Chapter Text
Sunny and Aubrey had begun their return trip back to the house as the day shifted to night. The orange of the evening sky beginning to highlight the glow of the city. It had been quiet for some time between the two. Aubrey tried to not look directly at Sunny and used her phone as a distraction. The entire interaction they had minutes prior was repeating in her mind. The locket still sat in the same box it came in but this time it was housed inside her pocket.
Trying to avoid thinking about it too much she peaked at her phone. While this kept her from looking towards Sunny, it did nothing to quell the thoughts racing throughout her mind.
‘What is he thinking?’
‘What am I thinking?’
‘Come on Aubrey you’re just freaking out over nothing!’ She then turned away from her phone and looked towards Sunny.
She shouldn’t have looked.
In an instant, her heart soared at the sight of him. The feeling in her chest was something she had suppressed for so long. She had always dismissed them as just puppy love, typical teenager hormones that were not real feelings. Today, Sunny had unintentionally obliterated that theory to pieces and Aubrey did not know how to handle those feelings. All she could do for the moment was to try and take her mind off it but to no avail.
“Hey Aub, you hungry?” Sunny’s small voice was smooth like silk to her.
“Me? Hungry? Never!” Aubrey could not comprehend why she denied something so menial with such ferocity.
‘What the hell are you talking about? He’s just asking if you if you’re hungry not for your hand in marriage dumbass!’ Mentally scolding herself, she looked back at Sunny again.
“I mean yea actually. Got so caught up in the arcade that I kinda forgot about lunch. What are you feeling?”
“How about some pizza?”
“Hey not a bad idea! There’s that place near the house, right? Let’s get some for take out.” Sunny nodded in agreement as they continued. For a couple of minutes before happening upon their destination.
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The pizza shop had a similar atmosphere to the arcade as the pair entered. It was not nearly as cramped as the arcade was but it was definitely busy as the dinner rush was picking up from people coming off of work. Utensils and dishes could be heard clanking around the back of the shop while orders were being shouted out near the front. The sounds of whines from impatient children and refutes from drained parents also filled the restaurant.
“Peter’s Pizza Express… not the most grabbing name but at least I heard good things about it.” Aubrey made some small talk with Sunny as they waited on the line. During the wait, Aubrey noticed her companion nervously shuffling in place beside her whenever the conversation grew silent.
‘He still isn’t used to places like this I see…’ She then thought about how quick she was to split them up at the arcade and felt selfish for not even thinking about how he felt. ‘But I can make up for that now.’ With her newfound determination she quickly reached her arm over to Sunny and pulled him close to her.
“I, uh just… wanted to make sure you didn’t get knocked over by anyone.” She turned her face away from his as she could not bear to see his reaction to her boldness. Sunny was grateful for this because he also did not want her to see his own embarrassed reaction.
“O-oh, thanks Aub.” Despite the height difference, Aubrey’s time in the hooligang had made her leagues stronger than Sunny after his four-year seclusion. Moving him around was a fairly simple feat for her. It also helps that Sunny did not resist it at all, in fact he kind of leaned into her one-handed embrace. She freed Sunny from her grasp, but they remained close to each other as it became their time to order.
The counter in front of them was stretched from one end of the store to the other, cutting short at a tiny door that led behind it. The top of the counter had large sheets of glass that allowed a look at the pizzas ready to be sold. Plain, pepperoni, macaroni, vegan, and many more. The two could not help but stare at the various options laid out before them.
“Heya kids, never seen you round here. What can I get for ya tonight?” The man behind the counter gave a genuine smile to the two as he leaned over the counter. His yellow-orange hair was wrapped in a hair net and his uniform seemed to be drenched in sweat. His voice sounded tired with the hint of an Australian accent. Clearly, he was exhausted but still tried to put up a pleasant front for the customers.
“Hello, we would like to place an order sir.” Surprisingly, Sunny had taken the lead and talked to the cashier.
‘He really is trying to get better at talking to people. A little too formal for talking to a cashier but that makes it cuter.’ Aubrey smiled as she listened to him order their dinner. He had settled on a large, half plain, half pepperoni pizza with garlic knots.
“Oh and can you add two slices of those please sir.” He pointed over to a full pie that was absolutely loaded with meats.
“Ah the meatlova-lovers? Good choice there mat- I mean sir!” He punched in some buttons on the register and gave out the total as a worker in the kitchen started to heat up their order. The pizza oven gave a roar as the door was opened and some flames spilled out before being quickly snuffed out as the door was shut once more.
Aubrey was in the process of pulling out her wallet until Sunny put his hand on hers.
“You bought me breakfast so this is only fair.” With his own wallet and cash, he prepared the payment. “I know how much you like your meats too.” As he spoke, Aubrey gripped the hand Sunny had just touched with her other hand.
The wait for their food passed without another word being spoken between the two. Another employee handed them their order as they waited off to the side with other people waiting on their orders. Making sure everything was in order they waved goodbye to the cashier and made their way outside and back to their home.
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Nothing eventful had happened on the way back, a relief for the both of them considering what had already transpired already. As they arrived the door creaked like a banshee's screech. It didn't bother either of them as they had become used to it. Aubrey thought about fixing it herself at some point but right now her mind was occupied with other things.
‘Sunny’s mom is going to be home in a bit. Guess we still have some time to ourselves before then.’ She made her way to the kitchen with the food. After washing her hands and gathering a pair of plates she prepared some slices for them. Meanwhile Sunny made sure the door was locked and went to wash up before eating. After getting the food ready she turned to Sunny.
“Hey Sun! I gotta make a quick phone call so just bring the food to the living room and I’ll be back in a bit alright?”
“Sure, take your time.” Aubrey seemingly skipped up the stairs in a rush and closed the door behind her to their room as she laid on it and slid to the floor. She pulled out two items, her phone and the locket box that she had received from Sunny. Flipping open the phone, she went through her contact list until she made it to her target.
The phone rung one, twice, three times. Every ring filled Aubrey with more anxiety as she questioned if she was thinking correctly. Soon her doubt had overcome and just as she was about to close the phone the ringing stopped, and a voice had sparked on the other end.
“Oh crap, sorry Aubrey! My mom needed my help and I forgot my phone. How you been?” Kim’s voice brought a smile to Aubrey’s face. Some of the roughest years of her life were made so much better because of her.
“It’s fine, don’t sweat it. I’ve been good, pretty good actually and it’s why I wanted to talk to you. But before that how’s Bun-Bun?”
“Uhhh about that…”
“What!? Did something happen!?”
“Yea… so a couple of weeks ago I had taken Bun-Bun out for some air and she got out. I couldn’t find her for hours and got really worried so I had the rest of the gang help to look.” Aubrey’s stomach started to twist as she assumed the worst. “But everything was fine! Long story short I guess she found a… friend and now Bun-Bun is Mom-mom.” The silence was deafening for the both of them.
“She. WHAT!?” Processing the information was a bit difficult. Of course it was a natural part of life but to think about it happening to her own bunny of all things.
“I’m sorry! I should have been paying more attention!”
“N-no! It’s fine Kim! I was just in shock is all. Have you seen the dad around anywhere?”
“Not a ‘hare’ of him.” Kim joked.
“Hah! Just another deadbeat dad to add to the list in Faraway I guess.” Aubrey chuckled along with Kim. A laugh that was attempting to hide a bit of her own painful past. “How many are there? Also how are you gonna take care of em all?”
“There’s seven of them and bunch of the gang said they wanted to keep one. Even Basil and Kel offered to take one.”
“Wow, that solves that at least.”
“Plus I’m making little guides on bunny care for all of them. Once they’re big enough to be separated I’ll give them out and should have the guides finished. Basil is even helping with pictures for the guides! He’s such a sweet guy.” Kim was never one to half-bake anything and this was no exception. Aubrey knew that she was the right person to leave Bun-Bun with and was ecstatic at the plan that was laid out.
“Kim you’re really amazing you know?”
“Of course I am! I have practice rounding up our group of misfits together anyway. I can do it one more time.” They shared another laugh together before Kim got back to the original purpose of the call.
“So how is everything? Been a while since we’ve seen each other. Everyone misses you and Sunny too.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk about… recently I’ve been having a lot of thoughts racing around in my head… about Sunny too.”
“Oh really? Do tell.” Aubrey could hear the smile curl on Kim’s lips as she spoke.
“I just… look you can’t tell ANYONE about this alright? I mean it. Not even in passing to Bun-Bun or something!”
“Relax Aubrey! Just speak your mind, I’m here to listen.”
Taking a deep breath, Aubrey prepared herself.
“I… I think… no… I mean-” She paused, unsure of how to speak her mind.
“Oh out with it Aub! You’re killing me here!”
“Alright, alright! I like Sunny! Love him even!” Quickly she covered her mouth. Hopefully the volume wasn’t loud enough for him to hear.
“Aww is that it? Thought it’d be something juicier.” Kim huffed in disappointment, much to Aubrey’s annoyance.
“Hey this is something big to me! I just don’t know what to do with myself… I feel like a mess every time I see him now! And I can’t tell what his intentions are!”
“Really? Sunny always seemed like a pretty straightforward guy. Especially when he kicked mine and Vance’s ass at the supermarket. Well it was mostly Kel, with Sunny just throwing bandages at him which I thought was really-”
“Kim! You’re getting sidetracked.”
“Sorry, sorry. Well first, what made you feel this way?” It did not take long for Aubrey to start listing off her reasons. The longer she went on the more Kim thought to herself ‘It took you THIS long to realize?’ But she understood, after all it took nearly four years before she figured out her own feelings for a certain someone so she could not criticize her friend too harshly for it.
“But today we decided to go to the arcade. Some things happened and I got kicked out but he stayed there for hours trying to make the time worth it. He ended up getting me a silver heart locket.”
“Awww, it looks like he's a sweetheart for you.”
“And then a king-sized bed for us to share.” Something inside Kim’s mind snapped upon hearing that.
“He. WHAT!?” Now it was her turn to yell in shock.
“I know! Like who thinks like that!? But it was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. He said he didn’t want me to be stuck on a futon every night.”
“Ok first of all why was a bed a prize at an arcade, and second of all nobody does that for someone they see as just a 'friend'. Either way I think you need to tell him how you feel.” Aubrey took in her words, but it was difficult to think about actually applying them.
“Easy for you to say, what if I ruin everything we have already? How would I look him in the face after that?”
“Okay, listen. I’m not telling you to burst out and profess your love to him right now, but you need to say something eventually. Do you really want it to eat away at you? Or worse, he falls in love with someone else?” Aubrey’s eye twitched.
“No! I mean… if he does fall in love with someone else then it’s not like I’m gonna stop him but I don’t even want to think about it.” Her face fell. She had no idea how she would react to Sunny being in love with someone else.
“Well then, you know what to do. Butter him up, build up more and more until BOOM, you confess and live happily ever after.” Kim was half joking and half serious. The other end of the line was quite for a bit and she continued. “Aub, no matter what happens, even if he says no I’m sure everything will be okay, just do what you think is right.” The line was quite once again, Kim wondered if she had said something wrong until Aubrey finally replied.
“I appreciate the talk Kim, I think I have a better idea of what I need to do finally thank you.” Her lips curled into a smile. She had finally gained some more confidence.
“Anything for my bestie, be sure to visit again sometime! Everyone misses you and it would be great to see the fruits of your labor.”
“We’ll make time sometime soon, maybe around Christmas. Oh and tell Basil I said thanks for helping with Bun-Bun.”
“I’ll hold you to that, good luck Aub!” With a click the phone call ended and the two were separated once more. Aubrey checked the time and noticed she had been on the phone much longer than she intended and booked it down the stairs, nearly tripping down them in her haste.
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Sunny watched as Aubrey made her way up the stairs. After hearing the door close, he gathered their dinner and brought it to the living room table. He contemplated watching TV while he waited but instead decided to make a call of his own. Thinking the distance between was vast enough from his room and the living room he decided to make the call there.
Due to his unfortunate past, Sunny had become well versed in hiding his emotions and intentions. To the point where he does it unintentionally currently. But recently something was changing, and he needed advice from his own best friend.
“H-hello? Sunny?” A shaky voice answered on the other end.
“Hey Basil, how are you?”
“Oh hey! It’s been a while since we talked. I’m doing alright. How’s the city been?” Basil’s voice perked up, the nervousness in it fading away. He was currently laying on his bed, the book he was reading on the nightstand next to him.
“Oh, you know, taking it day by day. Aubrey adjusted quick and that helped.”
“That’s good to hear! Is she doing okay as well?”
“For the most part yea. I mean she still gets into fights occasionally but nothing too bad.”
“I see… when was the last fight she had?” Sunny remained silent for a moment before giving an answer.
“…today…”
“Ehe, that’s Aubrey for you. But I’m sure she had a good reason for it.” Sunny realized he never asked Aubrey why she was fighting in the first place. He was so concerned about her safety that the reason for it was not even important to him. “But was there something you wanted to talk about? Usually you don’t call me out of the blue at this time.” Basil questioned the odd behavior of his friend. Texting was their main form of communication, so actual phone calls were rare.
“Well… it’s… complicated…”
“Sunny please tell me it isn’t anything serious, please.” The fear was already creeping up on Basil despite not knowing what Sunny was referring to.
“It’s nothing bad! It’s about… feelings. They’re feelings I haven’t had in a long time. Good ones.”
“What kind of feelings exactly?” The description was odd to say the least. But at least it was not anything related to their shared trauma.
“Well, have you ever met someone that you’d do anything for? That when you see them you feel like your problems aren’t as bad anymore?” Basil reflected on his words, he did in fact feel that way about someone, multiple people even. But there was one that truly captured his heart.
“Someone you always want to keep close to you no matter what. I do have someone like that now.” Basil indeed had been seeing someone recently, and it was someone he had honestly never expected to have a positive relationship with but he had Aubrey to thank for mending it.
“Yea well I’ve been feeling like that. Towards Aubrey. I think I love her.” Suddenly Sunny heard a loud thump on the other end. “Basil? Are you alright?” Unbeknownst to Sunny, Basil had just fallen off his bed in surprise but quickly picked himself up.
“I uh! Yea I’m okay! I just wasn’t expecting to hear that right now is all…” Childhood memories resurfaced for Basil. He remembers teasing Sunny a little every time he would ask to see a newly taken picture of Aubrey. Ever since the day Mari died he never expected Sunny to feel much of anything, let alone love. But it seems his childhood crush all those years ago finally developed into something more. “Have you told her? Or at least alluded to it?”
“A little, I guess. We went to the arcade today and I won a silver heart locket for her. She looked really happy to get it.”
“Oooh, quite the smooth guy you are Sun. Anything else you’ve done for her? Compliments work especially well. Maybe chocolates? I could even give you ideas for flowers and plants to-”
“I won her a bed.” Sunny cut Basil off with his deadpan declaration.
“Y-you, wai- what?” He fumbled over his words trying to process what he had just heard.
“She wanted to win a trip to a resort, but things didn’t work out. I got the bed so she didn’t have to sleep on a futon anymore at least. She didn’t seem super happy about it, was I wrong?”
“Sunny I mean… you got her a bed. I don’t know how many people would react to that.” Sunny frowned, matters like this are not his specialty nor something he is familiar with and now he started to worry. Basil could feel the mood dropping and wanted to prevent it. “But still I’m sure she appreciated it even if she didn’t show it!”
“I guess she might. I just don’t know, what if she thinks I’m weird, or creepy, or-”
“Sunny please don’t think of yourself like that. You’re my best friend, Aubrey’s childhood friend too. We’ve all been through so much together so I seriously doubt she would think of you negatively like that. She begged to live with you remember?”
“Yea… you’re right. She’s also done so much for me. At school, at home, she was always so ready to help me. I really love that about her. But I'm sure she's been doing it to be nice and help with the whole eye thing.” Sunny thought about everything she had done for him and his heart tightened. The kindness he received from her was more important than she realized. Meanwhile Basil cringed at Sunny's last comment. Knowing he was responsible for maiming his so called best friend weighed heavily on him for a long time. After talking about it with many different people, Sunny included, he was finally able to forgive himself. But there would always be that underlying guilt.
“Basil! Soup’s up, dinner time!” Sunny had heard a different voice from Basil's end.
“Hey Sun, sorry but mo- I mean Polly! Polly’s calling me over for dinner so I gotta go. Later tonight I’ll text you some ideas and tips, that sound good?”
“I would appreciate that a lot.”
“Great! Don’t worry though, I’m sure you two will be a perfect pair soon enough. Just… don’t do anything too crazy! Night!”
“Goodnight.” With a click and a beep, the line was disconnected. New resolve had filled the frail teen as he put down the phone. He pulled out the arcade receipt for the bed order from his sweater pocket. ‘Three days from today. I don’t think sharing a bed before saying how I feel is a good thing. I have to tell her before then.’ He slipped the paper back in as he heard the tumbling of footsteps come from the stairs.
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“Goodnight.” Basil put his phone down and readied to go eat dinner. Suddenly a light jingle came from it. Basil opened it up to reveal a text from Kim.
‘Hey there my little green thumb! How ya feelin?’ Basil’s heart warmed as he read the message and started to reply.
‘I’m doing even better now that I’m talking to you! Just finished talking to Sunny about some stuff.’ He did not want to reveal the contents of the conversation knowing that Kim and Aubrey still had a very close relationship. It would just be another one of his and Sunny’s secrets for a bit.
‘Oh thats funny because I was actually talking to Aubrey about the bunnies. She said thanks for helping btw.’
‘It’s np! Anything to help my friends out. Especially you K-kimmy.’
‘Did you just stutter over text?’ Basil’s face turned beet red over being called out.
‘shhhhhh dont pay attention to that! aaaaaahhhhh i gotta eat dinner bye!!!’
‘Alright ttyl. Love you little flower!’ Kim giggled as she could already imagine the look on his face. She then closed her phone and peaked over at the cage housing Bun-Bun and her litter and smiled.
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Sunny and Aubrey had situated themselves in the living room while they ate. A bit of channel surfing resulted in them jumping into the middle of a generic action movie. Aubrey was getting into it despite not having any context for half of the things happening on screen. Sunny meanwhile was enjoying her reactions to every time the protagonist had an action shot or killed a minion of the big bad guy.
“It’s no Gino’s but this is some damn good pizza.” She said with a nearly full mouth. Soon, taking another bite, very pleased by their food of choice.
One particular scene had Aubrey lose all focus on her food and she smacked the pizza into her face, making quite the mess. Sauce covered most of her cheek and half a piece of chicken stuck to it as well. Sunny noticed this and used a napkin to clean it for her.
“Sunny! I’m not a kid, I can clean myself you know.” Despite it not being a direct touch, she still became embarrassed at having him so close. Ironic considering what she had did at the pizzeria before.
“I know. I just wanted to make sure it didn’t blemish your pretty face is all.” Sunny was attempting to take Basil’s advice of complimenting her more. Unfortunately, it was before Basil could warn him to not be TOO direct.
“O-oh, my f-face? T-thanks Sun.” Aubrey quickly tried to stuff her face with more pizza as a distraction. Sunny followed suit as he thought about what he said.
‘Oh nononono why isn’t she looking at me now? I shouldn’t have said that out loud.’
An awkward silence between the two filled the room that was louder than the movie playing in front of them. The chomps and crunch of the pizza the only other sounds that came from them for quite a while. Eventually the movie ended and they both simultaneously got up to throw away their garbage.
“O-oh don’t worry about it Aub! I can take yours.” Sunny was shaking a bit as he talked. Normally he never felt this nervous around Aubrey.
“I-it’s okay! I can take the trash and you can take the dishes!” Aubrey gave a shaky smile as she took gathered the trash and haphazardly made her way to the kitchen. Sunny followed loosely behind her and got to work on the dishes. Aubrey noticed the trash was getting full and prepared to take it out.
‘The guy you love complimented you and that’s how you act? How spineless can you be! Was that talk with Kim all for nothing? Say something!’ Aubrey’s internal voice was raging, screaming at her to finally confess.
“Hey, Sun.”
“Hmm?”
“About what you said earlier. Sorry for acting weird about it. It’s just that I was actually talking with Kim before, and I was thinking about something I needed to tell you. You see recently I-” The loud creaking and squeaking of door hinges interrupted her. The appearance of Sunny’s mother banishing all confidence she had. “Recently I keep forgetting to take out the recycling! Ehe, almost forgot!” She gathered the trash and recyclables and made her way outside. Passing by the new arrival. “Evening Miss Park! Just taking out the trash! We got dinner for you too!” A blur of pink blasted by and shut the door. Sunny was confused to say the least. He wanted to desperately ask Aubrey what she was going to say but figured he would wait until they were alone again.
“Oh my, she seems to be energetic tonight. Something good happen?” Ms. Park placed her things down on the kitchen table and gracefully took a slice of pizza from the box. "Pizza too? You kids are too nice."
“We didn't do too much, just hung out at the arcade is all.” Last thing Sunny needed was for his mom to hear about the fight, so he decided to keep the description short and undetailed.
“That’s great dear! Glad to see you getting some time outside. Even if it’s not really out outside. But why was she so hyper?”
“Well I did get her a gift from the arcade. She was pretty happy about it which was nice.” Sunny smiled. The reaction she had to the locket was something he was going to treasure forever. His mother noticed this and leaned in with a smug expression.
“I see it made you happy too. Anything else you want to say about today?” It was clear where Mari had obtained her own teasing and smug attitude from.
“N-no! Well… one thing actually. I won a king-sized bed at the arcade and it’s gonna be here in three days.”
“Excuse me?”
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Outside the house Aubrey’s face was red hot. She had rushed out into the frigid city air without a sweater but she barely noticed. The trash bins were already outside and she roughly dumped the waste in them. Looking up to the sky revealed a few stars twinkling in the night. The view was not nearly as breathtaking as it was back in Faraway but it was still a calming sight.
‘I know I love him… so why, why can’t I just say it? What’s wrong with me?’ Her cyan eyes started to fill with tears. ‘No. No! You are not the same crybaby you were as a kid!’ She put both of her hands on her cheeks and rubbed them vigorously to shake off the sadness that was climbing up her mind. ‘Tonight might not have worked out, but tomorrow is another day. Do it then.’ Turning back to the house she started to make plans in her mind, unaware that only a couple of yards away was a humanoid figure in the darkness. Waiting, and watching as she got inside. After losing its target, it also faded into the night.