”
There. She finally said it out loud.
It hurt.
It was liberating, but painful.
HERO thought back to when she first talked about ALBERT. She had denied calling him her boyfriend.
HERO nodded softly, “I understand.”
MARIA gave an appreciative hum. She still wanted to get this feeling off her chest, “Even though I had plenty of friends, I couldn’t help but feel that loneliness return after he… left.”
That was something he could sympathise with. In these last 4 years, he’s never been able to truly bond with anyone on a deeper level. That feeling...
It’s not something he’d want anyone to feel.
It’s not something he’d want her to feel.
“It... probably doesn’t really mean much, but I will try my best to make it so you don’t feel alone again.” HERO said, before turning to look directly at her.
MARIA looked back at him, “Thank you. That… that means a lot.”
The room went silent again. Their plates have been empty for a long while now.
All there was left in the room were the two of them, looking in each others’ eyes, hands close together.
Slowly, ever so slowly, they reached out to each other. Their fingers were mere inches apart…
Suddenly, their moment was interrupted by a series of loud knocks on the door, followed by a booming voice, “Hey HERO! Surprise! We’re here to cheer you up! Mind opening the door?”
That… that was KEL, no doubt about it.
Why is he here? At this time of the year? How did he even get here? Last time HERO checked KEL definitely couldn’t pay the train fare. Aside from that, what was it he just said?
Standing up, HERO cautiously called out to the person behind the door, “Oh, ehm, KEL? When you say “we”, do you actually mean…?”
Before he could finish, KEL was already answering, “Who do you think? All of us, of course! Say hi, guys!”
HERO could definitely hear the soft voice of BASIL and a grumble from AUBREY. He didn’t need to hear anything to believe SUNNY was there as well.
Looking away from the door, HERO gazed towards the surprised girl in front of him.
Oh.
Oh no.
Oh fuck.
There’s no way they’ll handle a sudden meeting with her in any good way. Refusing to panic whatsoever, HERO stayed calm and did what any calm person would calmly do. That is, he hurriedly took hold of MARIA’s arm, led her to stand and pulled her to the back as he called back to his brother, “Just give me a minute, I need to do… something first!”
Ignoring the comments from behind the door, HERO instead listened to the girl he was leading away from said door, as she said, “What are you doing? Why…? Can’t I meet your brother and your friends?”
Having arrived in his bedroom, HERO tried to reason with her, “All of them were very close to MARI as well, they’ll freak out if they see you.”
“But surely you could explain it to them? Just let them know I’m that girl from college, not MARI.” MARIA argued back.
“Yeah, here’s the thing...” HERO put a hand to his forehead, “I haven’t actually told any of them about you yet...”
“Well… fuck.” MARIA put it as eloquently as she could.
From the living room / kitchen, they could hear the slightly muffled voices of the group outside, the loudest of which was guessing a variety of reasons for the hold-up.
Pressed for time, the two young adults looked around the bedroom until their eyes landed on the closet.
HERO gave MARIA an exasperated look as he muttered, “Please tell me you’re not thinking about hiding in my closet.”
MARIA looked back towards the living room as someone started drumming a beat on the door, then back to HERO again as she answered, “It’s either going to be that, or I’m hiding under your bed. What do you think would work better?”
Unable and definitely unwilling to waste more time on this, HERO reluctantly agreed, trying to help MARIA fit in the enclosed and rather cramped space.
With the limited time they had left, HERO apologised beforehand as he proceeded to gently but firmly shove her inside.
“Ow.”
“Sorry…”
“OW!”
“Sorry!”
Like standing in an uncomfortable sarcophagus, MARIA was squished tightly between textbooks and loads of the similar looking outfits that HERO wears daily.
"You certainly have a favourite colour, don't you?" MARIA teased a bit.
"Not the best time to discuss personal taste." HERO worriedly looked over his shoulder at the living room, saying “Just hang in there, I’ll try to get them to leave soon.” before he headed back to finally answer the door.
MARIA was left by herself in the dark. Completely alone, cramped up inside a closet, for an undetermined amount of time.
After a moment to herself, staring into the darkness, MARIA mumbled, “Huh… Guess this is happening now.”
Opening the front door, HERO was greeted by the sight of his dear friends.
“Guys!” HERO regarded with a nervous smile.
KEL bombarded his older brother the moment he laid eyes on him, “HERO! Took your sweet time, huh? Hehe, anyways, tu casa es mi casa, right? Wanna let us in?”
Feeling KEL’s arms clasp around his shoulders, HERO was once more confronted with the fact that they were both at the same eye level. He could already feel the next height check request coming up.
Knowing not to keep his guests waiting in the hallway, HERO put up one of his patented smiles and welcomed them in.
“Yo, HERO.” AUBREY nodded respectfully in greeting as she walked past. With a smirk she asked, “Bet ya didn’t expect us to pop up, hm?”
“Y-yeah, you can say that much.” HERO nodded back.
SUNNY and BASIL entered soon after, and the three of them found themselves in an awkward position.
The memories of… last summer still stung. Though he had tried to fix things between them as much as possible over the last part of the vacation, HERO was honestly still confused about how he really felt towards the two who were responsible for everything that happened to the group.
BASIL was the first to break the awkward silence, “H-Hey HERO!”
SUNNY nodded awkwardly. Although the stoic eye-patched boy showed no outward emotion, HERO has known him long enough to know that he was just as nervous about coming here as he was scared.
Taking a deep breath, HERO pushed his feelings aside to welcome them in, “Hey BASIL. Hey SUNNY. It’s good to see you.”
BASIL walked past him with a grateful smile, while SUNNY hummed appreciatively as he walked in.
HERO closed the door after they all entered and asked, “Consider me surprised. It’s great to see you all, but what made you think to visit?”
“Well, I got us all together to just hang out with you! Besides, we don’t really need a reason, right?” KEL grinned.
“That’s not really all there is to it though, KEL. You were also talking about this.” BASIL added as he pulled out something familiar to HERO.
The green book was something HERO would recognise anywhere. The PHOTO ALBUM should be in SUNNY’s possession, but he probably just passed it over to BASIL sometime after they met up.
Why would HERO need the ALBUM, however? He’s taken a look into it multiple times last summer and he’s very familiar with the pictures of his frien…
Ah.
Putting two and two together, HERO looked at the orchestrator of this whole event.
Said person just gave him a look that screamed ‘See? I got you bro!’
This is going to be a long day, isn’t it?
“I gotta say, this is quite the place you got here.” AUBREY noted as she wandered around the room. “This room is almost as big as my living room.”
“Haha, yeah, with the scholarships I got and some assistance from mom and dad we managed to find this place.” HERO explained. “I really lucked out with this apartment, no sharing bathrooms or a kitchen or anything.”
KEL looked excited, “Hey, how about you show us around? Give us a quick tour of your place?”
“O-oh, come on, KEL. It’s not THAT large. Besides, I don’t think it would be all that interesting.” HERO argued.
Oh god, tours meant travelling around the house. Travelling around the house meant pointing stuff out. Pointing stuff out meant them sniffing through closets.
He needed to make sure they didn’t find MARIA.
Unfortunately for him, the group unanimously agreed with a chorus of ‘That seems fun to me’ and ‘It’s probably not that bad’.
SUNNY piped up, pointing to the table as he commented, “Had lunch?”
While it was nice that his youngest friend felt more comfortable talking again, HERO found he didn’t often follow SUNNY’s thought patterns. Aside from that, the focus was now on his dining table, which had plates and cutlery for two on it.
Moving quickly to grab the dishes and place them in the sink, HERO quickly tried to think up an excuse, “Whoops! Sorry, I had lunch with a friend a bit earlier today, but I completely forgot to clean this up. Didn’t expect anyone else to come over, haha.”
BASIL approached HERO as this was happening, “Oh yeah, HERO? Because the trip is so long we brought some quilts and sleeping bags to stay over. Is that okay with you?”
Sleeping bags?!
Damn it all. Of course he can’t say no to them, but if they’re here to stay, MARIA’s going to be in a tight spot, quite literally. He should probably find some excuse to get all of them out of the house and somehow let MARIA know to leave after them without raising too much suspicion.
“Woaaaah!” AUBREY suddenly shouted, catching HERO’s attention as she asked, “Dude, this computer looks brand new! What are the specs on this thing?”
“Brand new?!” KEL suddenly rushed over in excitement, “Does that mean this thing can play all the latest games?! HERO, you gotta show us your game collection!”
“KEL, I don’t even play video games!” HERO frowned back, “And please don’t touch that! That’s from the school, and it’s heavily monitored for school use only!”
While he was distracted with that, BASIL left only to return with some luggage. Rolling them around in the room, the flower boy asked, “Hey, HERO? Where do you think I should place these for now?”
HERO was so deep in his thoughts that, after agreeing with them sleeping over, he didn’t quite notice the next question coming from his blond friend. Something about their luggage? Either way, right now HERO should probably follow after SUNNY, as he just wandered off into his bedroom. Sure, you’re all used to walking over each other’s places like it’s nobody’s business, but give him a break, please.
“Just leave ‘em on the floor! I’ll take care of it later!” HERO quickly told the flower boy.
“Wait, but I don’t wanna clutter up the-”
Giving BASIL a quick thumbs-up without a second thought, HERO walked into his bedroom to follow after the youngest. In there, HERO saw SUNNY giving a curious look at the closet (at least, how close to curious his slightly less stoic than usual face can show), before turning and laying down on his bed. At least some things never change.
“Right, so this is the bedroom. It’s not too big, but I really only use it for sleeping and studying at the desk there. Enjoying the bed there, SUNNY?” HERO said as his first part in the house tour he’s now stuck on giving.
The one-eyed boy merely murmured a “6/10.” in response.
“Wow, HERO, how’d you manage this? It’s practically even more tidy than your side of the room back home.” KEL exclaimed as he looked around the bedroom.
“That’s just called cleaning up, KEL. It’s not a bad thing to do every once in a while.” HERO said as he gave his brother a friendly smirk.
“That does look really clean though.” AUBREY commented as she looked at the bed, “I guess that’s to be expected from you, HERO.”
HERO looked at AUBREY quizzically, “What do you mean by that, AUBREY?”
AUBREY quickly looked back and forth between the tidy sheets and HERO. It seemed like she was also looking at the one-eyed boy still splayed out on the bed. Turning away before anyone could see the faintest dusting of pink on her cheeks, she replied with a, “Nothing! I meant nothing with that.”
Okay… Odd comment aside, things were good so far. None of them seem interested in checking out the closet at all, which meant MARIA was safe for now.
HERO should probably hurry this tour along outside the room so that he could get them distracted with something else. Then after that, perhaps he could invite them all out at a local restaurant or something to give MARIA a chance to escape.
Things just might work out yet for HERO, for once in his life.
“Oh! I guess we can use this spot for the luggage, HERO. That way we can keep all the space in the living room!” BASIL said with a smile as he walked towards the closet.
HERO could never catch a break.
Well, this is happening now.
MARIA never thought she'd be spending today standing awkwardly in an enclosed space with textbooks jabbing her ribs, but here we are.
Though she could barely see anything, she could still hear HERO’s surprise guests entering the living room.
From the ruckus they were making, they seemed like a lively bunch to her.
Just as she started to try and think of ways to escape the apartment unseen, she heard the bedroom door open, followed by someone entering.
MARIA held her breath. For some reason, whoever was outside of the closet also stopped making noise.
What was going on? Was the jig up already? Why couldn’t HERO stop whoever came here?
After a few agonising moments, she finally heard more movement. However, instead of it being towards the closet, it sounded like a few steps to the side, followed by the sounds of a bedspring deforming.
Did… did whoever that was just go to sleep?
That totally isn’t weird or random at all.
It didn’t take long for a familiar voice to speak up. Apparently, HERO was giving a tour of his place? Shifting her head to hear a little better, she could also hear him call out the name of the person on the bed.
SUNNY, huh?
From the soft response she heard, she could guess that SUNNY was a boy, at least.
Hearing the comparatively louder voice of KEL, MARIA winced in shock because of the difference. It seemed nothing inside the closet shifted, luckily enough.
Still didn’t do anything about her increased heart rate though.
After a response from HERO, MARIA could hear a definitely feminine voice. HERO called her AUBREY as he asked her a question.
A girl, huh? Could she be…? No, wait, HERO was already in a relationship with MARI. There’s no way he’d been dating anyone while he was still not over her passing either.
She found some relief in realizing that.
...
Wait, why would that be a relief to realize? It shouldn’t matter if HERO was in another relationship, should it? Not like it was any of MARIA’s business in any way…
What a… weird feeling.
Trying to shake her thoughts, MARIA only just noticed how an additional set of footsteps was approaching her, and very closely at that.
A slightly peppy voice started talking about placing the luggage somewhere to put it out of the way.
What did this person mean by ‘this spot’?
Wait… it couldn't be…
Something voluminous was placed on the ground, in front of the closet.
Wait waitwaitwaitWAITWAIT!
The closet door was pulled open and MARIA looked in the blue eyes of a blond boy. He stared back, still holding on to a bag, completely frozen up. A semblance of what was supposed to look like a smile was still on his face, but MARIA couldn’t help but think of it as anything else than empty.
With the cat out of the bag -or rather, the girl visible in the closet- MARIA tried to find some way to make this situation just a bit less uncomfortable. With all that was going on, she decided to just start off with an awkward wave and a, “Hello.”
Instead of opening a possible conversation, this instead resulted in the boy in front of her rapidly turning pale and starting to whimper, before continuing in all-out screaming.
Okay, that… that was not what she expected. HERO wasn’t kidding when he said they’d freak out.
Well, no reason to stay in this closet anymore then. Hopefully, HERO could help her calm this boy down.
Stepping out of the closet proved to be a bit more difficult than expected, as an unfortunately placed travel bag caught her foot and caused her to trip onto the floor.
BASIL, too, had already fallen to the floor, his legs having given out. His cries of fear had also changed to a constant stream of apologies as he held his hands in front of his face.
Looking up from her prone position, MARIA saw that she was definitely the center of attention, seeing how all eyes were directed at her.
The tall boy who she could place as HERO’s brother looked awfully pale as he gave a shaky smile and said, “Oh, hey MARI. You’re back. That’s good.” Before dropping to the floor, passing out on the spot.
HERO rushed over to him, repeatedly saying, “Oh no” as he knew he had to prioritise taking care of his brother over trying to fix the situation.
“What… what the hell is going on?”
From beside him, AUBREY’s whole body was shaking as her pupils dilated from seeing MARIA.
She hyperventilated a bit, shaking her head as she muttered, “This can’t be real. She’s… This has to be a dream, right?”
Despite it all, MARIA could see her hands and feet trembling. The pink-haired girl’s mouth was twisting in a way to suggest that she couldn’t decide whether to smile in joy or give a horrified frown.
In the end, all AUBREY could do was remain silent as she covered her mouth and started crying to herself.
After making sure his brother was good and laying him safely on his side, HERO quickly tended to AUBREY by rubbing her shoulders, “Hey, hey, it’s okay… Relax, AUBREY.”
Last but not least… the boy on the bed, wearing an eye patch.
MARIA locked eyes with SUNNY, who was staring at her in disbelief. Although his right eye was covered in a black eyepatch, it wasn’t hard to imagine both of his eyes widening like saucer plates the longer he kept staring.
MARIA felt an awkward shiver run down her spine as she stared back at him. As if she was looking at a porcelain glass figure, something that could easily be broken apart if she said the wrong thing.
For some reason, she… she wanted to be as gentle as possible with this strange boy. No matter the cost.
“H… Hi there.” She waved with an awkward smile.
HERO looked over at SUNNY’s expression and felt a pang of guilt stab him in the heart. He knew this would happen, which was why he was trying to prevent it in the first place…
He had no idea how SUNNY was going to react now…
While still massaging AUBREY's shoulder to calm her down, HERO called out to him, “SUNNY… I know how it looks but-”
He wasn’t able to finish in time before SUNNY was already leaping towards MARIA and grabbing her in a fierce hug.
“MARI!” SUNNY cried out, “MARI… MARI… MARI, I’m so sorry MARI… I’m so sorry... ”
MARIA froze up the moment he was on her, her shirt beginning to get wet with tears as he cried on her shoulder.
She listened as he apologized to her over and over, calling her MARI. Even with the little knowledge she had about this MARI girl, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that this boy was extremely close to her.
She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t MARI. She wanted to…
But…
She…
She just couldn’t.
If she did… She felt like she might break both of their hearts.
“Oh, SUNNY…” HERO sighed sadly, letting AUBREY go as he moved towards BASIL to give him the same treatment.
MARIA glanced over to HERO, before looking towards the crying boy in thought.
SUNNY... it really is a nice name… As if the sun shined brighter when he was around.
Call it the maternal instincts activating within her, but MARIA couldn’t help but return SUNNY’s hug and gently caress the back of his head.
“There, there, SUNNY…” She whispered out, hugging him tightly.
“MARI… Sis… I’m so sorry…” He hiccuped as his whole body trembled.
“I know, SUNNY… It’s okay… It’s okay…” MARIA shushed him.
Sis…
This was MARI’s little brother.
No wonder why.
...no wonder why...
MARIA closed her eyes as she continued to gently whisper and comfort the young boy in her arms, even as he cried his heart out to her.
While tending to a shaking BASIL, HERO watched this unfold with a soft sigh, knowing that this could only get worse later…
It took a moment more for AUBREY to recompose herself, shaking HERO to grab his attention.
With hardened eyes, she glared at him, “You have to explain what’s going on, HERO. How is she alive? Why didn’t you tell us?”
Try as she might to steel herself, HERO could see that she was more vulnerable now than she ever has been before. Tears still streamed down her cheeks as she stared at him, waiting for an explanation.
This was not going to be the fun reunion they thought they would have after all...