Chapter Text
Sunny’s phone rang. It was his mom.
“Hi Sunny! Something came up so I’ll be a little late to pick you up today. I’ll pick you up in front of our house in the evening, everything's already been moved so you don’t have to worry! How about you go hang out with your friends? See you soon, love you.” Click.
Sunny didn’t even get a chance to say anything before she hung up.
“Who was that Sunny?” Basil asked.
“Mom. She said that something came up, so she’ll pick me up in the evening.” Sunny said blankly.
“Oh!” Basil lit up at the news that he would have even just a few more hours with Sunny.
Sunny, Basil, and Aubrey walked out of the hospital. They started towards Kel and Hero’s house. “Feels good to finally be discharged, eh Sunny?” Aubrey teased.
Sunny just nodded and smiled, trying to shake off his anxiety about what’s soon to happen. Basil grabbed Sunny’s hand to comfort him. Breath Sunny, you can do this.
As they got closer, they saw Kel standing outside his house. When he noticed them, he waved with a wide grin on his face. “Sup guys!” He called out as they approached. “Hero’s in his room. He’s, uh–barely come out since… then.” A hint of sadness was visible behind his smile.
Sunny winced at the recollection of that moment.
They all walked inside with Kel leading the way. Through the living room and up the stairs until they came to Hero’s door. Kel knocked on the door. “Hero?” He spoke cautiously. No response.
“Alright enough tip-toeing around.” Aubrey said impatiently. She barged into Hero’s room. “Coming through!” But she quickly lost her moment when she entered. Hero was sitting down on his bed, shaking. His eyes were puffy and his pillows were stained and wet. His usually pristine half of the room was in complete disarray. His stuff was strewn across the floor, tissues covered his desk. It made Kel’s half of the room look clean by comparison. “Whoa. You okay?” Aubrey asked.
Hero looked up to respond to Aubrey. He looked like an empty shell–broken. He tried to put on a happy expression to say that everything was alright, but then he saw Sunny standing in the door. His face quickly shifted to a frown, and then to anger.
Hero clenched his fist as he stood up. “What is that… Monster doing here.”
Sunny's face fell with that word. He couldn’t find himself able to fully deny it.
“Watch it, Hero!” Aubrey was the first to bite back. “Sunny’s not a monster.”
“Yeah bro, that was too far.” Kel added on.
“Too far? He KILLED MARI! Do you even understand that? He killed our Mari–my Mari.” Hero was shaking with uncontainable rage. His fist clenched as he gnashed his teeth.
“Please Hero, let me talk.” Sunny spoke through his tears and panic. He was starting to feel dizzy, but remained strong. “I didn’t mean to… And I know what I did was wrong. I was scared–afraid.”
Hero didn’t buy it. “You f*cking HANGED HER! And then lied about it for four years! Four years of my life–a lie!” Tears started to fall down his cheek. “Four years. I spent thinking that I did something wrong–that I missed something. But is was all a F*CKING LIE!”
Sunny shrunk backwards, not sure what to say to calm Hero down.
Hero snapped further. “And you hid the truth! You ran away! Leaving me to wallow in self-pity for something that wasn’t even true!” Hero lunged towards Sunny and pinned him to the ground. “Hero!” Both Kel and Aubrey yelled in unison. Unfortunately, however, neither Aubrey nor Kel had time to stop him.
“I’m sorry!” Sunny cried repeatedly. Tears ran down his face, as he covered it with his hands–he was afraid–of Hero. That realization shook Sunny.
Just as Hero raised his fist to punch Sunny, Aubrey and Kel grabbed his arms and pulled him back. Sunny's breathing was heavy. Basil snuck up next to him, and put his arms around him.
Hero was fighting against Aubrey and Kel’s restraint, but the two of them were able to keep him in check. Sunny wasn’t able to make out what anyone was saying. He just focused on calming himself down. Breath in… breath out… in, out.
Sunny–still shaky–stood up again. “H-Hero, I… I know you probably won’t forgive me. But, I just wanted–I wanted things to go back to how they were before.” Sunny wiped his eyes before continuing. “Back when we were all friends. Back when we would play in our treehouse. Back when–when Mari would…” Sunny couldn’t finish his thought. “I’m sorry!” He cried out, before breaking down again.
Sunny’s speech shocked the room, the only sound was Sunny keeled over, crying. They felt every word of what Sunny said, every feeling, every emotion. Pretty soon he wasn’t the only one crying.
Aubrey was holding back tears.
Kel’s eyes were waterfalls as he cried silently.
Basil was quietly crying with Sunny.
Hero–
Hero broke. Hit by what he just did–what he almost did–to Sunny. He started sobbing, almost as hard as Sunny. He wasn’t sure if he’d forgiven Sunny–he didn’t know if he ever could. But, he was able to recognize how painful it must’ve been for him.
A somber silence befell the room.
Kel, ever energetic, pulled Aubrey and Hero towards Sunny and Basil. “Group Hug!” He exclaimed as he forced everyone's participation. Hero tried to back out, but Kel pulled him in tight.
Then, the time for Sunny to leave came.
Kel and Aubrey each gave Sunny a big hug.
Hero awkwardly smiled and stood watching.
Basil was fidgeting with his hands. Until Aubrey gave him a nudge. “Uhm–uh. T-this is for you.” Basil said to Sunny, avoiding eye contact.
Basil put forth a green flower pot with only dirt and a card on the edge. “What is it?” Sunny asked.
“You’ll have to grow it to find out!” Basil smiled playfully.
“T-thank you.” Sunny whispered as he accepted the gift. He fidgeted in place for a second before closing his eyes really hard. Then he ran up to Basil. Sunny kissed him on the cheek before quickly running back to the car. He sat in the car seat hugging the flowerpot. He looked away, but still couldn’t hide his beat red face. The car began driving away.
Basil was still standing there. His mind completely shut down for a few minutes. After Sunny was long gone he finally snapped back to reality. His cheeks turned the reddest they’ve ever been.
“Ehh?!” He shrieked out in embarrassment.