Chapter Text
When Summer entered Kel’s room she was struck by just how much it had changed since she had last been there. Kel’s side of the room was a mess of orange and various knick-knacks from his early childhood. The only part of Kel’s room that was maintained in the slightest was his shelf of trophies which was almost as impressive as Hero’s. His side of the room was carefully maintained and organized with a blue color-scheme.
“It’s changed a bit.” Kel chuckled as he noticed Summer taking the room in.
Summer walked over to Kel’s trophy case and looked at all of them. Back when the two of them were younger they were both sort of the forgotten younger sibling so seeing that Kel had managed to accomplish some feats of his own made Summer feel happy for him.
Kel followed her over to the trophies. “I know there’s not as many as Hero’s side has.. But he had a head start!” He proclaimed as a bit of red tinted his cheeks. “I’ll catch up to him eventually.”
Summer turned towards Kel with a smug grin plastered on her face. “Are you trying to impress me?”
“W-Well..! I- Maybe?! Not sure.” Kel babbled as the red on his face intensified ten fold. “Is it weird!? I can stop!”
Summer shook her head, she didn’t think it was a big deal or bad anything. Besides Kel was a bit impressive. Also it was a bit flattering. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”
Kel smiled at her nervously. “You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Kel refocused himself and decided to continue showing off his room. He walked over to his boombox which was in between a bookshelf full of captain spaceboy comic books and a game console. “I got a boombox like I always wanted!” He turned it on and a quiet albeit admittedly groovy beat filled the room. “Mama doesn’t like it when I turn it up too loudly, so sorry if it’s a bit quiet.”
“I think it’s nice.” Summer said.
Kel whipped around to look at the chestnut-haired girl. “I’ve been curious, what’s life in the city like?”
Summer shrugged. “It’s nice enough. Gets hotter there than it does here. The streets are busy I guess.”
Kel scratched his chin for a moment. “Do you still play the violin or draw?”
“Yeah, I play the violin in orchestra. I’m taking some art classes too.”
“Awesome, Summer! You were actually really good at drawing before you moved!” Kel grinned. “I bet you could draw an entire comic now!”
“I doubt it, I’m still not very good at it yet.”
“Don’t put yourself down, I bet you’re great!”
The corners of Summer’s mouth curled upward slightly. “Okay, Kel.”
“Hey do you want to play something on my Nintendo? It’s got a lot of cool games on it.” Kel sat down next to the console and patted the floor next to him.
Summer sat down next to Kel. “I don’t think I’ve played anything on it before..” Summer muttered. Actually wasn’t the last thing she played an open world rpg on her computer..? Wasn’t it.. Elder scrolls..? She stopped playing it because the dungeons were boring and the map was too large if she remembers correctly. Anyway.. whatever Kel had on the nintendo could be cool. He did have decently good taste.
“Well that’s okay! You get to see something new, too!” Kel smiled. “There’s a lot of cool games. “There’s Mario, which is a classic. There’s Zelda that’s also fun! Starfox is a personal favorite of mine-”
“I- what..?!” Summer blurted out.
“Oh sorry.. Got kinda excited because I don’t get to play on it often.” Kel chuckled.
“It’s.. okay..” She put her hand on Kel’s shoulder which elicited a minor amount of blush from him, which didn’t go unnoticed. “You just spoke a bit quickly.. Which game is good for your first experience I guess?”
“Definitely Mario!” Kel stood up and grabbed the cartridge off of the small table the tv rested on. “I started showing Hero this the last time he was here!” He slotted it into the cartridge and the tv lit up. Nintendo flashed on the screen as did what Summer assumed to be the people who worked on this. When it was done the face of Mario stared back at them in shocking detail. It was way better than the 2d characters of Arena.
Kel handed the controller over to her and quickly told her how it worked. After a moment stretching Mario’s face on the menu she was in the game hopping, running and jumping all around. Summer was enthralled in the fluid movement and colorful and creative levels. “Wow.. you’re way better at this than Hero is!”
“Thanks.” Summer leaned closer to the screen, focused. Kel just watched as she sped through the game. It was a bit hypnotizing to him. Her focused expression was kind of cute. Both of them just let Mario claim their undivided attention.
Then they heard a knock on the door. Summer paused the game and looked at Kel, bewildered. He raised an eyebrow and stood up, walking over to the closed door. He cracked it open and peeked out, seeing his mother. “Hey! I was showing Summer Mario!”
“Ohh..! Okay! I just wanted to tell you that your brother is back!” Mrs. Ramirez Said.
A pit dropped in Summer’s stomach. Hero might mean.. Mari … she never should have let herself get involved with Kel. This was all a huge mistake. Mari would find out and then she’d try and pull something. Summer felt her hair standing on edge. She felt worried.
“Alright, I’ll be down in a minute!” Kel smiled as he shut the door, turning to Summer. “Okay.. I can go see if Mari is down there.. Sorry I lost track of time.. You’ll be okay.” she nodded and Kel walked out the door, shutting it behind him. He ran down the stairs.
Hero and Mari were sitting on the couch, chatting. Hero’s luggage was by the front door, most likely waiting to be unloaded. Kel doubted that Mari would stay here, she never did, but.. She was here now. Kel waved at them. “Hey Bro! Hey Mari!”
Hero stood up from the couch and was wrapped up in a hug with his younger brother. “I missed you too Kel.” He chuckled and tousled Kel’s brown hair.
Kel turned to Mari and smiled. “Hey!”
Mari looked at him with a blank expression, like she was trying to hide something. “Hi.” She said almost dismissively.
Kel raised an eyebrow. “You okay Mari..?”
“Fine.” She tapped Hero on the shoulder. “I’m gonna be in the dining room, okay Hero?” She kissed him on the cheek.
“Alright.” Hero kissed her back before she walked into the dining room. Probably because of a headache. Hero was used to her having those. He faced Kel with a grin. “So.. Mama said that girl you like is upstairs. Mind if I meet her?”
Kel scratched the back of his head. “Uh.. sure! She was just leaving though so it’ll have to be quick.. Has to get back to where she’s staying.”
“Hey, I just want to say hi to the girl that’s somehow made you bisexual.” Hero laughed to himself. He genuinely did want to see her. The way Kel described her made her seem like a special girl.
“Uh sure..! Let’s go!” Kel went back to his room with Hero, both standing outside the door. “She uh.. Might be a bit nervous.. But.. yeah..” he whispered.
Hero nodded in affirmation as Kel opened the door.
“Summer..! My older brother Hero wanted to see you before you left. His girlfriend is nursing a headache downstairs.” Kel said.
Hero noticed that the girl seemed to calm down slightly at that mention.. Also Summer bore a shocking resemblance to Mari.. the two could almost pass as sisters if they were next to each other. Everything about this girl screamed familiarity to Hero, but he couldn’t place it. Mari never had a sister or anything.. She had Sunny but.. He hadn’t been in Faraway for years.
Hero shot her a charming smile and stuck out his hand. “Hi! So you’re the girl who stole my brother?” He chuckled.
Summer blushed a bit and nodded. She nervously stood up and took his hand. She was worried what would happen if he figured out who she was. She’d need to leave, and soon . “Nice to meet you.. But I should get going.”
“Well it was nice to meet you too.”
Summer nodded and started walking out of the room. Kel shrugged at Hero and walked her out of the house, making sure that she wasn’t visible from the dining room. The evening sky of Faraway was liberating. She hoped she didn’t seem rude, but she didn’t want to risk Hero finding out.
“Sorry about that Summer!” Kel sighed. “I should have paid better attention.. I almost put you through something really awkward..”
“You did put me through something awkward.” Summer said bluntly. “But it’s okay. I’m not mad or anything. I had a nice time until.. That..”
“Well.. okay.” Kel blushed a bit and mustered up some of his courage. “So.. Do you want me to walk you home..?” He smiled awkwardly.
“Sure Kel, sounds nice.” A barely perceptible smile found itself on Summer’s face. The two of them walked back to Kim and Vance’s, happy despite the the fact that the situation could have ended up being dreadful.