Archive of Our Own

It was a particularly nice spring afternoon as the trio of Sunny, Aubrey and Kel walked out of school amongst the crowd of equally excited teens who were getting out for spring break.

“So, what's on the agenda? I think Hero might be coming over on Tuesday.” Kel said like the excitable kid he still was, even after all this time.

“Maybe a picnic? We haven't done one of those in forever.” Sunny piped up.

Aubrey looked at Sunny, thinking about all the cute couple things they could do on a picnic. How romantic...

“Hey, that's actually not a bad idea.” 

“Sweet! We can hang out near the pond like the good ol' days!”

Sunny felt those words sting a little bit when he heard them. He missed the days when things were so much more childlike and simple. Back when Mari was still around…

“Yeah. Just like we used to when we were kids, ain’t that right Sunny?” Aubrey said, elbowing Sunny in the ribs.

“That’d be fun. We can meet back up at… let's say 3? Should be a good time.”

Aubrey and Kel nodded in agreement.

“OK! See you guys then!”

Kel ran off down the street, back to his house (presumably.)

Now that they were alone Aubrey locked arms with Sunny. She had always been shy about expressing any sort of affection in public, especially in front of Kel. Even so, she still liked the way her arm felt when it had something else to wrap around.

Sunny liked it too, having been touch-deprived for nearly 4 years. He was still adjusting to even being outside and around more than 3 people at once. But at least he had Aubrey, right?

--

They had just entered the house when Aubrey ran off to the kitchen.

“I guess I should start on sandwiches or something. Anything in particular you’d like sun-bun?”

Sunny felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He practically melted whenever she called him pet names…

“Uhm. Just regular ham and lettuce I guess? You make good sandwiches regardless.”

Aubrey looked back at him from the cupboard she had been rooting around, seeing him with a goofy flustered smile on his face, Aubrey smiled back at him.

“I can do that. Sun-bun. ” 

Sunny was melting at this point, and both knew it. 

“R-right. I’ll look for the… um… basket. Yeah…” Sunny said, blushing and running off.

Aubrey chuckled. She liked it when he got all flustered, it was too cute to see him blush. I wonder if this is how Mari felt? She wondered to herself, a pang hitting her when she thought of her name.

Sunny came back into the room and dropped off the basket. His face had dimmed slightly from the hot red it was a moment ago. In response to this, Aubrey ruffled his hair.

“Thanks, Sun.” 

“Yep. uh-huh. yep. I uh. I’ll be on the couch.”

He blushed and scampered away, undoing all the cooling his face had done. She was just too good at this.

Aubrey turned herself back to making sandwiches and thinking about all the things they could do on their picnic. Swim? No, Sunny wouldn’t like that. Maybe they could climb a tree? But what if Sunny got hurt? Maybe she was getting too worked up over Sunny. She’d have to just go with the flow on this one.

--

Aubrey and Sunny arrived at the pond, and it was empty. No Kel around. The boy couldn’t be on time to save his life.

Sunny set down a checkered white and red blanket and sat down, Aubrey joined him with a basket in her arms. She sat down beside him, kicking off her shoes beside the blanket.

The sun was still warm on their faces as they laid down and enjoyed the fresh air and the chirping of the birds together.

“It is SO. Freaking beautiful out. I can’t believe we didn't think of this earlier.” Aubrey said, spreading out on the blanket.

“Agreed.”

Aubrey poked her head up and scanned the treeline around them.

“Looks like Kel is gonna be late. As per usual.”

“Just Kel being Kel.”

Sunny rolled up into a ball like he used to and looked around him. Flowers. All shapes and colours. In a romantic gesture, he grabbed a big red one and stuck it in Aubrey’s hair right before her bow.

“Oh? What’s this for?” Aubrey said in surprise.

“Just looks cute.” 

Aubrey blushed a little. Apparently Sunny could be equally as blush-inducing if he chose to do so.

“Oh… Thanks.”

Sunny’s stomach rumbled loudly. The mix of scenery, sunlight and clean smells had a way of working up his appetite.

“Shall we eat? I don’t think Kel would mind.”

Aubrey nodded at Sunny’s suggestion. 

“Sounds good to me. Food’s gonna get warm otherwise…”

Sunny popped open the little woven basket. It was old, but it still worked perfectly fine, though some of its radiance had been diminished by weather and dust. There sat 3 sandwiches and 3 juice boxes. Aubrey sat up and slid over to the basket.

“The real question is… Apple or Orange?” Sunny said, teasing.

Aubrey giggled and grabbed a sandwich. She never was much of a cook but with help from Hero and Sunny’s mom, she had become good enough at it to not instantly combust anything she tried to make. Sunny was her test subject for most of the meals she had tried to make, and despite some of them being really really bad, Sunny always at least tried them.

She seemed to have hit a sweet spot with sandwiches. Sunny absolutely loved them despite there being no out-of-the-ordinary ingredients. He always said it was because “They were made with love” or something. 

And of course, his love for her sandwiches has not changed as he started chomping away.

“Jeez. You’re gonna make yourself sick if you eat that fast.”

Sunny slowed down a little bit. She was right, but she always made sandwiches that reminded him of when he was in middle school. He absolutely loved them, especially now that Aubrey had figured it out without even trying.

Aubrey bit into her sandwich. It was the same as Sunny’s but she never thought it tasted as good as Sunny made it out to be. But at least he was eating properly now.

They ate together and enjoyed the warm sunlight on their faces, even though there wasn’t a whole lot else to do, all they really needed was each other's company.

Sunny, despite his frantic eating, finished last and wiped his face with a napkin.

Aubrey laid back and put her hands behind her head to act as a pillow. The clouds were fluffy and white against the blue sky today. One sorta looked like a sheep. She looked over to Sunny who had also laid down with her. He still had some sandwich remains on his cheek, and Aubrey got an idea.

“Hey. You missed a spot.”

“Eh?”

Aubrey rolled closer to him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“Got it for you.”

Sunny exploded internally. 

“ha-I uh, eh?”

Aubrey smirked. Mission complete.  

“You’re such a doof. I love it.”

Sunny just sighed and rolled into her. Aubrey ruffled his hair a bit more. The combination of Aubrey and the Outdoors was so comfortable and warm… and it made Sunny feel so suddenly tired. He rolled more into Aubrey, accidentally landing face-first into her chest. Aubrey didn’t seem to mind it while Sunny was contemplating on how to deal with the situation he had now dug himself into. 

On one hand, Aubrey was a very warm, soft, pillow.

On the other hand, he had just faceplanted into her boobs.

“Comfy?” Aubrey said, snickering.

Sunny couldn’t respond.

“I don’t mind. Just so you know. You’re my boyfriend now, right?”

“Oh, right. I am.” Was the only thing sunny could mutter.

Aubrey ran her hands through his hair again.

“You’re um, very comfortable.”

“I would hope so?”

Sunny yawned and shifted himself so he wasn’t crushing Aubrey as much.

“I’m gonna, uh, drift off for a bit.”

“I’ll be right here when you wake up.” Aubrey said, smiling at him.

Sunny felt warm and content laying where he was, as was his body. And so he let himself drift off in Aubrey’s arms like they did sometimes when Sunny had nightmares.

Aubrey was very content too. She had what was effectively a big teddy bear laying on her and instinctually placed her head atop of his, combing her fingers through his hair.

And before she was even aware of what was happening, she was asleep too.

All the while, time progressed and birds hidden in the treeline chirped.

--

“Hey, guys! Sorry, I was late, Suzie somehow got stuck under the couch… Oh.” 

Kel silenced himself and sneaked up to the sleeping pair.

He pulled out his phone, and with a mischievous grin took a picture of the two and sent it to Hero.

He just grabbed a sandwich and ate it on the pier, content to let the two be.