Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ever since Sunny moved out of Faraway Town, he became quite the elusive figure. Never gone, but always distant, he remained out of sight. Fear of reprisal, catching up with schoolwork, logistics issues, complacence… it took a bit over two years for the first reunions to start. That was only last summer, so come Friendsgiving time, his attendance was still a big deal.
And to celebrate an early Thanksgiving together, everyone had gathered together at Basil's house for dinner. It was a potluck, where everyone brought their own contribution to serve. They all only described what type of thing they brought to keep up the surprise – Aubrey, for example, had veggies – but they all pretty much knew that everyone was just going to stick to the same basic components that everyone already knew.

The appetizers weren't a group effort to assemble, though eating them all certainly was. Even with how much there was – brie with currant jelly and little toast things, deviled eggs, shrimp, totchos, and garlic bread – none of them had lasted long. Kel stopped himself before he could become enamoured with the brie, but everything else vanished pretty quickly. Surprisingly enough, Basil was the runner-up in terms of food eaten, and the others trailed behind. Sunny had to prod himself to try something, but he found himself liking the deviled eggs in particular, to his surprise.

But with the last of the appetizers gone, everyone's focus turned back to conversation to pass the time until dinner was ready to serve, chatting about the hobbies they'd picked up. Kel made his way onto a few different varsity teams, which, as Aubrey observed, were perfect at keeping him from studying. He'd also managed to drag Hero into joining a chess club, which he quickly regretted not finding for himself sooner.
Basil found peace in expanding beyond garden plants to turn his house into a jungle. His interest in photography had waned, but Aubrey picked up his old hobby with the Hooligans, creating a new photo album they'd all looked at earlier. The absence of Basil's thing for candidness was clearly felt, but it didn't stop them from immortalizing basically all their hijinks. Like the time they somehow managed to get a shopping cart stuck in a tree, which Aubrey oh-so-helpfully absolutely refused to explain.

"So, uh…" Hero spoke up to try and break the ice.
"What've you been up to, Sunny? Do you have any plans for college?"

"No clue. I've thought about being a psychologist… or writer… or artist… maybe a social worker…
Prolly better to stick to the arts, though."

"What about those tickles your fancy, then?" Hero replied, trying to encourage Sunny to continue.

"Doing social work sounds… nice, I guess… and if I could monetize my imagination, I think I'd be set for life.
Being a psychologist, though? Personal experience would help my studies.
I'm already a gold mine for mental disorders."

Everyone gave Sunny an odd look.
"That's… not how that works…"

"That… reminds me…" Kel said through an awkward, uncomfortable smile.
"How are you holding up in those psych courses?"

"Good. I finished that report due next week yesterday.
You?"

"Oh, I'm, uh… not doing so hot… but Ms. Ames says I'm actually doing pretty good for just winging it all the time. She said she can tell my heart's in the right place.
Thanks for the homework help, by the way! You're a great study buddy."

Aubrey squinted at Kel. Was he relying on the guy who skipped school for 3 years to help him out?
"…Why did you want to take a bunch of psychology courses, anyway? You were the last person I'd expect to be interested in studying the mind."

"Hero said I would do great as a psychotherapist! So I wanted to take as many of them as I could."

"…You're becoming a psychotherapist?" Sunny babbled.

Hero raised a hand to interject.
"He's already good enough at being there when people need him to make it a career.
Certainly way better than I've ever been…"

"Huh?"
Kel looked quizzically at his brother.
"What do you mean by that?"

"You're the reason why any of us became friends again.
I wouldn't have even gotten into med school if you didn't get me out of bed first!"

Kel blushed and broke into a big, dumb, but nervous smile.
"Heh heh… Don't flatter me, Hero… It's not like I magically fixed everything!
Half the time I just… make things worse…"

"Kel? Don't say that," Aubrey cut in.
"I don't care what mean things I've said before, or might say in the future… you tried harder for us back then than any of us did for each other. Or ourselves!
Don't sell yourself short just because your report card looks worse than Hero's."

Hero laid a gentle hand on Kel's shoulder.
"Kel… If I had to be anyone other than myself… I'd rather be you. You're so good at making everyone around you live better, happier lives that it makes me feel inadequate."

"Huh… That's funny, cuz… you're so good at everything and everyone loves you… and if I couldn't be me, I'd try being you…"

"I used to want to be like Hero when I grew up," Sunny chimed in, "but then I realized…
The world wouldn't need heroes if it had enough Kels," he added assertively.

"D'awww, you guys are making me blush~!"

Basil returned a wide smile of his own to Kel.
"You don't need to worry about doing it perfectly, because doing your best is more than we'll ever need!
Besides, you're still learning! It's okay if you still have room for improvement."

Kel chuckled softly but giddily to himself from all the sappy compliments.
"Come to think of it… I may only be a therapist-in-training, but my therapy is free, so it checks out!
Still a pretty good bargain, don'tcha think?"

"I never thought about it that way…" Aubrey pondered.
"…Guess it's your way of paying off your debts, huh? Like from the expired Joe."

Kel raised a judging, pouty eyebrow.
"We already agreed that the wild glizzie incident absolved all my debts to you!"

"AAAanyways, let's… just move on from that, alright? It's in the past now," Hero cut in.
"What about you, Aubrey? Haven't heard much from you about your plans for the future."

Aubrey sighed lightly.
"I'm gonna be honest… Other than working at Hobbeez or Othermart, I'm not sure what I'm doing with my life.
Right now I just want to help my mom get better again and keep my other friends out of trouble."

Sunny blinked.
"…I thought you were going to college?"

Aubrey scoffed.
"Pssh, no! Do you think I can afford that kind of higher learning?
Vance and Charlie have to work their asses off to keep up with their tuition, and they're a LOT more employable than I am."

"What are they doing, then?"

"Vance is becoming an electrical engineer, I think? Charlie, I dunno."

All eyes settled on Basil. He knew he told everyone already at some point or another, but nevertheless, he figured maybe a refresher was in order.
"Well, I'm taking… The name escapes me, but it's about sustainable agriculture and protecting the natural environment."

"I mean, with a name like 'Basil', it'd be weird if you didn't study plants for a living!
…Or, uh, worked as a chef. That'd work too."

Basil furrowed his brow, feeling a nerve struck by Kel's careless joke.
"It's not like I have to study plants just because I share a name with one!"

Kel put up his hands in submission.
"I know, I was just messing with you! It's just that… your name fits your profession like a glove, you know?"

"Yeah, if you became a geologist instead, we'd have to call you Basalt," Aubrey quipped.
Basil snickered a little at that, dispersing his frustration.

"If you were a herpetologist, you'd be Basilisk," Hero added, to everyone's confusion.
"Uh, like the lizard? That runs on water? Herpetology is the study of reptiles."

"Basileus if you did history," Sunny chimed in. Basil nodded subtly.

"Basilica for religious studies?" Polly added from the kitchen.

"If you went into sports management, you'd be Balls!
…Alright, I'll shut up now…"

Basil quietly raised his hand to speak.
"Um… May I be excused?"

He didn't receive any spoken response, but a series of affirmative nods. He wasted no more time in carefully getting up, tucking his chair in, and going.

Polly watched Basil quietly leave and disappear into the hallway.
"It's only been 10 minutes since he went to the bathroom the last time… I hope nothing's wrong…"

"I think he's got everything under control. I've been there before!"

Aubrey gave Kel a judging look.
"Kel, that's T.M.I…
Also, considering Basil's prior history, I wouldn't be so willing to ignore this…"

"Aubrey, I don't mean to come off as dismissive to your concerns, but… aren't you taking this a bit too seriously?" Hero suggested.

"Yeah, have some faith in him, Aubrey! You make it sound like he's gonna do something drastic the moment we're not looking at him. I can't imagine Basil still thinks we can't or won't help him with his issues."

"I get that, but… Even though he's stable, Basil's really cagey. When I see him like this, I can't help but shake the feeling that he's… trying to hide something important from us."

"Boy, aren't you willing to pry into his secrets~?" Kel snarked.

"You barely noticed when he was getting ready to–"

Everyone was interrupted by Sunny slamming his hands down on the table, shooting Aubrey a glare she could never forget.
"…I'll check on him."

Everyone else silently nodded and left him to go on his way.

Sunny slowly and carefully opened the door to the unlit bathroom. Last time he was in this situation… well, he'd rather not think about it.
Fortunately, he didn't find Basil having an 'episode'. But what he was having was…

*ffVbBrRaAAAt!*
"Phew… Heh, all those appetizers are starting to get to me…
. . .
GYAAH!! Sunny! W-What are you doing here!?"

"We were, uh… worried about you…"
Sunny tried to keep his composure without sounding clingy or pervy for coming in. He also tried not to make Basil feel even more embarrassed by not letting himself blatantly flinch in the presence of the earthy, cheesy funk that tainted the air. It was WAY stronger than what he remembered Basil's farts being like, and that was not helping him figure out what he should do.

"I was just… gassy, there's no reason to worry about me!" the flower boy squeaked out of shame.
The stench was hitting him too, and he was starting to feel genuinely guilty for subjecting Sunny to it. He started to rummage around in the drawers for something, until he pulled out a can of air freshener and started shaking it.

"…Woah, it's not THAT bad…" Sunny assured Basil, leading him to pause mid-shake.

"Uhh…
But it… still stinks in here," Basil muttered before going back to shaking.

"Basil, calm down," Sunny replied as he put a hand on Basil's arm, making him lower the air freshener moments before he could start using it.
"It's just a fart, you don't need to be afraid of it."

Basil gave Sunny a confounded look. Afraid… of a fart? Where did Sunny get that idea from? He wasn't THAT skittish! Was Sunny… allergic to fragrances or something? That might explain some things…

"Alright, sheesh… I was just trying to be courteous, but I won't use this if you don't like it…"
Basil awkwardly put the air freshener back in the drawer where he got it from. He and Sunny exchanged some bashful glances, trying to figure out who misunderstood whom.

"Uh, Basil? Sunny?" Kel's voice sounded from behind the wall.
"You two alright in there? We're just waiting on dinner, it'll be ready when you are."

"Oh, thanks!" Basil quickly replied.
"Don't worry about us, we'll be there in a moment!"

"…C'mon, Sunny. Let's get out of here."

With the table set, everyone's contributions to the Friendsgiving potluck were laid out together. It was by no means a masterpiece, but to Sunny and Basil, who hadn't had a 'real' Thanksgiving dinner with family in a long time, and to Aubrey, who spent the last two Thanksgivings out at an (admittedly great) Chinese restaurant Charlene brought all the Hooligans to, that didn't matter one bit.

The centerpiece was, predictably, a giant roast turkey that Hero had bought and Polly had helped him prepare. It was accompanied by stuffing (or was it dressing?) that Polly made herself following a friend's recipe, mashed potates that Kel had picked up from Othermart, and gravy.
For veggies, Basil had prepared Brussels sprouts, and Aubrey brought a somewhat sloppy-looking green bean casserole that she had proudly made herself. Her contribution seemed a lot more popular, as only half the people in attendance had any sprouts on their plate.
Finally, Basil also brought some well-prepared and mouthwateringly-seasoned tofu for himself, placed opposite the turkey on his side of the table. It looked so good – perfect, even – that some snide part of Sunny's mind insisted there HAD to be some catch, like hosting a deadly fungus or something. Or still tasting like cardboard no matter how good it looked.
And as for Sunny's contribution… that was for later.

"Thish ish SHO GOOD!" Aubrey blabbered through a mouthful of turkey in Kel-esque fashion.

"Gyeah, the shtuffing too!" Kel added.

"Actually, hold on… Wouldn't the stuffing be… not stuffing if it's not stuffed inside the turkey?" Basil pondered.

Hero raised a finger to talk before swallowing his mouthful of food.
"Well, we're not stuffing it into the turkey… we're stuffing it into ourselves!"
Aubrey, Polly, and Basil all giggled at Hero's joke.
"…On a more serious note, though, there's a risk of salmonella contamination from putting stuffing in an uncooked turkey, even if all the meat is properly cooked afterward."

"Yeah, that was news to me! I'm glad Hero offered to help me in cooking this.
…And don't worry about the turkey being undercooked! I triple-checked it to make sure!"

"This casserole is great too, Aubrey! You've taken well to learning how to cook."

"Thanks, Basil… But you can thank Hero for that one too.
Mom's recipe… was, uh, inedible. I asked him to provide me a better one and it clearly worked out pretty well."

"Myeam, ish… bedder tham wha' I eshpecded fom you," Kel snarkily slurred, continuing to chew despite his mouth being open.

"Kel, quit being gross!" Aubrey snapped back.
"At least I know not to chew and talk at the same time," she said while ignoring the times she did so before, "AND how to actually cook something instead of buying everything from the store."

"Hey! Dish wazh exsphensif!"

"Alright, guys, just… enjoy each other's contributions, okay?
And… Kel? Stop eating and talking at the same time. It's rude, and I can barely tell what you're saying."

"Fiiine…"

"And what about the Brussels sprouts?" Basil piped up.

"…Sorry, but nah."
"I'll stick with the casserole, thanks."

Basil felt mildly disappointed seeing Kel and Aubrey's disinterest, but he wasn't surprised by it. But there was one other holdout who might be more pliable.
"Sunny, did you want to try one?"

". . ."

Basil quietly speared a single sprout on his fork and slid it off on Sunny's plate.
"They taste good, I promise!"

After some hesitation, Sunny slowly poked at the sprout and put it into his mouth. For Basil.
It was… tolerable? The sprout itself had both a disagreeably soft exterior and an oddly crunchy interior, but it tasted alright.

"…How is it?"

" 's fine."

"Did you want some more of them?"

"No."

Basil kept his disappointed sigh quiet enough that Sunny wouldn't hear it and feel bad.

True to the Faraway Thanksgiving tradition, the food managed to outlast its many predators. Everyone kept eating irrespective of the others until they ran out of room to eat any more, being forced to give up. By the time Sunny surrendered a third through his second plate, Kel had already powered through three plates and refused to finish Sunny's, lest he need to puke.

There was still about a third of everything left, save for Aubrey's casserole which was completely gone, and Basil's Brussels sprouts which were comparatively intact. They were so numerous that despite Hero, Polly, and especially Basil taking on more servings of them, and them being the only vegetable remaining to distribute into leftover containers (which were ironically claimed by the non-sprout-eaters Kel, Aubrey, and Sunny), Basil still had to overload his own tofu leftover with them.

After all the leftovers were squared away, Polly raised her hand to make an announcement, bringing all eyes to her.
"Oh, right! Now, I haven't had a good opportunity to tell you this until now, but…
After Christmas, Basil will legally be on his own, and I'll be moving out."

"W–Wait, really!?"
"Huh, why?"

"Basil's parents hired me as a caretaker to look after him and his grandma when she got too sick to care for them.
But… she's no longer with us… and Basil is old enough to take care of himself now. I could convince his parents to keep me on as his official caretaker, but I know there's other people around town who need help taking care of themselves."

Kel thumped his hands down on the table in protest.
"What, so he'll have to fend for himself? That isn't fair!"

Basil raised his hand.
"I suggested the idea to Polly, actually.
The last thing I want is to be weighing her down when there are people out there who really need her help…"

"You're not weighing anyone down, Basil!" Polly chided.
"Besides, just because I won't be your legal guardian doesn't mean we'll never see each other again! I'll still come over to make sure you're being looked after."

"I… guess you're probably right…"
Basil stared forlornly at his plate as it was taken away.
"Oh, Γιαγιά… It still feels lonely here sometimes without her… To think she wanted to entrust her house to me in her will…"

Aubrey put a hand on Basil's shoulder.
"Basil… I know you've had a… pretty terrible history of people leaving you.
But we'll always be around for you! We're gonna stick together like the family we are."

"Yeah! We won't let you be left all by your lonesome!" Kel rallied. "We can have sleepovers all the time if you want!"

Sunny couldn't help but feel moved by the whole scene. No wonder it took so long for Basil to bond with Polly… now she'd be his fourth mother figure who moved on in some form or another. At the same time, though, seeing everyone else band together to pledge to be there for him was… well, it would be heartwarming if it didn't make him feel left out. He would be stuck in Closeby coming in via phone calls while his other friends continued to hang out together and–

"And I bet Sunny would appreciate having having a place to stay if he wanted to come visit us," Hero added.

Sunny jerked his head up from being angled at his lap like he just jolted awake, brows rose up high.

"See? He doesn't react that much to things he doesn't care about!" Kel added jubilantly, making Sunny feel a bit self-conscious.

"Speaking of not leaving Sunny out of things… are you ready to present your part of the potluck to us?" Hero asked.

Sunny nodded eagerly and sprung to his feet.
"…Does anyone want dessert?"

Everyone was in agreement.

Sunny reveled in the amazement and joy on his friends' faces when he finally presented his contribution: a big plate of chocolate chip cookies. It made him feel… loved.

Kel immediately shoved his first cookie in his mouth, taking such a big bite that the remaining crescent of cookie broke into chunks. Sunny could tell the moment he actually tasted it when his whole face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Holy shit, Kel! Slow down, the cookies aren't–"
"They're just like Mari's!"

Aubrey, Hero, and Basil all stared at Kel for a split second, then at the plate of cookies, then lunged for it at the same time. Sunny and Polly more casually followed their lead, followed by Kel grabbing a second cookie.

"You're right! Sunny, how did you do this!?"

Hero beamed as he took a bite of his own, eyes watering.
"I didn't think I'd ever taste cookies like this again… this is delightful!"

Sunny quietly eyed Basil as he watched him carefully nibble the edges of his cookie counter-clockwise before eating around the areas dense with chocolate chips, then eating one chip at a time. Even after all this time, he still knew how to follow Sunny's cookie-savouring advice to a tee.
Basil wordlessly thanked him through shimmering eyes with a subtle nod. Sunny returned the gesture as he nibbled his own cookie, before they both watched Hero start divvying up the cookies onto everyone's plates – ancient procedure to keep Kel from eating half of them by himself.

Polly also discreetly ate her own cookies, clearly enjoying them but unable to appreciate their emotional significance.
"Is this another hobby of yours that you've had? I don't think a novice baker would be able to make these!"

"Well, I did have some help…
Mom found Mari's old cookie recipe and I used that to help me out."

"…Really?? Even I couldn't actually follow her recipe," Hero questioned.

"It… took a few tries."

In truth, it took a lot more than simply trying. Reading all the "enough"s and "some"s and "plenty of"s with no measures of ingredients provided, and especially Hero's cursive "Actually, don't attempt this. Just ask Mari to do it" written on the margins made him lose hope.
He was about to just buy a cake that morning, but he had a very vivid dream where Mari walked him through all the instructions, and then he spent that morning feverishly baking with her recipe three times until he'd followed all her advice perfectly. He and his mom choked down the first batch of crumbly, brackish cookies for breakfast, but by the third batch, his handiwork moved them to tears. That's when he knew she would be proud of him.

"…No offense, Sunny, but we both baked together for years and I still never figured it out. Is there some Suzuki secret I've been left out on?"

(Little brother… Please don't tell Hero I helped you make cookies, okay? If he finds out I can still contact you in your dreams for stuff like this… he'll stay single forever thinking he still has a chance with a dead girl. I don't want to see you become a phone for him to call me with!)

"Yeah. And it would be a breach of Mari's trust to share it with you."

Hero looked down at his plate, clearly deflated but still unquestioningly loyal to her wishes.
Kel quietly returned the cookie he swiped off Hero's plate and surrendered the last cookie of his own to him.

Chapter Text

After finishing their dessert, everyone began to settle down for the evening, collecting in the living area.
While they went and started chatting, Hero hung back in the kitchen to help Polly with washing all the dirty dishes, pans, and other stuff.

"Thanks for the help, Hero, but I've got this from here. Why don't you go join your friends?"

Hero chuckled self-consciously and shook his head.
"No, helping you with this is my responsibility. I did help you prepare dinner in the first place, after all, and I know this'll be done faster if there's two people on dish duty."

Polly set a rinsed fork down and turned to Hero to give him her best 'concerned mother' face, which seemed to immediately get his attention.
"Hero… I know how important you and your friends are to each other. That's why you should be spending your time back from college enjoying their company, instead of washing dishes while they do things without you!"

"…Thanks, Polly."
Hero, taking Polly's advice, nodded and finished putting away one last washed plate before he rejoined his other friends in the living area.

Basil was sat in the middle of the couch, with Aubrey and Sunny to his left and right respectively. There were a couple of armchairs and throw pillows off to the side, apparently paid for by Basil's parents as 'Christmas gifts' a year ago, and Kel was splayed out across one of them. He propped his feet up on the table sitting in the middle, though the abundance of plants on top meant he had to settle for putting his heels on the side rather than on top… well, that or someone told him off for trying to put his feet on top. Hero settled into the other armchair.

"…But then when I finally got to Hobbeez, it was already sold out!"

"Oh man, that's rough! I wonder if one of the Hooligans got a hold of it?"

"I bought it for Kel as a birthday present, after… WAY too much searching around," Hero interjected.
"If you wanted to come over and try playing it for yourself, I'm sure our parents wouldn't mind."

"Oh yeah, I hear the multiplayer competitive mode is awesome too! We gotta try it against each other!"

Aubrey smirked.
"Heh heh… I get to play it AND smoke you in a round of PvP?
Bring it on, Kel! You better practice so we can make it an even fight!"

"Hey, that's what I was gonna say!"

Basil quietly squirmed about in his seat as he listened. Thanks to Sunny accidentally cutting his pre-dinner vent short, the gas from all the appetizers he enjoyed had only intensified while he ate dinner. A couple tiny, silent puffs had already escaped him during dessert, and now the pressure was threatening to climb to critical levels…
Sunny would surely understand if he asked to be excused now, right? There was nothing to fear. He just had t–
*sssss…t*

Too late. He felt a hot stream of air leak out from his body before he could stop it, far larger than a simple little puff.
If he got up now, he'd probably release all the stink out from underneath him AND broadcast whose it was to everyone. So… perhaps it was best to stay put and pray it didn't stink too badly… Or that nobody noticed it…

. . .

Fortunately, nobody seemed to notice or mind… this time, at least. Even though Basil could definitely smell it, and Sunny and Aubrey were right next to him, they didn't show any reaction. He wasn't sure if they could smell it and just didn't care, or if they actually didn't notice. Considering Basil's sensitive nose, Aubrey's living situation, and Sunny's, uh… 'improvable' hygiene, that didn't seem too unlikely.
But when Sunny noticed Basil gazing anxiously at him, he returned a glance and slightly nodded his head in affirmation… which seemed to suggest it was the former. Which was good, since it meant he hopefully wouldn't complain if Basil, say… really, REALLY needed to do it again in a more controlled scenario.

Which he did. Badly.
*fffffpprssshhh…*

Basil shifted ever so slightly away from Sunny to carefully release his gas again. This was big enough for Basil to actually hear the hissing underneath him… and judging from Sunny looking at him precisely then, he noticed it too!

Basil's dismay only intensified when his own fart managed to creep up to his head.
He immediately regretted everything.
It was an awful and uneven combination of fermented and rotting produce, ripening ass, and notable hints of an earthy stench he recognized from soggy mulch. This was not a stink he'd want anyone else to experience, especially his friends, and least of all Sunny in the worst possible position. He was too ashamed of himself to even meet Sunny's occasional glances at him.

Sunny, for his part, could tell from his bodily cues that Basil was doing it again, but that didn't stop him from being caught off-guard when the fumes hit his face. How could Basil, of all people, make a stink this bad? Not that he had a problem with it, mind, he was… just surprised by it. Between his stoicism, lack of aversion to the smell, and his unbreakable bond with Basil, he considered himself least likely to handle this little mishap badly.

But now, all they could do was watch quietly and hope the others took the situation as gracefully as Sunny did…

"…Kel! That's gross! What the hell, man!?"

Kel gave Aubrey an understandably irritated glare.
"What did I do now– Oof, that's rank…
Who let that one go? That was definitely not me!"

"Don't give me that look! We all know you're the gassy one!"

"You're trying to use my reputation for your own benefit, aren't you? Who smelt it, dealt it!" Kel jeered back.

"Guys, you don't need to play the blame game like this…"

Sunny and Basil silently watched their friends bicker, both knowing exactly who was really at fault. Basil felt too horrible seeing how poorly they handled his fart to want to draw any attention to himself, but he felt like he was blushing hard enough to instantly expose himself if any of them looked over at him.
Sunny also felt bad seeing Kel get falsely accused for something he didn't do… but he could also tell from Basil's discomfort that he would probably be devastated if Sunny called him out on it.

But then he realized the perfect way to keep Basil's smelly little secret… and silently raised his hand.

"…Huh? Sunny, do you know who farted?"

Sunny kept his hand up, to the others' collective shock.

Aubrey gasped just the tiniest amount.
"…Are you saying that was YOU? You're even worse than Kel!"

"I TOLD you it wasn't me!
But gee, Sunny… I know you aren't the most talkative person, but you could've at least warned us…"

Once Basil realized what was up, he managed an awkward laugh and fanned his face.
"Ehehe, yeah… Sunny, maybe you should consider watching what you eat…"

"Uh… Moving on…" Hero stammered.
"Basil, do you actually do fortune-telling with your tarot cards?"

Basil perked up a bit.
"Oh! Well… I wouldn't call it 'fortune-telling', hehe, it's mainly about reflecting on the vague meanings of each card. I'll go get the deck!"

With that, Basil got up and hurried to his room, soon(ish) returning with a fancy-looking card deck, and then they started reading fortunes. Nobody took their fortunes at all seriously, though. Aubrey drew Sun wondering about her love life? Well, may as well ask him out right now! Wheel of Fortune for Hero's prospects? Maybe he should try out the roulettes at his part-time job.
(Nobody but Sunny noticed that the set of major arcana was missing the Hanged Man.)

While Kel was trying to figure out how Empress could apply to his studies, Basil felt Sunny lightly nudge his side, making him look at him. Sunny returned his gaze before placing his hand at his side, tapping a finger against his hip.

"…Please don't tell me you–"
Basil felt himself assaulted by a stink even worse than what he'd been emitting. It was rotten and meaty, more like rotting flesh than composting vegetation. It was bad enough that he covered his nose to protect himself, which sent a… pretty clear message to his other friends watching him with concern.

"…You know what," Aubrey quipped as she swiftly got up from beside Basil and strolled away, "I'll just find another spo– fucking hell! How do you LIVE with yourself, Sunny!?"

"Out of necessity," Sunny flatly replied, not realizing Aubrey was referring specifically to his gas.

Basil gave Sunny a concerned look, who responded with a slight bow of his head as he looked back at him. That told Basil all he needed to know – Sunny had farted for real, and it was, at the least, just as bad as what Basil could blame on him.

"Damn, Basil, I can't believe you're still there…
Did Sunny dare you to sit next to him?" Aubrey chuckled as she sat on a throw pillow on the floor away from the couch.
"Or is your crush on him so strong that you don't want to leave his side even when he cuts one~?"

Basil immediately went red in the face, but was too busy stuttering and overthinking things to respond coherently. Sunny, having no clue what to say, didn't even try to cover for him.

"Hah, guilty as charged~
You're the gayest person I've ever met. And I've watched Angel kiss Mikhael on the lips and try to kiss Vance because he was, and I quote, 'kissing the homies goodnight'."

Basil was caught so off-guard by that that he only barely stopped his snorts from turning into howls of laughter. Sunny looked at him with mild confusion, not quite getting what made that so funny.

Kel crossed his arms and glared at Aubrey.
"You think Angel's gay because he kisses the homies goodnight?
Aubrey, he's not gay just for that! You see the gayest member of the Hooligans in your bathroom mirror!"

"Kel, in what world is it not gay!?"

Kel put his feet down and sat up straight, glaring intently at Aubrey. She returned his glare.
"It's a show of respect and support for all your homies! It's not gay if it's for everyone!"

Basil's expression started to crack from the joy contained within. He kept his head down and gripped himself tightly, trembling next to Sunny with restrained laughter.

"It's NOT for everyone! He hasn't tried kissing any of the girls a single time! He tries harder for Vance than for Charlie!"

Kel gasped.
"He doesn't try to kiss all the Hooligans goodnight!?
I told him, you gotta at least offer it to everyone or people will start to feel like you don't actually love them!"

"Are you telling me Angel gOT THE 'KISSING THE HOMIES GOODNIGHT' THING FROM YOU!?
Forget Basil, YOU'RE the gayest of us!"

Basil looked up and over at Hero, tears forming in his eyes. He was laughing openly and ecstatically, though his voice was still drowned out by Kel and Aubrey's argument.
"Hero, I beg of you… make them stop!"

Kel threw his hands up defensively.
"It was Jay's idea, give him the credit! And I am NOT misogynistic with the homies, cuz Cris and Mincy are–"

"Kel, you could walk in on Kim EATING MY ASS and YOU'D be the GAYEST PERSON IN THAT ROOM!"

"It's NOT GAY if EVERYone gets a ki–"

Kel and Aubrey were both cut off, but not by Hero, already getting to his feet.
No, all three of them were cut off by Basil, manically shrieking with laughter that scared Sunny half to death. He brought his head forward from being hurled back with laughter, thumping the arm rest so hard that Sunny worried he might bruise himself. Tears were rolling down his face with reckless abandon.
"GUYS… PLEASE! STOP! I CAN'T… TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
Basil gasped loudly and raggedly for breath before immediately wasting that oxygen on another giggling fit.

"B-Basil! Are you OK!?" Hero quickly asked.

"NO! I'm… I'm not…"
Even more giggling erupted from Basil.
"HOW are you two… THIS good at arguing over pointless things!?
You got in a screaming match over… over…
Over whether it's gay to 'kiss the homies goodnight'!!"

The moment Basil formed those words with his mouth, he entered a tailspin again. He flopped over sideways into Sunny's lap, pulling himself into a fetal position as he fought desperately to take back control before
*pbFvVfrp-Tt!*

Basil's blood ran cold. Kel and Aubrey's furore distracted him so much that he completely forgot about how gassy he was, leaving him helpless to stop himself from farting, loudly, in full view of everyone. He didn't even have a couch cushion to block the earthy, pungent stink from assaulting all their noses!

"Really, Sunny!? I heard that one!"
Aubrey crossed her arms and gave Sunny a judging look from her throw-pillow seat.

Well, if there was one silver lining to this whole exchange… it was that Sunny had successfully conditioned everyone into blaming him even when Basil thought it was obvious who it actually was. He couldn't help but feel guilty for letting Sunny take all the blame, but Sunny was taking his own idea in stride.
Hopefully their friends' moods were good enough to let that slip-up slide in good cheer. And Sunny wouldn't think to–
Oh no. That subtle lidding of his eye… relief.

"SUNNYyy!! It's AWFUL! I still needed to catch my breath!" Basil whimpered through his shirt, clamped over his nose by both of his hands.
He used all the strength he could muster to quickly remove himself from Sunny's lap, but that did nothing to deliver him from the stench of meat and ass and rot and god knows what else that now festered around the two of them, easily multiplying the potency of the smell.
"Don't do this to us… please…"

The others were more prepared this time. Using Basil's cries of distress as an early-warning system, Aubrey quickly grabbed her throw pillow she was sitting on and held it firmly against her face.
"I'm not taking any chances with you this time!" she announced, heavily muffled by the pillow.

"…Don't take this the wrong way," Hero assured Sunny as he warily did what Aubrey did with the other pillow.

Kel looked at the others, caught a whiff of Basil's 'contribution', and scoffed.
"Hah, look at you overreacting! It's not actually that OHH MY GOD IT IS!!"
There were no more throw pillows left, so Kel had to make do with his hands.

Aubrey and to a lesser extent Sunny both cracked up with schadenfreude seeing Kel get lulled into a false sense of security before the stink abruptly tripling in potency got him. Hero stopped himself before he could laugh at his own brother for his poor judgement, and Basil was too busy empathizing with Kel's misfortune to find any humour in it.

"Sunny… I know that was a lot of food for your body to process, but please try to not suffocate us…"

Sunny grunted discontentedly. Basil had some nerve telling him to stop when it was his farts that gave Sunny the reputation he was now making good on… but whatever. If that was what worked best for Basil, then he would play along for him. Basil needed his cooperation anyway.

"…Alright. No promises when I'm asleep though," he said while winking to Basil with his prosthetic eye. It didn't do much to put his other friends at ease, but they at least didn't try to hold him to it.

Polly, having witnessed everything from the kitchen, silently thanked God for letting her keep at a safe distance from all the chaos that broke out.

Once everyone ran out of energy and things to do, the blankets and pajamas were brought out.
Kel's pajamas were blindingly orange, and just barely thick enough to protect his skin from cold surfaces without being too hot. Hero wore much fluffier azure ones. Basil had pale beige pajamas with cute floral patterns all over which Sunny now recognized as being called "arabesque", and Sunny's were black with little white dots to resemble a starry night sky, and a crescent moon over the side of his chest.
Aubrey brought that same old blue top from years ago, now even more faded and stretched than it already was, tossed her bomber jacket over that, and had to be convinced by Polly to accept a loan of something warmer than a denim skirt. She settled for some old sweatpants.

Instead of trying to cram five people into Basil's room, everyone opted to construct an almighty blanket fort in the living room. Turning the armchairs around, there was ample room to stretch enough blankets out from the table to create a C-shaped tunnel, albeit with open corners. Everyone was grateful they brought their own blankets, because they'd have to skimp on construction otherwise.

"…Well, now that everything's set up… who gets to sleep where?
Basil should get first dibs since it's his house."

Basil eyed the couch – much more attractive and comfy than the blanket tents and pillows around it – and then he glanced over at Sunny.
"I think… I'll let someone else have the couch tonight."

Aubrey suddenly flashed a creepy, wide-eyed grin.
"Oh yeah! We need to decide who gets the couch!
I personally nominate Kel. I think he's earned it tonight."

Kel shrugged awkwardly at Aubrey's sudden generosity, and started to make his way over.
. . .
But as soon as he set his head down, he almost immediately sprung back up, making a face.
"Aubrey, that's cruel and unusual! I thought you were finally being nice for once!"

Basil and Aubrey both snickered watching him. Sunny looked on cluelessly, until–
"What, don't you want the best spot I'm offering to you?"

"What did I do to 'earn' sleeping on a bed of Sunny's farts?"

Sunny almost broke. He desperately pursed his lips together in an attempt to not laugh out loud, making his cheeks puff out like a chipmunk's. Everyone looked at him, caught off-guard by his composure breaking to this extent.
It got harder when Kel turned his glare on Sunny, looking more hurt and betrayed by his amusement than by Aubrey's trick.
"…You know what? If you think it's so funny, then YOU take the couch!"

Hero was already in conflict-mediation mode by that point, ready to take one for the team.
"Guys, it's– I'd rather sleep there if it means you'll–"

"I'll take it."

Hero exchanged looks with Sunny before making a relieved smile, happy that he wasn't stuck with the couch.
"Well, I suppose who makes their bed must lie in it… even if it's technically a couch."

"…Is that supposed to mean something?" Kel asked his big brother.

"To 'make one's bed and lie in it' means accepting an unpleasant situation of one's own making.
So… Sunny has to sleep on the couch he farted on."

Sunny inwardly scoffed a little at that. Next time a sleepover was had, he knew how to stake his claim.
(Now that he thought about it, maybe that was how Mari always pulled it off herself…)

"Well, no duh… Everyone does that. Me, you, Aub–"

"Gross, Kel. For being 19 now, you still talk about things like you're six."

"Guys, it's bedtime," Hero interjected softly.
"We can bicker about whatever in the morning if it's so important."

Sunny remained on the couch, sleeping on the fortress-blanket to anchor it in place between himself and the coffee table, with his own blanket over top of him.
Beneath him, the others slept on the floor together, wrapped in their own blankets under the ones stretched above their heads. Basil settled in just in front of the couch closest to Sunny, parallel to him. Kel and Hero snuggled up next to one another off to the side of the table where Sunny's head faced, and Aubrey lied down on the other side by her own.

"Goodnight, guys," Kel muttered groggily.

Sunny's eye gleamed at that moment with a dastardly spark.
"That's all?
But you haven't even kissed the homies goodnight yet."

The effects of that bombshell on the room were palpable. Basil was already giggling, Aubrey groaning dejectedly.
"You just had to bring this up again, didn't you?"

Nevertheless, Kel was honour-bound. He quickly kissed Hero on the cheek before he could react, an eager inversion of their old dynamic. He lightly maneuvered over to kiss Basil on the forehead next, making him fidget a little.
Sunny was next up. Kel stared at him hesitantly, but Sunny spied an opportunity and pursed his lips to goad Kel on.
…Wow. If Kel made a whole thing out of kissing his friends, then there was no excuse for still being this clumsy about it. Sunny felt like even he'd be able to do better.

"I notice you never said 'no homo', Kel…"

"Uh, yeah, that's–
…Wait. Was I, like… supposed to, or something?"

"The default assumption is that kissing the homies goodnight is gay, so if it isn't, you say 'no homo'."

"Sunny… Why didn't you say that when we were having a genuine argument about it?"

Sunny snickered mischeviously, albeit still more subtly than Basil.
"It was funny, and… I forgot.
By the way, I'm counting all your kisses so far as gay. Even Hero's."
Hero shook his head dejectedly, not knowing what emotion he was feeling other than that he didn't like it.

Last on the list was Aubrey. She gave Kel a silent glare to dissua–
"Oh, right. Sorry Aubrey, I forgot you're too gay to ever let a man kiss you."

"…You guys have spent the whole evening giving me a better explanation for why I'm proudly lesbian than I could ever ask for. Full stop.
Now go the fuck to sleep, Kel."

While the others got all comfy and relaxed, Basil was too preoccupied with feeling the pressure inside him continue to build. His plan had been to degas before and after dinner so he wouldn't need to worry constantly about farting in front of his friends… but Sunny had accidentally thrown a wrench in that, and now here he was, bloated under his blanket with no real plan other than hoping that any gas he did pass would stay inside with him. That plan was, both figuratively and literally, far less airtight than he would've liked.

And yet… he knew full well that overthinking things like this was denying him sleep. He could only forestall the inevitable… and then what?
Yeah. He was worrying over nothing again. May as well just relax, and gently…
*fvvvff…*

Just that little bit already felt good. Better to just… let it allll go. …And hope he wouldn't regret it.

Though Basil at least wasn't alone in such a dilemma, if some barely-audible whispering was anything to go by…

"Urgh… Maybe I should've quadruple-checked the tur–"
*pGLnNb-*

"…Alright, who's still ripping ass!?" Aubrey snapped.

"Wasn't me!" Kel muttered back.

Basil was considering piping up, but before he could, Hero took the fall for him.
"Yeah, that… was me.
Sorry guys, but… I don't think my gut is taking dinner very gracefully…"

"Geez, bro… maybe don't eat all those sprouts next time…"

Unbeknownst to the others, the two of them had let loose at the same time, and they had been joined by a third. Sunny, hearing a fart somewhere below him, figured that would be an ideal time to finally get away with it himself and silently added his own brew to the mix.

Their gases all swirled and mingled into an especially pungent mixture of fumes stronger than either of them could produce on their own, and stronger than most of them could handle. Poor Kel was caught in the crossfire, and none of the actual contributors were spared either.
Hero whimpered facefirst into his pillow shamefully, completely unaware he had been scapegoated.
Basil grimaced sympathetically, and Kel covered his nose and gave him a sorry look on Hero's behalf.

But… at least the guys took it lying down better than Aubrey.
"I think I'm gonna suffocate in here… Basil, can I open a window?"

Kel whined.
"Aubrey, it's almost freezing out there!"

"That's what your blanket's for! Or why don't you, like, snuggle up to Sunny or something?"
Aubrey smirked at Kel through the darkness under the table.
"I'm sure his blanket is very warm, after all~"

Sunny perked his head up. Cuddling with Kel was certainly one way to spend early Thanksgiving night…

"This is no time for arguing, you two… shouldn't you be trying to sleep?" Hero interjected.
"…But… I vote for opening the window too if we need to. It's… my responsibility, after all."

Basil was initially keen to agree, but then he remembered that it was nighttime in the middle of November.
"I–I don't think that's a good idea. My more tropical houseplants are sensitive to cold temperatures."

"It's not like the whole house will be 45º by the time we wake up, Basil…"

"But… what about, like, heating bills or something?" Kel chimed in.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't think about that!
Not to mention, all it takes for some plants is a cold draft to hurt them, even if it doesn't get that cold…"

Hero shifted about uneasily.
"So, that's Aubrey and I for, and Kel and Basil against…
…What say you, Sunny?"

Aubrey grumbled under her breath.
"I bet he doesn't even realize what he's putting us through…"

"No." (Sunny did, in fact, realize.)

"Uhmm… Sorry, Aubrey and Hero, but… you've been out-voted," Basil reported.

Aubrey groaned, muffled by her blanket stretched over her head protectively.
"Ugh, fine…
If Kim and Charlie were here, the guys would never get away with it…"

. . .

*pvvvv~vvpt?*

"Okay, THAT was definitely you, Kel! You can't get away with that one!" Aubrey jeered.

"Alright, alright! That fart was mine! I'll own up to all of my farts!
Which is why I didn't earlier, because those weren't my fault!"

Hero crankily rolled over.
"If you keep bickering like this, I'll… uhhh…
I'll… I'll stop holding back. It'll be like the milkshake night all over again!"

There would not be another sound out of Kel or Aubrey's mouths until they began to snore.

Chapter Text

After that whole debacle, Sunny and Basil both tried to not pass so much gas. They found it distracting and irksome to varying degrees, but felt too bad about it to try getting away with it. Sunny managed to eventually doze off for a little bit, but Basil was so preoccupied thinking about how gassy he was, and how much less comfortable the blanketed floor was than his own bed, and how bad he felt for his friends for fuming them out without their knowing, that he couldn't sleep.

The others, though, did. Aubrey had her fill of so much turkey that she managed to pass out before Kel could start snoring and keep her up, and he made his way to dreamland not far behind her. Hero slept so peacefully that it took Sunny a minute to realize that he wasn't actually awake anymore.

Now that everyone was asleep, Basil decided that now would be a good time to make his move. He carefully and gingerly picked his blanket up off of himself, stepping precisely around his sleeping friends, his plants, and any creaky floorboards that could potentially end up underfoot. Once he tiptoed his way to the hallway, he froze and carefully watched his friends on the couch for a while to make sure they were all still asleep. They were, and Basil silently sighed in preemptive relief, knowing he was home free now.
Unbeknownst to him, Sunny stirred back into consciousness and heard his hushed footsteps. He barely lifted his good eyelid to check for the source of the noise and carefully listened to the muted creak of the floorboards when Basil finally moved out of view.

What was he up to? Given how his bathroom break went, Sunny figured it would probably be more of the same, but even still… if seeing Basil excuse himself to slip into his unlit bathroom made Sunny feel uncomfortable, then watching him nervously withdraw from a sleepover to hide in his room, alone, in the middle of the night…

The thought was already enough to make Sunny's heart start to race, bringing with it a cold sweat and a slight twitch in his glass eye. He trusted Basil enough to not actually do anything drastic, but he was gripped so intensely by fear that it practically commanded Sunny's body to carefully extract itself from his stunk-up blanket and silently follow Basil, brushing past the leaves in the way.
If he dared resist and tried to return to sleep, that nameless night terror told him… Something horrible would happen. And no amount of rational insistence that "Basil's fine! I'm fine!" could stop that fear from scratching and scraping at the back of his mind.
If not for Basil… it was for his own nerves.

Sunny stepped into the doorway before freezing up. The soft gleam of Basil's blue eyes and the distant moon in the darkness pierced deep into his soul like a blade through his eye. He felt himself tense up as he thought he saw something tendril-like flicking across the corners of his vision.

"S–Sunny… is that you? Why did you follow me?
Oh… are you okay? You're looking at me like–
D́on̴'t̨ ̸w͢orry͟, Sunn͞y̧,҉ ̵Ì'̴l̀l͘ ͢f̢i̢x͝ t͠h͢ìs.͢ It̺'̖̅l̵l̽ ͍̣ͅȃ͡l̦̼l̶ ̢̞͉̗̇̋̂b͘ḛ̠ oḵ̹̏̄́a̬̔y ͠s̍̂o͍͔ͣͩo̧̪̥n̈͜…"

He stood there, transfixed, watching as Basil got up, and ̷t̵h͢en… ͠th̕e͞n҉ ̡he͜–
*chk*

Basil turned on a lamp on his bedside table. His room instantly filled with a dim, soft, yet warm glow that put Sunny at ease. Basil looked at him with deep remorse.
"There. I hope that helps you feel better.
…I don't blame you for being scared to come in here. I would be too…
Actually, I… was scared of coming back here too for a little while… That's why Polly got this lamp for me, so I wouldn't have to sleep in the dark…"

Basil shuffled in place awkwardly.
"But, um… what are you doing here though? No offense, but I… was kinda hoping to be alone…"

Sunny steadied his shaky breath.
"I… was awake when I saw you leave, and then…
…I don't think you would try it again. But I suddenly got really scared, and… I had to see for myself that you were okay. I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep if I didn't…"

Basil blinked. He didn't understand why Sunny's first reaction was to follow him to the place where they fought, but… logic in general was pretty hopeless at describing anything related to that night.
"Sunny, I'm… I'm sorry for everything I've ever done to you. I don't think I could ever tell you enough times how sorry I am…"

Sunny took a seat on Basil's bed and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Basil… don't be sorry for that.
Considering your life was at stake… I'm really glad the thing we lost that night was my eye instead.
…Thank you, Basil. You saved me that night. You saved all of us that night."

Saving everyone by stabbing Sunny in the eye? Ironic, considering Basil had felt like he'd ruined everything one final time. He thought that Hero wouldn't care, Kel wouldn't notice, Aubrey would celebrate, and Sunny would already be long gone…
And then Sunny showed up, and proved all those assumptions wrong. Everyone was waiting for him to come back while he planned to leave them all with nothing… and then he repaid Sunny's selflessness by maiming him. How could he still find it in him to care about him after all that?

Basil stared at Sunny, eyes starting to glimmer with tears, before he reached over and gripped Sunny in a strong embrace. Sunny returned his hug.
"Don't be scared, Sunny… I'm… I'm here for you.
You don't have to suffer alone ever again. I… won't leave you, I promise."

The two squeezed each other even tighter in silence.

"I forgive you, Basil… for everything. It's okay to be afraid…
But we've made it through before together."

After a while, Sunny and Basil pulled away to look at each other again.
"Is it… weird of me to have wanted to have quality time with just you like this?"

"I've wanted it too. Ever since… the last time."
Sunny sighed wearily, thinking about that. It was… painful to recall how many years ago that was now.

The two sat there in companionable silence for a fair bit, doing nothing but enjoying the other's presence, until Basil spoke again.

"The others have been hanging out with me a lot more since you left, especially Aubrey.
It feels like she's been trying to do everything for me. Be my friend, make amends, look out for me, encourage me to be more open about things…
Sometimes I let myself wonder if she's trying too hard to be friendly…"

Come to think of it, Aubrey was the one to suggest someone check on Basil in the bathroom… strange.
"Maybe going the extra mile to care about you is… how she shows that she loves you?"

"Wow, you… really think she sees me that way? I guess she's still a romantic, huh?" Basil giggled.
"I… never thought of it that way before. I've seen her with Kim a lot, and, well… that looks nothing like what she has with me. Or… you and I, for that matter…"

Sunny blushed lightly.

"I do love her and everyone else, but… there's just some quality you have that the others don't, Sunny.
Whatever it was, I've wanted it… and being with our other friends just made me miss you more."

Sunny eagerly looked long and hard at Basil, and nodded.
"I missed you too… so much.
But… when I wanted to visit, but I couldn't… I'd dream about seeing you instead.
And we'd just… hang out together and do whatever we liked."

Basil gazed nervously off into a corner.
"That sounds… a lot like Headspace… doesn't it?"

Sunny closed his eyes and hummed softly to himself.
"…Yeah… you're right. Old habits die hard, I guess…
But… when I slip back into imagination… I don't go to Headspace. I've left that place behind."

~ ~ ~

After Sunny accepted the truth of his actions and forcibly relieved Omori of his post, the unmaintained boundary between Headspace and the dreaded Black Space wavered and weakened until it simply ceased to exist, and memories of its true purpose caused the latter to subsume the former.

At first, it was… bittersweet to dream of. The cracks in Headspace's façade turned into exciting, thrilling new adventures for his imaginary friends of 4 years, and all the things of Black Space were free to experience a better world they were thrown out of. But then things took a turn for the worse.
The denizens who knew only their unchanging world watched it warp and darken night after night. The picnic blankets, once places of refuge, turned into solemn memorials to that which could never be recovered.
Omori's friends were broken by the truths he hid from them. Mari was dead, yet resurrected anyway to delude her little brother. Kel, Aubrey, and Hero, unthinking and obedient puppets made to be replaced, now feared the hands that once commanded their now-severed strings and gave them life. Basil was split in two between a half loved and a half hated, both blind to the other's pain until they reunited. And Omori… his punishment would come from his own hands.

Maybe Sunny still struggled to say goodbye to his utopian prison. Maybe some small part of him wanted even the imaginary kids in his head to know the truth, even if it meant letting them realize their lives were lies. Either way, seeing Headspace succumb to its dark truths only confirmed to Sunny that he should never return.
If he was going to dream of places from his past, there was a much more important place to him that he'd much rather see again. Phone calls could only tell him so much about what was going on back in Faraway…

~ ~ ~

"…So, once you started imagining yourself visiting here, it almost… became like a new Headspace? Where you could imagine life with us moving forward instead of going back to the past?"

Sunny nodded hesitantly.
"…Pretty much…
At first I explored thoughts like… What if Aubrey forgave me after the hospital stuff because of the lake, but Kel didn't? What if you made up with the Hooligans and eventually joined them?
But a few months and phone calls later, I sorta knew the situation, and then it was… what if the Recycultists actually took over since then and I led a resistance movement? What if… I made people think I was Bigfoot or whatever?"

Basil smiled in spite of himself. There was something charming about Sunny's dreams of Faraway Town going from catastrophizing to his usual brand of childlike whimsy. It was something he worried would be gone for good by the time he finally left his house.
"I suppose the call to adventure with us is still too strong to ignore…
Do you… miss exploring the old Headspace?"

"Maybe… a little bit? But I miss a lot of things from back then…
It feels like… our old treehouse. I built it for my kid self out of my childhood nostalgia.
Going back as a teen, or an adult… I just don't belong there at all. I'm an intruder from some ruined future.
…And it only got more painful to return to when Black Space took over…"

"Black Space is… the stuff of your nightmares, right?"

Sunny shook his head.
"Black Space is… like a dream wilderness.
It's beyond my control, so everything I don't want to dream about lives there. Scary, sad, uncomfortable…
Headspace used to be like a garden… but now it's overgrown. The dark forest isn't far."

Basil hummed thoughtfully.
"Sounds sad, but… I guess that's not surprising. Looking at our photo album still feels sad…
Although, I have to say… I'm so very glad that you've come back to us and moved on from Headspace."

Sunny gave a little smile.
"Heh… I had a feeling you'd say that.
Back in… the new Headspace… I was still getting visits from a certain old friend…"

(D̕reame͝r̷… Yo̕u'v͏e ͡aļready҉ rev̶e̵ale͟d the͞ tr͡uth͝ t̢o͏ ͏y͢o̴u͞r ͢f̸ri͟ends̀, ̨but y͡oú s̨til͘l ͏hid̡e ̕aw͟ay f̨ŗom t̛h͏e̷m̸.̷ W͢hy is th̸at? Ar͏e̕ y̛óu ͢s͏till ͝af̶ra͞i̕d ́to̡ ̶face͠ ͠them̷ aft̢er ̨a҉l̀l th͏at͏ ͠you ̧did to̶ reu͏n͘it̵ę ͘wit̷h͠ ͘t҉hem̶, ev͡eń aft̸er ͏se̡r͝ving ͢your̵ f́our-͟y̕ear ͜sen̷tence ̷b̀ani̴sh̕ed fr̛om ̛r̡eality?̡ ̕We҉ d͝oņ't ҉wan͟t to see ̀ỳou r̀emaiń a̕ prison̵e̡r in ͞your ̢own͘ ͠mind.̨
If ̀you ҉truly̡ ͟wi͢s̡h ̵for ̸thinǵs t͞o ͞b҉e ̶lik̸e h͘ow t̸he͝ỳ we͘r҉e ͜be͞f̛o̶r͢e, th̶en do not d͏eļu͝de ͜yo̶urself ̸b̛y͘ f̀a̵bri͟c̷a̴ting̕ ̡false meḿori͜eş f̡o̷r y̨ou̸rsel͡f҉. ͠Go ̨o͢ut̡ there,̸ and ́ma̧ke a ͏n͞ew f͢u̕ture a̧nd nȩw ̨me̶m͝or̢ies̡ tòg͞ether̀ ̕with̕ t̸h̀e͝m.
I'̴ll ͏b̴e wáiti͝n͠g fo͘r yo̡u in t̀h́e ́mor̶n̨i͞ng͏,̡ Sunny…)

"…My shadow told you all of that, huh…
What did you do after that, then?"

"I called you as soon as I woke up. It felt like he wanted me to do that."

Basil's eyes widened as he remembered something.
"…At five in the morning. Four months ago."

"Mhm."

"I thought you were calling me because you had a nightmare you weren't telling me about!
I'm happy to hear that wasn't what happened.
Though come to think of it, I was worrying about you a fair bit the night before…"

"Thanks. I wasn't entirely sure if you'd get what I was saying back then…"

*PVVrv~vffFVt?*

Both of them stared agape at each other in confusion, their tender and contemplative mood sliced to ribbons in an instant. Basil's cheeks flushed brightly, and his eyes got all jittery.
"A-Ah! That was an accident, I didn't mean–"

"I forgive you for that too, Basil," Sunny said with an amused lilt to his voice before adding, "…again.
Do you get gassy like this a lot?"

Basil puffed his cheeks out in ashamed frustration.
"D-Don't say it like that, Sunny!
But… Yeah, this happens to me fairly often… I don't tell anyone because it's… embarrassing…
Polly told me it's fairly common for people on vegetarian or vegan diets to experience gas problems, though."

Sunny blinked. He didn't remember that about Basil…

Basil anxiously averted his gaze.
"…Why do you ask?"

Sunny shifted about awkwardly.
"I… didn't think you would get that bloated…"

"Well, I… did eat a lot, and I was trying not to, uh… let it out in front of everyone. But even that didn't stop us from making a commotion, heh…
I figured nobody would notice if I went to my room, but… well, here we are."

"…Fair. I haven't eaten that much in a long time, but…"
Before he continued, Sunny raised a finger and leaned to the side…
*ffvVVVRrvvvp*
"I think you have a point."

"Sunny–!"

Sunny guiltily smirked to himself despite Basil's displeasure with him.

"That reminds me… um…
About earlier this evening… You really shouldn't have covered for me like that."

"Would you rather describe to them how gassy you were?" Sunny flatly replied.

"N–No, but… It felt dishonest, and…"
Basil smiled demurely in spite of himself, concealing it with a disapproving bow and shake of his head.
"…You really didn't need to add fuel to the fire."

Sunny couldn't resist a mischevious smile. Basil's face fell a little, realizing Sunny probably did all that at least partly on purpose.

"…How about we tell them tomorrow morning?"

Basil nodded.
"Uh… Y-Yeah. Better sooner than later…"

The dull discomfort in Basil's gut turned into a sharper pain, making him groan softly. He gingerly got up from his bed and made his way to the door.
"All that food is really doing a number on my stomach…
Please excuse me, Sunny… and don't follow me this time."

"So? Why not just let it out here then?" Sunny replied, a little confused.

"I don't feel comfortable, uh… breaking wind in front of people… it just feels too rude. And… the others agree…"

"…But you farted with me in front of everyone, and I didn't complain."

Basil bowed his head and looked at his feet.
"W-Well… I couldn't stop myself, and I didn't want anyone to worry about me going to the bathroom multiple times an hour…
You were checking on me even before dinner, after all! How long would it take for the others to notice something was… off?"
*BbpRnn…*
"–Nh, I need to get this out of my system now…"

"Our friendship can handle some gas, can't it?"

Basil froze and turned his head back to look incredulously at Sunny.
"Sunny… There's… no reason why our friendship needs to handle gas at all!"

"Is there a reason why it needs not to?"

"Because it's– nhh… –not nice to you! I don't–"

Sunny swooped in and cut Basil off.
"I've already forgiven you for farting next to me seven times."

Basil opened his mouth to reply, but then was silenced again upon seeing Sunny's blank stare.
He only gave that look when he'd already made up his mind and wouldn't listen to anyone else.

"Well… If you insist…" Basil muttered as he leaned slightly onto the door, hand still gripped around the knob…
. . .
*BbHaaArRpPt!*

Basil's butt rang out with a surprisingly bassy and voluminous tone. Maybe Sunny shouldn't've been surprised that he had a lot more gas to pass after digesting a full meal, but he was not expecting it to sound so… deep, coming from Basil of all people. Sunny was already thinking of more words to describe it, but the one he settled on was…
"…Impressive."

"Uh–… Th… Thanks??"
Basil turned his head to look back at Sunny, watching him from the bed.
"Were you actually… meaning to compliment my fart?"

Sunny nodded. "Mhm."

"…O–kay…" Basil said quizzically, giving Sunny a baffled look.

*fPRvVRmMBt!*
"And how's that?"

Basil watched that entire thing. He watched as Sunny fluidly, almost subconsciously hiked his leg up, leaned away from him, and ripped a rumbly, meaty fart. Loudly. Without a second thought. On his bed. And then ask him what he thought about it.

"S–Sunny–! That was… gross! You didn't even warn me…"

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise…
What did you think of it?"

As if Basil wasn't red enough in the face from his embarrassment, now Sunny just had to go and make things even more awkward. If he had half a mind, he'd tell Sunny to stop weirding him out, but… then he noticed how Sunny was observing him. Eagerly, waiting for a response.
His eyebrows were doing that thing again.
"…Well… it was meaty… not to mention pretty loud, considering you were farting silently earlier…"

"Meaty in size? Sound? Smell?"

Basil suppressed an uneasy sigh. Sunny really didn't want him keeping his thoughts on this to himself, did he?
"Well… It buzzed too much to sound meaty, but… it smelled quite meaty."

"Interesting…
And what did…
did you…
. . .
…What did you like most about it?"

Sunny felt his eyes fly wide open and his heart start to race. How did he even convince himself to say that in the first place? How was Basil supposed to respond to such a bizarre question?

"I'd say… it was how confident you were in… farting in front of me like that?
You even took the blame for me earlier… And you aren't worried the others think you fart as much as two people?"

"It wasn't that big a deal… I was just… letting myself be myself.
I trust them to not stay upset about it."

That gave Basil pause. Vulgar as this whole thing was, Sunny raised an… 'interesting' point.
"Would you say that… that b-being rude is being yourself?"

Sunny smirked confidently.
"Being polite is just the social equivalent of wearing fancy clothes or makeup. You do it to impress people who don't know you. So if people do know who you actually are underneath the layers, why bother keeping up appearances like you're gonna convince them that you're someone better than you really are?"

Basil silently stared at Sunny, mentally contesting his claims. He'd never heard someone take such a… philosophical stance against being mannerly. It went so against what he personally knew that it seemed… ridiculous. Hostile, even!
"But I'm polite with everyone, because being polite is about being kind…
Are you… saying that I'm… just convincing everyone that I'm better than I actually am? Or that… nobody knows… what I really am underneath?"

Sunny's eyes widened, hearing Basil take his words and fashion them into a weapon against his already low self-esteem.
"No! No, that's not it! You're a good person, Basil! We all know that!
But… you don't need to convince us of that. We won't think you aren't nice for being upfront about your feelings and needs."

"I… don't get why you think I shouldn't be polite… I was always told that rude people do mean things…"

"But if not being polite means that you aren't a nice person…
Wouldn't that mean Kel would rob people in the streets?"

"Oh."
Basil snorted. In hindsight… yeah, maybe he should've realized Kel's existence as both the rudest and kindest guy he knew challenged that mindset.
"…I mean, he kinda does in some respect…"

"He won't remember to pay off his debts if you're too polite to remind him."
Sunny flopped sideways on the bed before rolling back upright.
"Point is… I know you sometimes need my help to let yourself be open about things.
We can't be nice to you and help you with your problems if we don't know about those problems."

Sunny was onto something with that metaphor. Letting everyone get to know an idealized, polite version of Basil while his 'real' self remained a stranger to them was… an eerily comforting idea. He always lived in fear that anyone who knew him deep down would hate him for some thing or another.
(It REALLY didn't help that those fears had been proven genuine before.)
So being honest and vulnerable with his friends was… well, it was a struggle. He had to pry himself open from time to time, and he couldn't even let anyone else help him, lest he shut down hard to protect himself.

But… Sunny was the one person who always knew and understood him even if no one else did. He saw through every last layer and accepted everything he saw, and in exchange, he had Basil's unconditional trust. Simply being in his presence made Basil feel safe to say or do pretty much anything without fear, so that's exactly what he opted to do.

"So… What's your idea, then?"

Sunny nodded warmly.
"First, come over here in front of me."

Basil complied without a second thought, returning to his bed.

"…Now let it rip, right here.
And don't just sneak it out."

Oh… right. Of course.
This conversation was previously about farts. And that's what they were going back to.

Basil's cheeks flushed bright pink.
"…W-What!?" he bawked.
"But that's… rude! And gross! And it'll stink!"

"Never mind what I think… just don't keep yourself bottled up like that."

How reassuring, to hear Sunny telling him to disregard his feelings…
"Well… I–If you say so…"

In plain view of Sunny, Basil shut his eyes in concentration, furrowed his brow, and balled his hands into fists…
*pLm–BrROaRpDt!*
…and actually put effort into the fart, which was something he did… rarely, to say the least. In so doing, he made the second part almost startlingly louder, longer, and bassier compared to the passively released first part. It felt… well, humiliating… but also satisfying, physically relieving.

"Great one, Basil!" Sunny acclaimed.

Basil skittishly averted his gaze from Sunny while he sat back down next to him. He didn't want to be praised for… this.
"…I hope you're happy with that…
. . .
Sunny… why do you want me to fart in front of you like that?"

"Because I like it when you fart like this…"
Wait… That didn't come out right.
"…Because you're showing me you're fine with farting, even if I'm around."

Basil gave Sunny an inquisitive look.
"But… why do you want me to be fine with farting when you're around…?"

"Because I–I… because I like you being yourself. And if that's… part of being yourself, then I…"
Now Sunny was starting to feel stressed. This wasn't going the way he wanted it to, and now things were spiralling out of his control. He silently prayed that Basil would just accept his answer and stop trying to pry him open…

"Sunny… you're dodging my questions…
You aren't… trying to hide something from me, are you?"

". . ."

Basil gently put his hands on Sunny's shoulders and stared into him.
"Please… You don't need to be afraid that I'll judge you for it.
I think… I should be helping you be openly yourself, too."

There wasn't another way out of this, was there? Sunny realized Basil probably wasn't going to let him go so easily, unless he outright refused to talk and pushed him away.
Maybe if he were as cagey as he used to be, he'd shut down and wait for Basil to give up. But he was a changed man, and he had sworn to himself that he wouldn't keep Basil in the dark any longer. Besides, this was nothing in comparison to what he managed to overcome a couple years back.

"…W–Well… It's…
…It's because I like… your farts…"

Chapter Text

"Wh… What…?"

"Your farts… I… think they're… sexy."

Basil stared into Sunny's averted eye, trying to process what he just said. He'd heard a lot about himself that Sunny liked him for, but… this? Sunny wasn't talking about his fluffy blond hair, or the way his blue eyes twinkled like sapphires when he talked about things he cared about, or how he approached everything in life with such humility and a gentle touch, but… about his farts.
Loud, obtrusive, indiscriminate, rude, smelly… he could scarcely imagine a less… "Basil-like" thing about himself. And yet Sunny liked them! If he didn't trust Sunny to be honest with him, he wouldn't even believe that Sunny could be into… that about him.

But, well… he was. And knowing that, Basil suddenly realized he had nothing left to say that could weird Sunny out anymore. He was pushing on an open door.

"…Thank you for telling me this," Basil said with a warm, peaceful smile.
"That's all I needed to hear."
*BbRbRBMmrRt!*

Sunny must've managed to flip a switch in Basil's mind, because he very quickly went from almost stiflingly shy to lightly lifting a leg and belting out a brassy fart right in front of him. His warm smile turned into a relieved one, then cracked wide open as he started to laugh at his own sudden bravado.

"If I'm being honest with you… I've always been worried about telling anyone this… but…
I… think farting like this is pretty hot too!"

Sunny gawked, dumbstruck. What were the odds that they both got off to the same thing? His mind was already swirling with ideas and possibilities, making him heady and excited.
"Do you find my farts hot as well?"

Basil awkwardly pressed his fingertips together.
"Well, uhm… yeah! Watching you let it go with such nonchalance… it's like you're so gassy that you're just deadened to what I would consider a pretty bad one.
It almost scares me to imagine how much you have in store, hehe…"

"…Flattery's gonna tempt me to show you," Sunny teased in light warning with a blush on his face.

"Y–Yeah, good point…" Basil immediately backpedaled, feeling a bit intimidated by Sunny's remark.
"As good as it'd likely feel for you to just open fire, hehe, I do appreciate your restraint…"

Sunny nodded along to Basil's… interesting choice of words. He couldn't help but notice the way he fixated on the notion of gas in one's system leaving it, rather than being outside of it…
"…I see. Very… specific…
How did you… come to figure it all out?"

"Well… It all started on one fateful day last March.
It's a bit of a long story, but I'll never forget this one…" Basil chuckled to himself while shaking his head.

"…The specifics of how it got to this point are a bit complicated, but what matters is that Kim and Vance dared me to eat an entire head of broccoli, or cauliflower, raw. Those were the grossest things they could imagine me actually eating, so I wanted to prove that a vegetarian diet's not as bad as they make it sound.
Kel convinced me to make them bet $20 on whether I could do it. He also got me a sugar-free soda to wash it down, and since they think non-sugary drinks are gross too, they let me drink it."

"And did you win?" Sunny asked excitedly.

"I still haven't spent the $40 I earned that day."

Sunny's eyes went wide.

"Yeah, they made separate bets for broccoli and cauliflower, thinking I couldn't possibly win both bets at the same time! So I ate a full raw head of each while they watched it all happen! They were horrified!
Of course… heh heh… I would've been too if I knew what would happen to me that afternoon…"

Sunny leaned in slightly, eyes wide as dinner plates, and nodded. Go on, Basil.

"I got gas cramps so bad that Polly was ready to call a doctor for me! Aubrey was practically in a crisis trying to figure out how to make me feel better, and my stomach was ready to explode…"

Sunny was so enraptured that he didn't notice himself beginning to smile.
"…And when it finally did?"

"The result was… Ohh, how do I put it into words…
…It didn't even sound like any fart I've ever heard in my life. It was… SO deep, and SO loud, that I couldn't believe it could even come from me!
I could feel all my gas pains ebb away to nothing while I kept venting it all. It was so relieving that I didn't stop even though Aubrey was standing right next to me… So she, uh… stood there watching me fart my guts out… while Polly heard… the entire thing…"
Basil was as red as a tomato. He'd refused to talk about the broccoli incident with Polly (who was THERE when it happened), so this was his first ever time speaking of it… Telling the tale to Sunny made him feel naked.

Sunny was also blushing deeply. It was such an awe-inspiring story that it sounded like something he could only dream of…
"…How did Aubrey handle it then, if she was caring for you?"

"Oh, her expression was priceless! She went from startled, to scared, to disgusted, to dismayed as she realized what I was doing right in front of her…"
Basil paused his story to try and control his snorts of laughter.
"…and as soon as she confirmed I was okay… she ran off as fast as she could! I felt so bad for her, but she was out of the house before I could even apologize to her!"

Sunny's mouth hung agape.

"And even that wasn't the end of it! Oh, I was letting it rip all evening! I realized Polly might hear me or get worried if I went to the bathroom a dozen times, so I let all of it out in my room…"

"…That sounds amazing," Sunny muttered enviously, totally forgetting the "debilitating gas pains" part.

"Yeah, it was certainly an experience…
I've never felt as euphoric as I did when that first fart came out of me. The sheer size, the loudness, the raw power, the relief I felt… I've loved building up all the gas I can pass ever since.
And… to tell you the truth, I've been trying now and again to see if I can get lightning to strike twice ever since. But tonight, I, uh… forgot about the sleepover part until it was too late to go back…"

"How bad was it in here? Was it worse than the two of us tonight?" Sunny asked, subconsciously leaning forward.

"Uhh…"
Basil took soft sniff of the air to refresh his memory, inadverdently catching the noxious SBD that Sunny subdued so as to not interrupt Basil's last story, and nearly making a face.
"…No, but I don't think anytime else comes even nearly as close as tonight.
I could smell rotten cauliflower in here for a couple days, I stunk it up so much… It only went away when I thought to wash my blanket and sheets."

Sunny inhaled sharply, giving off a reaction of amazement.
"…Luckyyy…"

"…Huh?"

"Your farts lingered for days. Even I can't manage that, and… I've tried…"

Basil's lip nervously fluttered.
"…it… What?
Do you… like the smell of your farts?"

Sunny blinked uncertainly.
"…When I sleep, or have a bath, or sit around, I try to sniff any I have.
I… thought everyone did that."

Basil had to stop and think about that. The idea of Sunny liking something so gross was pretty foreign to him, but it checked out given his whole 'politeness is just an act' thing. Plus, it made him curious to know more about this… did it extend beyond just him?
"I won't deny that I personally don't really mind the smell of my own gas, but that was… never the part I actually enjoyed about it…
Do you like when my farts stink too?"

"Of course," Sunny stated matter-of-factly.

Before he knew it, Basil found his old wry, teasing smile back on his face.
"…You must've enjoyed sitting next to me, huh?
Or stinking up the living room even after we all complained about how bad it smelled… No wonder I had to beg you to stop, hehe!"

Sunny chuckled guiltily.
"Hheheh, yeah…"

Basil paused to clear his throat before continuing.
"If you don't mind me asking… do you know how or when you found out you liked… smelling people's farts?"

Sunny hesitated, debating with himself over whether this story needed telling.
"Yeah, it was…
…was because of Mari."

. . .

Basil's awkward, somewhat pervy smile melted away on the spot, replaced with a solemn stare.
"…Oh… I'm sorry for asking…"

Sunny took a deep breath to collect himself before continuing.
"No, I may as well tell you about this… because it's important…
…It's weird to say out loud… but… smelling her gas made me feel all happy and safe…"

"U-Umm… why is that…?"

"She… told me one night that her sleep farts were toxic to monsters under the bed… and I believed her.
Because hers were… the worst. She spared the rest of you from her wrath… but she tormented Hero with SBDs every now and then. A… test of love, I think she called it.
I always thought Hero was… overreacting about how bad they were, cuz I was just… used to it."

"So… how did this turn into… now?
Wait… don't tell me you actually…"

Sunny couldn't help but admit to himself that, for as much as he tried not to think about that… it was cathartic to be called out for it.
"No, I never liked her farts in that way…
It was… just for security then. After… she fell… and I couldn't sleep safely next to her anymore… I realized that was yet another thing I missed about her… that I'd never get back.
So I… compromised. I convinced myself that bed-monster-repelling farts were a Suzuki thing and I could do it myself when she was "in college"… and Dutch ovened myself night after night till Omori became strong enough to erase my nightmares his way instead.
Then, well, puberty happened, and… yeah."

"…And now you're broadening your tastes to include my gas as well," Basil mused.
"And not… uh… family…"

Sunny nodded affirmatively.

The two sat in silence for a fair bit after that, processing all the information they'd just received and given. It was, needless to say, quite a lot to take in, especially since it gave them new perspectives to view certain past events with.
Not to mention they also had to still wrap their heads around their kinks being so similar to one another.

"I… Wow. This is…
I'm having a hard time believing this is… actually real. It feels like a-a really weird dream…"

Sunny nodded.
"Yeah, it does…
I… didn't usually imagine things going like this."

"Mhm, it's…"
Basil blinked and looked at Sunny.
"…Wait. Did you… ponder what this moment might look like…
in your new Headspace?"

Sunny looked away, pale face practically glowing with pink. Busted.
"…yes… but…"

"But… what?"

"Usually your gas would… accidentally knock someone out cold, or kill all your plants, or something… and you'd be really despondent until I came along to tell you that I didn't mind it at all.
That, or… you'd be farting uncontrollably all over town, and I'd be there to make you not feel super embarrassed the entire time."

The corners of Basil's lips shot up. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but something about the story made him want to laugh. Was it the pitiably bad luck that seemed to plague his dream-self to make this happen to him several times? The implication that someone's farts – particularly his – could be so foul that they were herbicidal? Or that this was Sunny's idea of what could happen, or that he wished would happen?
…Actually, considering how Sunny had been fidgeting around, that last one was definitely not a laughing matter. Basil kept his lips pressed into a thin line so he wouldn't laugh at him.

"…But there was also that one time Kel challenged you to a fart-off as a way to convince you to degas. I was the judge…" Sunny continued with a ghost of a smile, watching Basil's reaction.
"By the way, he surrendered pretty quickly."

Basil couldn't help himself anymore and started laughing openly.
"Pfffhahahaha! You really think I could go up against Kel like that and win? That's quite the imagination!"

Sunny smirked in spite of himself.
"I think I just heard you're vegetarian now, and my imagination got carried away with that info…
For all I knew, that might give you superhuman farts?"

"Sunny… if you're anything to go by, I think taking meat out of my diet made my gas less potent…"

Thinking about that story got the gears turning in Basil's head. Evidently, Sunny had been thinking about the possibility of him farting openly around him for a while. How long had he secretly wanted this from him, been pining for those experiences in the waking world?
Perhaps it was high time that he made his dreams come true.

Basil looked bashfully off to the side, grinning unabated, hand brought up to his chin sideways.
"…You know… I'm still super gassy, and I wouldn't mind letting you sniff…
In fact, I'd feel… honoured to do this for you."

When he hesitantly glanced back at Sunny after making the offer, he locked eyes with him. He was staring back with an uncanny concentration as if hypnotized, leaning forward onto his hands. His good pupil was dilated considerably more than his prosthetic one.

"Blow me away, flower boy~"

Chapter Text

"Blow me away, flower boy~"

*FBbRrNMBpHh…*
Basil opened fire with a bassy burst of gas, leaning away from Sunny. Sunny immediately leaned in to dunk his head into the resulting cloud of eggs, spinach(?) and rot, sniffing slowly but deeply.

He didn't linger there for all that long though, and soon swung his upper body back the other way and leaned away from Basil.
"Huh? Are you…"

"My turn."
*fvVbpRrhHT*
Sunny followed up with a hotter, softer fart that warmed the sheets underneath him. Basil chuckled a bit at the idea of them taking turns, and at watching Sunny blissfully fan his own fart up to his head. Then he fanned it over at Basil, hitting him with the stink of decayed cheese and bad turkey and making him flinch the slightest bit.

When he was satisfied, Sunny offered a palm to Basil in an 'after you' gesture, encouraging him to go next.

"O-Okay, I have another ready for you…"
Basil folded up a leg and propped it up on the bed, raising a cheek up to take aim beside him.
*…bJyUUumT~*

Sunny wasted no time in getting down onto his hands and soaked up the vegetal stench with a slight amused smirk.

"I didn't think it'd be that loud, hehe," Basil admitted while playfully fanning his face.

"Sounded funny though…" Sunny mumbled. "Lemme try…"
*bVrrRrMmm~*
Without raising his head up, Sunny stuck his butt up the air and casually emitted a low, soft bass note. In mere seconds the smell engulfed the two of them, shockingly quickly compared to their prior experiences… but then again, those farts weren't being broadcasted into the open air.

"Wow, we're making it smell pret–ty ripe in here…
It's a good thing it's just the two of us in here, heh…"

Sunny lifted his upper body back up off the bed and nodded.
"Well, you're making it smell ripe…
I'm making it smell rotten."

Basil chuckled at Sunny's dumb joke.
"Hehe… Yeah, I guess you're right. 'Rotten' sounds pretty accurate for your gas!"

"Then again… I think your farts are past the point of being ripe.
I'll need to have them fresh…" Sunny murmured affectionately.

"I have an idea of how to help with that…"

Basil reached back behind himself, grabbed his pillow, and raised himself enough to wedge it beneath his rear and his heels.
*fFpHRAAabT!*
*bvVOOmp~*

Sunny looked on eagerly as Basil 'cooked' the cushion loudly enough to be clearly heard through the muffling, all with a lidded, focused wink and a smile.

After Basil rendered the pillow sufficiently stunk-up, he gingerly tugged it out from underneath himself, held it up, and then lightly pressed it into Sunny's face. Sunny was quick to take the pillow himself and started sucking as much earthy stink out of it as he could.
"The Sunny appreciates your offering, O smelly one…"

"Hehe, uhh, my pleasure…" Basil muttered while grinning at Sunny's odd remark.
"You can, uh, use that pillow if you like!"

Sunny shrugged lightly once he set the pillow against the wall.
"Your loss."

"Now, allow me to repay your kindness and generosity," he continued in his previous deeper, faux-reverent tone.
Sunny stuck his hand underneath himself, ripped a low, deep *bBRrmMph* into it, and then carefully yet quickly yanked it back out and covered it with his other hand, keeping the foul air trapped inside. Basil, not sure what Sunny was up to, curiously leaned in a little. After looking at Sunny's cupped hands for a second, he took his eyes off them to look back up at his face.

"Um… Are we making a secret handsh–"

The moment Basil let his guard down, Sunny swiftly clasped his cupping hand around his nose, using his palm to obstruct Basil's mouth, and reached his covering hand behind his head to keep him from flinching away.
"Enjoyy~"

"Mmph! Sunny!"
Basil had to admit defeat and take in a noseful of eggy, rancid buttfunk from his mischevious crush. The stink lost its edge once he breathed it in, though, so it wasn't that unpleasant. Sunny released his hand as soon as he heard Basil inhale.
"…You got me good there, I won't lie. How do you even come up with this stuff?"

"Kel did it to me once in second grade. On pizza day."

"Oof, my condolences. Kids that age don't deserve being subjected to Kel after pizza…"

Sunny nodded affirmatively.
"Should make a law for it, honestly."

As Sunny thought back to that day and all the old, unrealized revenge schemes it inspired, he seemingly failed to notice Basil leaning onto his back and spreading his legs open into the air, taking aim directly at him. It also inadverdently put the tent in his pants on full display, which he… tried not to pay attention to.
Wow, Basil thought, is Sunny too spaced out to realize it's my turn now? …No wonder Kel got him back then.

After a few more seconds of Sunny staring off into space, Basil held back snickers to finally get his attention.
"…Hey, Sunny."
*fwEEe~ep?*

Sunny snapped out of his stupor and immediately locked eye with Basil's pelvic region. He took a tentative sniff (which he was mildly disappointed by), but otherwise seemed completely transfixed.

"Um… What are you looking at down there?"

Sunny briefly flicked his eye up to meet with Basil's, then returned to staring at Basil's taint.

"It's… embarrassing if you just stare dow–
Ack! *Snrrk* D-Don't tickle there! It's–"
*BvVoOoaRPft!*

Just a little 'stimulation' was enough for Sunny to get Basil's body to release a loud fart directly at his face. Before the flower boy could even utter a "What was that for?" though, he followed up by slotting his head as far underneath Basil as he could. Basil flinched from the impact right between his legs, only then noticing Sunny's loud sniffing.

"…O-Oh… That was… pretty brash of you…"

After one more deep sniff, Sunny pulled his face out to look at Basil, utterly stone-faced.
"You held back."
And then went straight back down again.

After a fair few seconds of Basil awkwardly holding his legs up off of Sunny's shoulders, he was eventually satisfied and reared his head up again. His calm, smiling-with-his-eyes stare was reciprocated by Basil grinning awkwardly but excitedly back at him.

"So… it's your turn again now."

Sunny voicelessly hummed thoughtfully. Now that it was his turn again, he was primed to one-up Basil again, but… how would he do it? The good ol' cupcake was now out of the running, as were the other subtle tricks he already used. And tackling Basil would be a faux pas, he felt.
Although, well… that could definitely work…

"…Alright, I've got a good idea.
But… you're gonna have to close your eyes."

Basil… wasn't sure if he liked the sound of that. Sunny was clearly starting to get carried away with it, but… he trusted him to not do anything he shouldn't.
"Uh… For how long?"

"…Five seconds will do."

"Okay! Don't, uh, get too crazy with it."
And with that, Basil closed his eyes.

As soon as he did so, he felt the bed rock and shift underneath him, accompanied by the creaking of wood and springs. After the mattress stopped moving, he heard fabric being quickly shuffled around.

"Ready."

Basil opened his eyes, to see… Sunny's bare butt looming right in front of him. His cheeks were smooth but flat, and despite the lamp's light making them look warmer, they were pale like moonlight.
…He could tell now why they called it "mooning".

"What are you–"

*PpMvRrrvVpT!*

Basil was assaulted point-blank by Sunny farting directly at his head. With no layers to get in the way, Basil could feel the full force of the sultry winds Sunny vented so playfully on him blowing across his face like a summer wind, or a burst of hot steam.
…Of course, this wind brought with it the stench of decay and fermented meats that Basil grew to expect from Sunny albeit more intense, and that putrid puff remained on Basil's face, its warmth just sitting there, daring him to breathe it in and regret doing so.
"Gah! Sunny!" he yelped, pulling his head away from Sunny's cheeks.

Sunny, misreading the situation, stuck his butt out more toward Basil's head, prompting Basil to bring a hand up to hold Sunny's reeking tush away from him.

"Where are you going, sunflower~? I have more~"
*thRrrbPt*

"Sunny, th–this is going too far…"
Basil made a sour face and animatedly tried to fan away the fart Sunny had let go in the space between their opposing sets of cheeks.
"Please… knock it off!"

"…Oh…"

Sunny immediately leaned back away from Basil, shimmied his pajama bottoms back on, and dejectedly plunked himself back onto the bed.
"I messed things up, again…
…Now what do we do?"

"Sunny… Don't worry about that!" Basil insisted.
"I'm not mad or disgusted with you, I'd just… rather that you not jump straight into that stuff. I'm not… quite ready for that yet."

Sunny sullenly stared at his feet, avoiding looking at Basil. Hearing his negative reaction after previously acting like he was enjoying it had left him feeling… disillusioned.
"You don't… actually like this, do you…?"

Basil anxiously shook his head in denial, waving his hands in front of himself.
"T-There's a lot of things I like about it! I know we both enjoy letting them go, for one.
You clearly love sniffing my gas, too, and I love giving it to you.
And if you love letting me sniff yours, then I also love that for you!
But your butt is… well, it's a lot for a nose like mine to handle. It's already quite foul even when fully clothed!"

Basil gently cupped Sunny's face-cheek to bring him back to attention. Sunny took note of Basil's gentle, lighthearted smile as he addressed the potency of his gas, still positive despite being nearly overwhelmed by it.
"…It's a shame I couldn't enjoy that fart as much as you clearly did. I bet it must've felt great to blast so much pressure out of your system like that, hehe…"

"…Uh… thanks…" Sunny said shyly.
"I did enjoy mooning you… it suits me pretty well.
Pale, quiet, surrounded by darkness, dead inside… they named me after the wrong celestial body," he quipped.

Basil snickered, rolled his eyes, and opted to let the casual self-deprecation slide, just this once.

Awkward silence filled the room again, accompanying the fading smell of Sunny's bare booty. Despite Basil's reassurance, Sunny didn't dare make the next move for fear of making another misstep.

Basil, though, wasn't about to let their night end like that.
"Do you mind if I… make it up to you?" he asked, bowing his head a bit to get closer to Sunny's downcast gaze.

"'Mm? Yeah."

Basil nodded subtly and gave Sunny a warm smile.
"Oh, but first, I'd like you to sit up straight."

Once Sunny did so, Basil gave him an uncharacteristic smirk before clambering into his lap, gently dropping his rear onto the blatant tent in Sunny's pajamas. Sunny gasped quietly from the impact, caught completely off-guard by how… stupidly heavy Basil felt. It was hard to think they were once similar in physique to one another, but Basil was definitely considerably heavier now.

"Ooph… Basil, you're fat!"

Basil had to fight hard to keep his snorts under control.
"…Sunny, I think that's called 'being a healthy weight'!
It's better than being skin and bones…"

"Mmmm–hm, sure~"
Sunny replied by gently wrapping his fingers around what he figured were Basil's love handles, modest as they were, making their owner squeak a bit in surprise.
"I kid, I kid…
More of you is always good."

"Pff-hehehe… when you put it like that, me putting on weight sounds kinda romantic…"

"You are putting the pounds to pretty good use, after all," Sunny purred.

"Hehe, yeah… though… that gives me an idea…"
Basil began to lightly bounce himself on Sunny's lap, shaking his guts up a little while also teasing Sunny with the weight that he just commented on. He could feel the surface he sat on getting more and more uneven with each bounce.

"You're… pancake-fying me?"

That got a coy giggle from Basil.
"…You know how, when you shake a soda bottle and then twist the cap open, you can see all the bubbles suddenly appear and rush into the fizz at the top?
Hehehe… my gut's the soda bottle. I just need to knock the bubbles loose!"

Sunny didn't reply verbally, but Basil knew all he needed to when he felt the tent in Sunny's pajamas poke up further from his lap. Even despite being squashed a bit as it got higher, it continued to climb.

"…How long will it take for you to build one up, then?"

Basil cheerily switched from bouncing to fidgeting his booty back and forth across Sunny's lap.
"Well, I still feel… kinda bloated… so I'm mainly just trying to get as much gas as I can in front of the exit, so to speak.
Hehe… Aren't you glad now that I was holding it in for so long?"

Holding in your farts until you could barely contain them before letting them out all at once… It was certainly not a tactic Sunny ever thought to use himself, but Basil was certainly giving it some promise.
"Isn't it uncomfortable doing that?"

"It can get painful, I have to admit… But that's the feeling of filling up with more gas, just getting more and more bloated as my body fights to keep hours' worth of farts building up, keeping the pressure rising higher and higher…
But when I finally let it all escape… The relief that washes over me when I finally do what my body's been demanding I do for hours… the sheer amount of gas that floods out… it makes it all worth it."

Sunny had to pause and repeat what Basil just said in his head until he'd fully processed it.
"…Basil… that's–"

"Really weird?"

"–maybe, but it's also pretty hot…
And… More anally-retentive than anything I've ever heard in 2 years of psychology class."

Basil burst into laughter, leaning forward in Sunny's lap as he put his hands on his knees.
"You're psychoanalyzing me now?
Hehehehe… I guess your lap is my therapy couch!"

Sunny wrapped his arms around Basil and started to rub his hands on his gut, finding it still kinda firm.
"That's right… Just let your butt tell me aaaanything it wants to~…" Sunny murmured softly into his ear.

Basil flinched a little upon feeling Sunny start to put pressure on his sensitive stomach.
"Ah, that's–"
*PpphHhRrrBbT~*
"You're making me 'leak' doing that, Sunny, please–"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

Basil squirmed a little at Sunny's silk touch.
"You'll… make me prematurely go off–
W-Wait! Let me go for a second!"

Sunny, feeling self-conscious yet again, immediately complied just in time for Basil to prevent another big gas bubble from popping.

"…Thanks.
Sorry, I… just really want to properly demonstrate to you what happens when I go through this process…"

Basil steadily shimmied himself backwards as he ground into Sunny's lap, hotdogging his erection and forcing it backwards against his waist. Sunny had to prop himself up with his hands behind him to keep Basil's heft from pushing him over.
Once Basil was happy with how smushed Sunny's junk was underneath him, he bore down. Sunny could feel his muscles tensing up, hands balled into fists, letting out a cute little grunt from exertion before–

*BbBLRRMmMrMBbbPpDt!!*
"Oaahhh, fffuck… that felt so good…"

Sunny had heard the term "butt bomb", but… he'd never felt one detonate before.
Since Basil didn't lean over at all, the force of the blast got sent straight into Sunny's nether regions with astounding force. Sunny instinctively clutched the bed in an attempt to brace himself, eyes wide and teeth gritted from shock, surprise, pleasure, and maybe the slightest touch of pain too from the sudden vibrations.

The deep, gurgly, sputtery roar was so loud that it made Sunny wince, and he would've jumped if he weren't immobilized. It rang like a deep growl in his ears, a ringing which only seemed to get louder once the teal, floral-patterned fuzz right in front of him reminded him that this infernal noise came out of Basil.
And the stench was a truly sublime thing. If Sunny thought hard enough, he could almost envision the stink lines wafting out from the point of impact like smoke from a crater. It was a concerningly strong aroma, one that would probably remain on Basil's behind for a while yet… if it wasn't displaced later by another bomb.

The whole thing didn't even feel… real to him. This WAS real, right? He didn't just pass out into a dream or something? By the time it was over, Sunny was too frazzled and delirious from horniness to even register that Basil just swore out of relief.

"Basil… what… was that??"

Basil giggled to himself with giddiness and pride.
"That's what happens if I don't fart for a whole afternoon… did you like it?"

Just like that, Sunny got it. Here he was, thinking Basil just instinctively kept his gas bottled up like he bottled a lot of things, putting undue stress on himself for the sake of pleasing everyone around him… oh how foolish he was. It was all in the name of a greater cause… doing THAT.
"Oh goddd…
Get my face next time…"

"S-Sure thing, Sunny!
You really are resilient, huh…"

Basil clambered out of Sunny's lap and dove forward onto his stomach, presenting his hindquarters to Sunny and sticking his pelvis into the air a little. Doing so also released what part of Basil's fart hadn't already embedded itself into their PJs, which, Sunny thought, really added to the weight of the moment.
To Sunny's surprise, Basil was downright perky. Sticking his butt out definitely made it seem bigger, but Sunny could've sworn he saw it jiggle the slightest amount. Those curves made him feel a bit inadequate, actually.
"…Woah, nice ass…"

"Hehe… Thanks…
Nobody's complimented my butt of all things before…"

Sunny laid a hand onto one of Basil's buns in a gentle, teasing smack. Basil flinched, but he didn't complain.
"How'd you get it so big?"

Basil looked back at Sunny behind him after that slap. Just as he suspected, Sunny was entranced, too busy ogling his backside to notice him watching. Maybe he was still in a daze.
"I'm… not entirely sure, to be honest. Lifting all sorts of things in the garden gives me a bit of a workout, and there is of course my, uh, weight…
Kel started offering to bring me along to the gym occasionally once he noticed I was getting a bit pudgy. I'm not sure if he realizes that I'll need more than glute exercises alone to get slim again, hehe…"

Ah. So not only was he fat back there, he was also toned. Makes sense.
"Can I get a better look?" Sunny mumbled as he let himself stare into Basil's buttcheeks, leaning closer to them.

"U–Uh, well… If you're hoping I'll moon you back, I'd rather not do that… sorry…
But feel free to get up nice and close! Heh…"

Sunny didn't waste any time in doing just that. He got on his stomach and swiftly planted his head onto Basil's rear. Basil instinctively curled his legs up a little off his bed upon feeling Sunny's face making contact.

"Ooh, that feels… kinda nice, actually.
Enjoying the view back there, Sunny?"

Sunny nodded into his ass and lightly squeezed each cheek with his hands.
"It doesn't just look good…
I can tell you've been farting, cuz your butt stinks~" he murmured into Basil's backside.

Basil giggled softly and guiltily.
"Oh yeah… That reminds me, I forgot to change out of the underwear I wore earlier today…"

Sunny raised his head up from Basil's butt in confusion.
"…Would you have changed them?"

Basil wasn't sure how he wanted to respond to that.
"…Umm… yes? My pajamas would smell like farts if I didn't…"

Sunny told Basil off for that by tickling his tailbone, making him snicker and slip a few fumes up Sunny's nose.
"Aah, I'm–*bVvvt*–sorry! I thought–*PrRbp*–you'd find it weird if I smel– I get it now, please stop!"

Sunny immediately stopped, slowly retracting his finger mid-tickle.

"Besides… I still have them on right now, so… I'll let you smell them directly if you'd like."

Sunny replied by eagerly but gently grabbing the hem of Basil's pajama bottoms and working them off his bulbous booty to expose the underwear underneath them. They were mint green, and had a cute pink flower on the back with a yellow center. Sunny plunked his head in, lining his nose up with the flower's 'fragrant' middle, and sniffed deeply while nuzzling and groping his way deeper in, catching as much of the copious amounts of stale farts he knocked loose as he could.
*pfr~rrwt?*
And the fresh ones too.

Basil quietly huffed and curled his legs higher as Sunny nuzzled his face into his cheeks. He could hear the sound of Sunny's muffled breathing on his underwear, not to mention feel the warmth.
"Oh, you REALLY like this, huh…"

Sunny moaned softly.
"They're sooo stinkyy~
Reminds me of my own collection…"

"Um… A collection…?"

"Yup… I like keeping undies I farted in all day so I don't have to wash the smell out."

Basil… didn't know what to make of that. It was no wonder Sunny's hygiene was still lacking if he saved unwashed underwear just to keep them smelling like farts.
"Wow, Sunny, that's… quite the… 'passion' you have…"

Sunny cast a deadpan expression into Basil's glutes as he patted them to loose more puffs from them.
"…Because bloating yourself like a balloon to deflate all at once isn't also weird.
Let's… just both be weird about farts together."

"…You really lucked out today then, huh?" Basil muttered.
"We're here together, being weird, and we're both sooo gassy too~"
*bvVffVrRnbb…*

Basil tensed out another hefty fart onto Sunny's head, hitting him square in the nose. Sunny immediately sucked up the fart and started jiggling Basil's cheeks more energetically while he sniffed, trying to prime him to do it again.
"Mmmm~ Mooore~~"

"A–Aah… Sunny, careful playing with my butt like that…"

Sunny seemed to take that as a challenge, and immediately gently pulled Basil's buns apart to nuzzle his nose deeper than before. Basil, for his part, was so moved by Sunny's fanaticism that he opted to help him out… and placed his stocking feet against the back of Sunny's head to lock him even further in, cutting off his escape until the consequences were ready for him.

*BLBRVvv V r r R p P f f F t*
"Aawhh~"

The resulting blast reverberated between Basil's tensed glutes and onto Sunny's head pressed against them, shooting up his nose. Sunny felt his face buffeted by the winds blowing past him and buzzed by Basil's quivering cheeks, themselves being shaken lightly by the gale. He kept the putrid breeze going for long enough that Sunny exhaled it all just so he could start over, and then he capped it off with a moan of relief just for good measure.

"More… please…" Sunny mumbled as he gripped Basil's buns and tapped his tailbone in an effort to get more gas out of him.

"…S-Sorry, Sunny… I think I'm empty for now…"

A moment of silence. If Sunny were more talkative, he would've punctuated it with an "Awww…"

"…How about you, then? Any gas on your end?
It's been, uh… quiet, even for you."

"Yeah, there's quite a bit," Sunny murmured.

"Ah, that's good…"
Basil nervously cleared his throat. Was he sure he wanted to go through with this?

"…Because I want you to… to fart right on my face."

Chapter Text

Sunny lifted his head up in confusion. When Basil propped himself up on his elbow to look back, he was met with Sunny pensively staring at him.
"But you said… you didn't like that."

"I'll… I'll be fine! I know you'll like doing it, and I know what to expect now."

"But will you like it?
I don't wanna like doing stuff you don't like…"

"I like making you happy, Sunny, and…"
Basil sighed, realizing he was missing Sunny's point.
"And I want to get better at handling the smell of your gas.
It feels… unfair that you have to be the one being farted on, but we can't go the other way around, even if you'd like it just as much…"

Considering their relationship history, letting Basil go off and do things that would only benefit Sunny… didn't sit very well with him. That had a tendency to never end well for them, and he didn't want having Basil go through uncomfortable experiences for his own sexual desires to be a thing they did.
But… he WAS tempted, and Basil seemed to know what he was getting himself into, so…
"Well… would you actually enjoy sniffing my farts point-blank?"

"I won't develop a taste for it without trying it, so no time like the present, right?
I'd rather not keep you waiting for this chance, hehe!"

"…Alright. Just… tell me if you want out."

Sunny backed up out of Basil's ass in a cat stretch and got onto all fours, leaving Basil free to flip onto his back and wait for Sunny to clamber over him. He couldn't help but feel nervous, having Sunny over top of him and with his rear looming right in front of him, but he gathered his courage and sat upright, directly into the proverbial line of fire.

"I-I'm ready, Sunny… are you?"

Sunny nodded.
*ffvVfVrMp*

Basil instinctively squinted his eyes when the warm air and noise hit him. He inhaled slowly and carefully, at first almost flinching from the putrid stench, but then once his nose became more accustomed to it, he took it all in more readily.

"How was that?"

"Phew, it's… really strong," Basil commented while turning his head away with an amused smile.

"Ready for the real deal~?" Sunny cooed while subtly rocking his ass from side to side, pointing it closer to Basil's head.

Basil froze. He clearly underestimated just how gassy Sunny could still be, even after all his wanton ass-ripping…
"I thought the one I just smelled was t-the big one."

"Nope~
I was just easing you into it. Wouldn't wanna overwhelm you."

"Oh… that's nice of you!
…Uh, I'm r-ready for it when you are."

"…Nnh–"
*BbphHRrROoLmMT!!*

Despite bracing himself, Basil couldn't help but flinch away, feeling the acrid funk hit him almost right after the trumpeting call of Sunny's butt did. It smelled horrible, so horrible that he could envision flies flocking to it. And yet here he was, beating those pesky little scavengers to the punch.
He brought himself to sniff harder despite himself, loud enough for Sunny to hear him doing it. It made him want to get away to somewhere the powerful stink couldn't reach him, but knowing that he was right where Sunny wanted him to be meant that he wouldn't be letting himself go anywhere.

"…So baaad~
Sniffing that? I'm impressed…"
*fFBbBBbnT*

Practically as soon as the previous fart became familiar to Basil's senses, Sunny just replaced it with another one. It wasn't as big or bad as the last one, but that wasn't much of a consolation, considering it gave Basil no time to breathe. Was he even going to last through such a relentless onslaught…?

"Very brave of you, Basil…
I think the others would've run by now~"

Yes, yes he was. The dainty little flower boy was going to endure through the storm of stink that nobody would dare weather, and he was going to like it.
After briefly letting his instincts wrench his head back, pleading for an escape from the torrent of funk, the praise of his courage spurred Basil to prove Sunny right by grabbing hold of his cheeks, planting his face into them, and sniffing the stench loudly and deeply.

Sunny jumped a little when he felt Basil's head plunk into his backside, not expecting Basil to go this far.
"–!!!"

" 'm I doing good, Sunny?" Basil slurred into Sunny's backside.

Sunny gave a thumbs-up that Basil couldn't see.
"…I thought this moment was… weeks away…"

"We're making good progress, aren't we?"

Feeling the seat of his pants eagerly occupied, Sunny let himself ease.
"It was just earlier tonight that you seemed… afraid of my ass. Scared of what it could do to that little nose of yours…
And now look at you, facing your fear and rubbing your face in it~"

*bbBgLLMbLMb!?*
Sunny immediately followed up on that by offering up a whiny, juicy, bubbly blast. It was a horrendous stench that no effective, well-maintained digestive system would allow itself to produce. Forget attracting flies – a smell like THIS would be a dinner bell for vultures. But they, too, would be late to the party.

With a triumphant and overconfident snort, Basil fried his mind enough from the fart that he involuntarily groaned and shuddered from it. He drew back to give his nose a bit of a break.

"Are you… sure about doing this?" Sunny asked, looking considerately back at Basil.
"I'll… slow down for you if you need…"

"No… keep going, please.
I-I can handle you, I promise…"

Sunny nodded in response, figuring Basil was clearly willing to let himself take a breather if he needed one.

(…But I bet he's just waiting for me to get a grip so we can move onto the good part, isn't he?
Don't worry, Sunny… I'm stronger than you think. I'm ready, just you watch! I'll– I'll prove it to you!)

Sunny tried to look over his shoulder to figure out why his butt was suddenly being gripped. And… tugged.
"…Basil?"

When he shook his rump a little to signal Basil to loosen his grip, he… didn't let go. He kept pulling Sunny backward like he was getting into a reclining chair.
"…Basil? You're–"
*fwoomp!*

Sunny fell back onto Basil's head, sitting atop the flower boy's face. Even though he was probably the scrawniest person Basil knew, he was still heavy enough to catch him off-guard. It didn't hurt that observation that most of his body weight was holding his butt onto Basil's most sensitive area.

*PpRMmmNnDdT!*
Sunny wasted almost no time in casually yet firmly blanketing Basil's face with a hot, potent, sultry fart.
He could only guess how bad it was… but Basil knew it was a nasty, room-filling stench that'd be a nose-fanner even if Sunny was sitting next to him… let alone on top of him. With no other air to breathe, he sniffed up the hot, muggy fumes of rotting, poorly-digested meats and cheeses until there was nothing left to smell, zealously fighting away the urge to retch the whole time.

Sunny lightly arched his body forward to exchange some 'air' between himself and Basil before lightly and affectionately rubbing his cheeks from side to side on Basil's face.
Basil let out a muted, pleasured gasp at the motion. He delighted in the sensation of having the soft, fuzzy, and quite toasty seat of Sunny's pajama bottoms rubbed lovingly into his head by the weight of Sunny's whole upper body above him. He also made sure to treat his lungs to the fresh(…ish) air while he could.

As soon as Sunny's rump and Basil's lap were removed from one another, the hot, putrid funk that rose from them made Sunny swoon, waggling his ass in Basil's face. He'd concocted a masterpiece of flatus to truly be proud of, a fetid miasma so ungodly powerful that it could make someone gag. But unlike the other times, he wasn't even alone! He had Basil to treat his funk to so they could enjoy it together.

While waiting for another fart to add to the mix, Sunny listened to the muffled, eager sniffs and snorts coming from underneath him. There was something… surreal about hearing such noises from someone who, by his own admission, had needed to learn how to simply tolerate the stink.
And yet there was something disquieting about it too.
Had Basil gotten over it and developed a thing for inhaling Sunny's farts? Was this him forcing himself to build up a tolerance? Or was he only doing it to make Sunny feel good? …If he didn't want to do it, would he let himself say no? If he slipped his pants off right now, would Basil complain or just meekly go along with it?

*BbRRrnt*
*HHNnfff…*

Then Sunny took note of Basil's crotch, raised nearly to full mast. Clearly he was enjoying some part of it… and now that Sunny was satisfied with his handiwork, it was high time that he gave Basil what he wanted.

Placing his hands right beside Basil's thighs, Sunny slowly and carefully raised his hindquarters into the air, resisting the instinctive pull on his own waist to ground him again.

"…Huh? Sunny, what are you doing? D–Did I do something wrong?"

"I'm giving you a reward," Sunny replied coolly.
"You deserve one for going through all that for me."

Basil wasn't sure what Sunny's 'reward' for him would be. So it was a welcome surprise to him when Sunny turned himself around and ensconced himself on Basil's lap. He tried to subdue his eager gasp for cleaner air, but once Sunny's weight pounded down on his junk like a hammer to a nail, it turned into more of a squeak. He gawked wide-eyed up at Sunny, who smirked back down at him.

"Th… Thanks… Sunny…" he panted. Sunny smirked lightly and responded by grinding himself into Basil's lap, making him shiver.

"Oh, that wasn't the reward.
This is…"

The moment Sunny bit his lip, Basil was entranced. He stared on excitedly yet helplessly as Sunny finally bore down and exerted himself to use that pungent power within him that he'd acted so nonchalant about. All Basil could do was eagerly brace for impact.

*FbRvAEEeE~eT!*

Basil made sure to pay attention to every little bit of the experience. He felt the seat of Sunny's pajamas resting on his stem get suddenly warmer yet again, as he sat so close that Basil could feel all that gas leaving his body and being forced up against his own, like a wave crashing into a rocky shore. The guttural, airy whistle of a fart hurtling forth pierced through the room, taking all the layers of clothing that muffled it as a direct challenge to overcome.
And the breathy sigh of relief that escaped Sunny's lips as they curled up into a little, blissful smile.
That's it. Basil was going to lose his mind. Just like how he was already losing his sense of smell.

"Enjoying yourself down there, aren't you?" Sunny purred.

"Yeah, definitely…
How does it feel for you to use my lap as a fart sponge?" Basil asked tentatively.

Sunny hugged his knees up against his chest in contemplation, putting his stocking feet on Basil's torso.
"It's… great. I thought I'd just be enjoying stewing us in my farts, but…
you taught me about this… whole other way to enjoy it.
I actually… get why I'd want to hold it in now, and that's thanks to you."
. . .
*PrrDdT!*
"…though you wriggling at every fart makes it pretty fun~"

"I'm g-glad you like that!
It may as well be instinct, hehehe…"

Sunny fidgeted excitedly on Basil's lap, pressing his buttfumes further in and allowing more to escape for himself.
"Yeah… Survival instinct, more like~"
*pBrAAadDt~*

(Survival instinct is right… Phew, he stinks so much!)
With such a smell as that, he couldn't help but writhe in it a bit. Even if escape was pointless, he didn't want it anyway. Not when Sunny was wafting that aroma about by batting Basil's member about.

Sunny was well aware of the effects his shifting about was having on Basil. He watched smugly as every little wiggle reflected itself on Basil's expression, causing his grin to melt open more and more, until–
*PwWEep~T?*

Sunny blinked.
"…That fart's… yours, right?"

"W… What? O-oh, uh…
…Oops, excuse me~" Basil muttered through a sheepish smile.

"Whatever happened to keeping it all bottled up~?" Sunny murmured sultrily.

"Mmmh… Sunny, I… don't want to…
I don't wanna focus on anything that isn't your ass…"

"Not even your own, huh…"

Basil grinned awkwardly.
*pBt*

"…Seems my ass has broken poor Basil," Sunny deadpanned to the ceiling edge, "and he can't even control his gas anymore… He used to be such a polite, mannerly boy…"
*BLbBvvVVt*
"At least he can soak up my farts when I've wrung him out of his…"

"Y-Yes, saturate me with them, please…" Basil panted.

Sunny was quick to start that process with a raise of his body upward to then drop himself onto Basil's tent, immediately grinding his way deeper down and firing off popping *PRt*s as he went.

Basil moaned silently to himself in reaction to Sunny's relentless, thorough rubbing. Before he knew it, he wasn't just squirming about, but actively grinding his crotch back into Sunny's buns. Sunny's eyes widened a little, but he stayed contently silent.

Unlike Basil, who was becoming enough of a moaning mess to be audible.
"Aaanhh… Sunnyyy~… I can't…"
*pvv-WAaRrBT?!*
"–can't take it much longer~!"

Sunny just looked Basil dead in the eyes and flashed him his most convincing grin.
*BbBnT*

"S–Sunny~~~
I'm gonna explode at this rate~"

It was at that point, seeing Basil's dreamy expression somewhere between a moan, yawn, and grin, that Sunny realized that that 'explosion' would probably be happening… on a different side. The side he was sitting on.
But… where would Basil explode? In his pajamas? For his dignity, Sunny didn't want that to happen.
Inside Sunny? There were… several problems with that, the suddenness not the least of them.

He found his answer when he swept his eyes across the room, his eye catching on something.
A tissue box, for wiping their pleasures away.

"…Basil?"

Sunny shimmied himself off of Basil's lap, leading him to mewl disapprovingly and try to hold him down to no avail. Sunny snatched the tissue box before returning to the bed.
"We should clean up while we can," he said bluntly while offering some tissues to Basil.
"Before we… make a mess…"

Basil stared at Sunny and the box for a good second or two before the reality of his situation hit him, and instantly he was out of his blissful stupor.
"O-O-Oh my god! T-that would b-be embarrassing to f-forget…
…One second, Sunny. I'll… go take care of this."

Sunny, blushing ferociously, handed Basil a couple tissues and a pair of fresh underwear ("Just… to be safe"), took some tissues for himself, and then watched as Basil quietly fled to the bathroom to finish himself off in solitude. Not that it took very long for that to happen after what his gonads had been through.
Basil pondered briefly about having gone through all that and still been too nervous to stick with Sunny the entire time, but… he just couldn't bring himself to stay. He'd already said and done enough embarrassing things in front of Sunny tonight, and didn't have the nerve left to let the raven-haired twink watch him plant his 'seed' into some tissues while he tried not to moan audibly enough to be heard by anyone else.
(All that really gay shit didn't have to all happen in one night…)

Deed now done, Basil carefully crept out from the bathroom and tiptoed back to his room. Remembering that Sunny stayed alone in there with the tissue box, he decided to gently knock first.
*tk tk tk*
"Sunny…? Am I good to come in now?"

"Uh…"
Hasty shuffling of bulky fabric. (What was he up to…?)
" 'Kay, now you can."

Basil slowly opened the door…
…and was very nearly floored. His ENTIRE ROOM smelled heavily of farts, and after spending who knows how long smelling them one at a time, he was slammed by all of them at once. The pleasing, calming floral aromas that usually greeted him were nowhere to be found… unless he counted gut flora.
Sunny, for his part, wasn't helping. Not only was he still immune, he was also lying on his stomach on the bed, legs curled and crossed in the air, chin propped up on interlocked hands, coyly giving Basil the Suzuki smile while he watched the flower boy recoil from the thick stench hanging above him. All he was missing to complete the image was a red rose in his mouth… a wilting one, to be exact.

"Sunny… wh-what's up with that look?"

"Why don't you come join me here?"
Sunny nonchalantly rolled onto his side, striking another lazily seductive pose.
"It's getting real late, after all. I think we deserve to finally share a bed together~"

Basil anxiously smiled, nodded, and laid down next to Sunny. Sunny was quick to sneak his arms behind Basil's back and pulled them closer together. They were… both nice and warm.

"S-Sunny…" Basil muttered with a slight discomforted edge to his voice. He turned his head away a little.

"m?"

"Your face, hehe, it… smells like my ass…"

"Yours does too," Sunny murmured, "and it makes me wanna…"
Sunny gently brought up a hand to cup Basil's cheek, turning him to face him directly, and then leaned in to kiss Basil right on the lips, catching him off-guard. When he processed that he was getting kissed by Sunny, Basil pulled him even closer and puckered up right back.

Their kiss was sloppy and fiery. Neither deterred by reeking so strongly of farts, nor content with rubbing their lips together, Basil darted his tongue past them and along Sunny's own before he could pull away. Sunny went wide-eyed at the bold move, and then reciprocated by wrapping his arms around Basil's torso and squeezing him, leaving him with less room for his gas that wasn't in their lungs. They interlocked their legs and thoroughly intertwined their bodies together, rubbing against one another like they would freeze otherwise.

Basil got so into it, in fact, that he forgot about his body loosening up until–
*bbBMmrrr…*
"Mmmph…"

Short, but deep and bassy. Sunny recognized the telltale call – Basil was so relaxed that he was letting his gas flow freely.
"mhmhmm~"
In response, Sunny spread his legs ever so slightly and matched it with his own…
*vVvhhp~T*

The foul aromas wafting between the two and filling their nostrils didn't slow them at all. Sunny only got more passionate with his fondling of Basil's back and toying with their tongues together, which made Basil keep farting in bliss with his eyes closed. He barely even registered just how much gas he was passing when all his neurons were busy firing over the way Sunny's tongue chased his own around.

In fact, he was so zoned out that he didn't even notice Sunny reaching out to turn the lamp off, or think anything of him grabbing the pushed-aside bed covers from right behind himself until they were over top of them. It was too dark under the covers for either of them to even see each other's faces, not that it mattered much when they were huddled together and within breathing distance.

"…Hey, what are you doing?
*b~lLrrVvt*
I'll Dutch oven us both now…"

"Just make sure I'm well-done, alright?" Sunny quipped, before he put his tongue back into Basil's mouth and returned to gently massaging his back.

As Sunny and Basil kept rubbing their bodies together, Sunny's hands naturally began to drift down Basil's back towards his backside. Sunny slowly and gently felt up his plump rear without any objection, feeling the slightly higher warmth on the seat of his pajamas before his fingers began to curl inward, gripping the pleasantly soft yet dense meat.

*fffshh…t*

Basil, in his fixation on feeling how good it felt to let Sunny gently knead his rear, hardly even registered the hot air hissing out of it. Sunny, though, felt it on his hands, giving him the cue to start parting and jiggling the gluteal gates to encourage them to open.

"A–Aahh…" Basil moaned in surprise, "S-Sunny, you'll–"
*mWmR~rrBb~*
"–make that happen…"

Sunny only picked up his caressing and jiggling of Basil's booty upon hearing that.
"Good…"

Basil nodded a little and let Sunny continue to do his thing, not noticing the bead of drool that formed at the upturned corner of his mouth while he took in the affection.

"Mmmnn, I think I have a gas leakk…"

"Mind letting my lap soak it up?
Might even… plug the leak, heh…"

That little remark was enough to rouse Basil from his delighted delirium and turn him bright red again.
"H-Huh? Oh, sure! The… next one will be just for your lap.
Truth be told, I've… always wanted to be a little spoon, hehe…"

Gently and carefully, Sunny withdrew his limbs to allow Basil to prop himself up on his elbow and–
*ppRr~rT*
" …S–Sorry… I said the next would be on your lap, and–"

Sunny cut him off with a soft chuckle.
"I forgive you again, you gasbag.
You can make it up to me by giving me more…"

Once Basil flipped himself over, Sunny snuggled right back up to him, pressing his chest against Basil's back, his lap into his ass, and his arms around his stomach. Basil practically melted backwards into Sunny's embrace, letting his entire body relax while humming faintly. He gave no resistance to Sunny rubbing and massaging his gut, no longer firm but still having some air regardless, or to his butt puttering away on Sunny's erection that, it turned out, was totally unable to plug him up.
*ffshrrbpp…t*

Cuddling in Sunny's arms made him feel… safe. He missed this feeling.
…Well, maybe he could do without sleeping immersed in the stench of compost and ass, but that was a minor concern. Listening to Sunny's breathing deepen and feeling him rub and caress his body against Basil's whenever either of them passed any amount of gas, he could tell that Sunny was right up there on cloud nine with him, and wouldn't want it any other way.

Besides, he might as well get used to it sooner rather than later, in case this became a recurring trend.

"We're gonna smell horrendous in the morning, aren't we…" Basil muttered drowsily.

Sunny craned his head up to whisper back into Basil's ear.
"Can't wait to smell like your farts when I wake up~"

"You'd really want to still reek of… my butt?" Basil replied, feeling oddly flattered by the idea.

"Of course I do… you smell perfect, flower boy~"
Sunny smiled faintly as he heard a faint yet sharp inhale from Basil over the compliment to his smell.

"Hehe… would you say I smell like flowers~?"

"Obviously.
You're like a rafflesia, all pretty and stinky like this~"

Basil never thought his heart would flutter so much from being compared to a giant stinking flower, but he was nonetheless touched by Sunny remembering an offhand lecture like that and using it to compliment him again.
"…Th-thanks, Sunny…"

Both of the two fell silent for a bit as they snuggled, the quiet only being broken by the occasional hiss, buzz, or pop from their rear ends.

"Do you think… we could do stuff like this again sometime?" Sunny softly asked.

"Sure! But… could you do something when you come back?"

Sunny gave an affirmative murmur into Basil's hair.

"On the day you come over… I want you to stuff yourself, and try not to fart for the whole day until we meet."
Basil smiled deeply and kinkily to himself.
"I want to be an eyewitness to when you finally explode…"

"Yeah, I can do that. But I want you to do something for me too."
Sunny snuggled Basil tighter and brushed his cheek along the crook of his neck.
"Fuel yourself up with the unhealthiest junk food you can find when I come back.
Your farts should be so awful that you need me to handle them for you~"

Basil nestled himself lightly into Sunny's lap and embrace.
"Of course I can do that… I'll hang onto a pair of old underwear to wear for you too."

Sunny replied by locking his lips to the back of Basil's neck and holding them there.
*chu~*
*vvvbbt~*

"Two kisses at once… You spoil me, Sunny~"

"You deserve more than just the one kiss goodnight, silly…" Sunny mumbled affectionately, getting a drowsy snicker out of Basil.

"Sunny… You really stink…
But… I love you all the same. Nothing will change that."

"You're stinky too, Basil…
And I love your stink just as much as the rest of you~"

Chapter Text

"G'Morning, guys…" Aubrey lazily mumbled while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Oh god, it reeks in here… And I thought we had it bad out there…
Maybe I should be glad they snuck off without telling us."

Aubrey walked over to the window, fiddling with it to undo the lock before sliding it open. It was a bit rough, but unlike hers, it opened without much fuss. As soon as it was open, the chilly air of a mid-November morning blew inside, waking her up a little with how refreshingly crisp and cold it was, kinda like a cold shower. More importantly, the air outside was sweet and didn't smell like an unventilated public bathroom.
Unfortunately, as nice as the cold breeze was, she could tell it wouldn't affect Sunny and Basil at all, since they were completely concealed underneath the covers and had even tucked the edges underneath them.

"Did these two sleep while wrapped up like that all night?"

. . .

"Hellooo?? Good morning, lovebirds!" she sang impatiently while standing next to the bed. She got no reply.

Next, she put a hand on the person-like lump closer to her and gently shook him to rouse him to consciousness.
"Baa~sil! Suu~nny! Wakey wakey!"

*bvoo~t*
"Mmm~"

Aubrey groaned in frustration. She couldn't just sit around and wait for them…
She would have to… she shuddered… take the covers off.
"Fuck, I should've let Kel do this after all…"

With utmost care and precision, she grabbed hold of the covers, steeled herself for the task at hand… and yanked them off like a giant band-aid.
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!"

With the covers pulled off of them, Aubrey finally laid eyes on the two. Sunny and Basil were sleeping on their sides, pressed up against one another. Basil was practically planted in Sunny's lap, who clung to Basil's back and wrapped his arms around him. Sunny's head was nestled into Basil's neck, letting their hair enmesh.
It would be really cute… if her nose wasn't busy screaming bloody murder over finding them.

Dear. Fucking. GOD.

Even her mom would retch at this! How the fuck did Basil even survive the night!? Aubrey could feel the hot, putrid air washing over her like she'd opened an oven of farts. And 'cooking' inside was an acrid stench of rotten unventilated compost, rancid meat, ripe ass, rotten eggs… she switched to breathing through her mouth as shallowly as possible before she could pick up on anything else. And prayed she wouldn't taste anything either.

But as horrible of an idea as that was, it did work. She saw Basil tense up before opening his eyes…
"…Ah, it's col–
BWU– A-AUBREY!!" he shrieked, startling Sunny awake as well, who scrambled to sit upright.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she apologized, muffled by the hand clasped to her face.
"I really didn't want to wake you like that, but… it's 10:30 and Sunny's mom will be here to pick him up soon…
And the three of us agreed that one of us should come get you before she did, since she, uh… would NOT be happy to find you two in here again."

Basil turned his head back around to Sunny, who was blushing nearly as deeply as him. They… really dodged a bullet, didn't they?

"You two REALLY didn't handle our Thanksgiving well… Jesus…
It smells atrocious in here. I'm half-surprised I didn't find two rotting corpses under there!"

After realizing something important, Sunny raised the collar of his pajama top to his nose, quickly wrinkling it. He wasn't personally bothered by it at all, but…
"…How am I going to explain my PJs and hair smelling like shit?
I have to bring them into the car with me, and Mom, for half an hour…"

Basil grimaced. Neither of them thought that far ahead…
"W-Well, look on the… the bright side! At least they're not as bad as… your recital clothes were…"

Aubrey clapped her hands together and whistled.
"Like that's a high bar to clear…"

"…I didn't stay in the car like that though… She washed them before I was discharged," Sunny muttered, remembering his mom's mystified comments on the faint mildew smell they got after his little 'bath' in the lake.

"And you two were completely tucked under the covers, spooning together, despite all this," Aubrey said while gesturing to the air with a fanning hand. "Did you guys just, like–"

It was at that moment that the door swung open again, revealing Kel behind the door. Everyone turned in time to watch his cheery good-morning smile turn into a cringe as he breathed in.

"Uh… morning, guys.
I was about to say you made a good call not sleeping between me and Aubrey, but–"

"What are you implicating me for?"

"You ate a truckload of turkey! Do you not know what that does to–"
"We're NOT having this conversation in front of them!" Aubrey barked, angrily crossing her arms.

Sunny nudged Basil gently and whispered into his ear.
"Quick, set the record straight before they argue again."

Basil timidly cleared his throat and took the plunge.
"Actually… Last evening? All that farting… that was me, and I–"

Sunny immediately jumped in anyways before any more blame-shifting could happen.
"Half me, half him. I took the blame for him."

"Huh… Then that means–"
Kel stared at the two next to each other in bed, a eureka moment hitting him.
"Ohh. OOHHHHhhhh.
I think I get it now–!"

"Get what, Kel?"

Kel glanced back at Basil and Sunny, looking like they were going to die and kill from embarrassment, respectively.
"Uhh… Sunny? Can I tell the story of… that, uh…"

"Not. A. Soul."

"Welp! Sorry Aubrey. Confidentiality is part of what makes a good psychotherapist!
I'll at least say this, though… step up your game or you might be toast!"

Aubrey blushed profusely.
"OH my god. Are you still trying to play matchmaker with me!?
Look at them, Kel! That ship has sailed! The S.S. Sunflower just came back from her maiden voyage!"

"We don't actually know that yet!" Kel shot back. "It's not like they have engagement rings!"

"Kel, they are both obviously taken! Do you think they were in bed together just to play cards or something? No, they clearly came here to–"
Aubrey stopped herself, seeing Sunny and Basil's faces going even more red with shock and embarrassment. Between that, and the unreal 'aroma' in the room… whatever it was, she suddenly realized she probably wasn't ready to figure it out.

"–Actually, you know what? If you guys are hiding things from me right now… fine.
You can keep that secret, I don't think I want it anyway."