Chapter Text
Hero woke up sensing a mocking presence from a time passed… He groggily scanned the room to find that every quilt was empty, and from that mocking presence, he figured he must’ve been snoring. This was as sloppy of a start to a day as it’s ever been for Hero.
“Rise and shine, sleepy head~!” Teased the mocking presence with a figure blurred by Hero’s freshly opened eyes.
“M-Mari? What time is it?” Hero inquired, embarrassed about his horribly flawed morning.
“It’s 11 am, but for you… It’s breakfast time!” Mari revealed, holding a plate with a home-made hero sandwich sitting proudly atop.
“You were asleep for so long, so I thought I’d try and replicate your favourite sandwich in the world!” Mari beamed, sneaking in a small sneer at his long nap.
The sandwich really did look delicious, and Hero was unsure if it was because he just woke up, or if it was because Mari always cooked with as much love as she can possibly cook with. As Mari placed the plate over the blanket on top of his lap, Hero reached for the sandwich in a befuddled manner. With the food of kings in his hands, he stared the sandwich down and felt his mouth salivating. He took an enormous tear out of the sandwich, and his taste buds lit up with absolute joy, leading Hero to eat his sandwich like a starved zombie.
“That good, huh?” Mari giggled, flattered by Hero’s enthusiasm for the breakfast she made for him, despite expecting this response.
It took Hero only a short couple of minutes to completely devour the sandwich, leaving only crumbs in the wake of his destructive campaign. He had a satisfied look on his face, reminiscent of Kel after skulling a bottle of Orange Joe. Those brothers are more similar than they think…
“Thank you Mari, that was REALLY good- Even better than how they make it at Gino’s!” Hero commended, beaming with joy and finally ready to start his day.
“Oh, c’mon, don’t be silly, you just haven’t had anything yet. Now get yourself out of bed, everyone’s waiting for you!” Mari called out, leading Hero out of the room.
—
“Basil… It’s been two hours and you haven’t eaten anything yet!” Aubrey scolded, worrying for the frail blonde’s health.
“Oh? M-Maybe I’m just… N-Not that hungry right now…?” Basil responded, pulling out one of his trademark excuses in the event that someone is ever concerned for him.
Aubrey wasn’t having any of it. Mari made so much food and Basil needed to eat. She held the flower boy and dragged him back off into the dining room with a stern expression, determined to ensure that Basil is taken care of.
“W-W-What are you d-doing?” Basil muttered, genuinely bewildered by this sudden action.
Aubrey felt it was unnecessary to respond, she figured he’d excuse himself again anyway. Silently, she put a piece of toast on a plate, slapped a fried egg on it, and placed some strips of bacon on the side before walking to sit next to Basil at the dining table.
“A-Aubrey, really- I-I’m fine, I’m not-”
“Say ‘ahh’...” Aubrey commanded, holding up a bacon strip impaled by a fork up to Basil’s mouth.
“I-I can eat it m-myself-”
“Say ‘ahh’!!!” She repeated in a sterner, more agitated tone, as if to coerce Basil into eating. She waved the forkful of bacon in front of the poor boy, and admittedly, he was very hungry.
“A-A-Ahh…?” Basil complied meekly, feeling slightly intimidated and very bashful.
Aubrey gently let a piece of the bacon enter Basil’s mouth, to which Basil responded by taking a measly nibble out of the strip, still overflowing with embarrassment and uncertainty. Could you blame him? He was being fed by a girl after all, and not just any girl, but a very special swordflower he held close to his heart.
As he chewed the meagre purchase in his mouth, he felt that the bacon tasted much better than any other bacon he’s ever had, which was strange considering it was just a strip of bacon. Eating this breakfast reminded him of the emotion and taste he’d earn from eating Mari’s cookies, though he didn’t yet understand why. He theorised that it was because Mari had made this breakfast with an extra special sum of love this time around, but then his heart went to Aubrey, with his mind following soon after. His eyes told him stories of a perfect, beautiful little gladiolus sitting across him with a strict but caring emotion strewn across her face, holding his breakfast for him. Then, it dawned on him. He liked the feeling of being taken care of by Aubrey. He REALLY liked the feeling of being taken care of by Aubrey. She is what made this breakfast feel so special.
Nibble, after nibble, Aubrey was beginning to wonder if Basil really wasn’t hungry after all, or worse- sick! He had been taking such tiny, baby-sized bites out of the bacon strip, and he had this extremely awkward aura about him. His face was flaring red, he chewed like a sloth, he constantly fiddled with his hands, and he wouldn’t even look in her direction! He must be down with some sort of fever, she believed. In a sudden motion, Aubrey put the fork down, and to Basil’s surprise (again), grabbed him and dragged him off to where she was originally meant to be sleeping last night.
“A-A-Aubrey! W-What is it now?” Basil pleaded, blood rushing to his cheeks faster and faster.
More stoic silence from protector Aubrey, unwilling to deal with her vulnerable prince’s excuses. He’s been too unwell for too long, always shrugging off everyone’s support… She’ll show him that he’s loved and cared for! With the smell of fried bacon and eggs on toast becoming fainter and fainter, Aubrey enters the makeshift bedroom and guides Basil to lie backside down on her quilt, tucking him in with a blanket as if he were her patient.
“Stay here and don’t move, okay?” Aubrey instructed, seeming more and more concerned by the minute. Basil, of course, had no clue what was happening.
“W-Why- what is t-the point of all this?” He asked, now starting to feel slightly stressed from Aubrey’s contagious worry. Maybe there really is something wrong with him?
Aubrey places her hand on Basil’s forehead to check for temperature, and this doesn’t help ease Basil’s bustling emotions and feelings at all, he was far outside of his comfort zone after all. As Aubrey’s hand siphoned the heat from Basil’s forehead, she felt a scorching sensation like never before. Well… Actually, it was reminiscent of the feeling on her thumb knuckles that one night she… Whoops, now her temperature was rising too. Of course, being none the wiser, Aubrey assumed she had caught the non-existent fever from Basil somehow.
“M-MARI! HERO! H-HEEEEELP!” She shrieked, calling for medical industry reinforcements.
The door swung open, so hard it barged against the wall adjacent to its hinge. Hero stormed in, with Mari following closely behind, as Kel showed Sunny some cool basketball moves outside where Aubrey’s pleas for help went unnoticed.
“Aubrey! What’s wrong!?” Hero asserted himself, ready to take on the brunt of any accident or misadventure that may have occurred.
“B-Basil’s got a fever, a-and I caught it from h-him!” Aubrey explained, almost sobbing in the process.
“Really? What symptoms did you notice? Did he complain about any headaches? Or was he unnaturally hot? Flushed face, or… Anything like that?” Hero inquired, trying to seriously evaluate the situation.
“Y-Yes! I-I tried feeding him breakfast, but h-his face started getting r-really really red! A-And he barely ate any food, like he l-lost his appetite! A-And then I tried checking his temperature, a-and his skin was burning hot! T-Then my skin became burning hot!” Aubrey debriefed, giving her entire case to the doctors in the room.
Mari burst out laughing. She glanced at Hero for a moment, and Hero glanced back with an oblivious look on his face. As Hero replayed Aubrey’s explanation in his head and looked at Mari giggling to herself, he slowly but surely got it. Aubrey was confused as to why her doctors were laughing at such a serious case! Both her and Basil could be seriously sick, and they were making fun of her?
“Ahahaha! Ahaha! Ah… Aubrey, you don’t have a fever, silly! And Basil’s fine!” Mari assured them, holding her hand over her mouth as she does when she lets out a big laugh like that.
“W-What!? T-Then why are our faces so h-hot!?” Aubrey interrogated, seeking answers to her supposedly false diagnosis.
Hero and Mari gazed at each other again, as if to telepathically debate who gets the responsibility to tell Aubrey about such concepts. Then, voluntarily, Mari began to step towards Aubrey, crouching down and putting a hand on her shoulder before her elaboration.
“When you start to feel ‘special feelings’ for people, doing certain things will make your face start to burn really hot, and you’ll start feeling embarrassed a lot more easily when you’re around them. Basil doesn’t have a fever, Aubrey, he just has… ‘Special feelings’ around you! And considering your face, you probably feel the same, don’t you?” Mari monologued, explaining a very childish version of the deep concept of love to a heedless, young Aubrey.
“I… I-I…” Aubrey stuttered, hiding her face in her palms.
Basil, who was too nervous and scared to speak up until now, decided to sit up and finally contribute to the conversation.
“S-Special feelings?” He asked, still confused.
“Mhm… Like love!” Mari revealed bluntly.
If it wasn’t already insanely high before, Basil’s heart rate just hit a new record, and Aubrey’s heart was just about to catch up.
“A-A-A-Aubrey…? Do… D-D-Do y-you… L-Lo-”
“EW- N-NO! T-THAT’S GROSS! LOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO KISS AND STUFF! L-LOVE IS W-WEIRD!” Aubrey blurted out, before storming out of the room in a tantrum. She was fine with kissing Basil’s photograph, but kissing a photo is nothing like kissing the real Basil. Kissing the real Basil would be euphori- gross. Kissing real people and other lovey-dovey stuff was for yucky couples in movies and TV shows. To Aubrey’s innocent mind, love was still an extremely uncertain concept, and though she definitely felt it for Basil, she wanted to deny it, because, well… “Love is icky”, right? Or so she thought to herself.
“O-Oh…” Basil mumbled under his breath, not only disappointed, but… Heartbroken? Why did he feel so sad that Aubrey reacted that way? Did he… Feel love for her? He knew she was special… He knew he felt something toward her… But love? This was a first… Maybe love wasn’t so bad if it made him feel this way for Aubrey. But… Aubrey didn’t seem to love him back at all…
“B-Basil, are you okay?” Mari asked, with sincere concern.
“H-Huh? Yeah, I-I’m fine, wHY-?” Basil cut himself off. What was that voice break? And that feeling down his cheeks… Tears? Why was he crying?
“Ohhhh Basil, c’mere…” Mari offered, scooping a heartbroken Basil into her arms for a hug.
“You know she doesn’t mean that… If you had to ask me, I’d say she loves you back! She’s just playing hard-to-get!” Mari winked at Basil implicitly, trying to cheer him up.
“R-Really? I-I mean… You would know, r-right?” Basil asks, trying to make sure.
“Yeah! Ask Hero- Hey Hero! You think Aubrey’s bein’ a lil’ ‘tsundere’?” She asked jokingly, but still with a degree of relevance.
“H-Huh? C’mon Mari, don’t use anime terms, fahaha… Oh, alright- fine, I would say… That Aubrey is being a ‘tsundere’.” Hero complied, although reluctantly.
“U-Uhm… What… W-What’s a ‘sun dairy’?” Basil innocently questioned the two love experts.
“That’s what you call a girl who loves you but acts super aggressive to hide it!” Mari exposed, clearing it up for Basil.
“O-Oh! So… She l-loves me… But had an outburst like that s-so I wouldn’t find out?” Basil asked, one more time, with a newfound sparkle in his eye.
“Hehe, yeah! Honestly, you should muster up the courage and ask her out! Y’know, like on a date!” Mari encouraged, trying to set the two young sweethearts up.
“R-R-Really!? N-No way! I-I could never…” Basil self-deprecates, dejected and disappointed in himself.
“Oh really? You seemed pretty confident when you two were snuggling like two bunnies together in bed this morning~!” Mari teased, recalling the adorable sight of the two best friends clutching each other closely while sleeping.
“H-H-Huh!? N-N-No, t-that was- sigh … I-I need to get some more sleep…” Basil sighed, exhausted from the eventful morning and beginning to yield to his urge to nap. Being an introvert, situations like these were heavily draining on Basil.
“Whatever you say, Basil~! Just remember what I told you okay? Be confident in yourself!” Mari reminded him, walking out with Hero in tow.
“Hey, Basil?” Hero piped up.
“Y-Yeah?”
Hero smirked at him from an angle that made him look like a genuine superhero. His teeth seemed to glisten a pearly white marble, and if they were polished, Basil could probably see his reflection in the fine craft of them. He winked, and with his open eye, he pierced through Basil with a ray of courage and a look that screamed “Knock ‘em dead!”. He flung a thumbs-up at Basil, and without needing to say a single word, told him that everything was going to be okay. With that, he closed the door, leaving a weary Basil to interpret his signs before nodding off on his recovery nap.