Work Text:
“No! Don’t let go!”
“It’s too late... I can’t hold on any longer...”
“Please, just a little bit longer..!”
“I can’t… Goodbye my love…”
“NOOO!”
Kel snorted and groggily opened his eyes. What just happened? Where was he? The brunette sat up on his elbows and took a quick tour of the room. Hero, Aubrey, Sunny…
Oh! Right, they were sleeping over Basil’s. Kel sat up straight and wiped his eyes. Everyone else was sound asleep so he had to guess it was the middle of the night. He stretched his arms and yawned. As tired as he still was, he had to get up. He had to go to the bathroom, but he figured he could check up on the flower boy first.
He tried his hardest to stand up without waking his brother. Hero was always a light sleeper and.. Well, Kel often woke his brother up with how rowdy he was. He hoped Hero stayed asleep though, he really deserved a good rest. Coming back from college only to immediately save Basil and Sunny’s life must be so stressful. Not to mention the four of them visiting Mari’s grave.. Hero couldn’t be feeling well.
Kel took large but slow steps as he made his way towards Basil’s room. He walked against the wall whenever he could to minimize the sound of creaking floors, a trick he learned when he used to sneak out with Sunny to go hang out alone..
The floor creaked under Kel’s weight as he stood in front of Basil’s room. He lightly knocked on the door a few times but got no answer. Giggling, he knocked a few more times. It reminded him of how he would stand in front of Sunny's house every day for four years and knock. It took a while, but he did eventually get Sunny to come out!
…
It really wasn’t that funny. It made Kel pretty sad to think about, actually. He stopped laughing, but continued to knock. He didn’t expect an answer anyway, since Basil was probably asleep, but he kept going for a while.
After several minutes of light knocking, Kel decided to try something else. He grabbed Basil’s door handle and twisted it.
It was unlocked.
Had the door always been unlocked? He could have sworn Basil locked it earlier. Maybe he just forgot and they hadn’t even tried to open it. No reason to worry about that now, though.
The door pushed open a crack with a gentle creeeak and Kel peered inside. He could see Basil’s bed, but no one was sleeping in it. Strange , he thought. No one was in the bathroom and Basil wouldn’t have left without letting anyone know. Where else could he possibly be?
And then he got a whiff of something. Normally, Basil’s room reeked of the smell of perfumed plants and soil, but this… this wasn’t something that was normally occupying the blonde boys space. It took Kel a moment to recognize the smell, but it was one that he was quite familiar, and one that sickened him.
His eyes widened as he swung the door open and stared in front of him. His friend’s lifeless body laid limp against the wall. He staggered back as the putrid stench choked him.
He could see bloodied slits littering Basil’s pale arms. Deep ones surround his wrists but none were nearly deep enough to cause the boy to bleed out. It was like he couldn’t commit to slitting his wrists and, for some reason, saw… that . As the next best option.
The gaping bloody hole in Basil’s chest caught all of Kel’s attention. Blood stained his vest and dribbled onto the floor, creating a pool of crimson blood. It didn’t look real. It couldn’t be real.
Of course. It all made sense. That’s why he gave away his prized possession. That’s why he wouldn’t hang out with them. How could he miss the signs? Again. How could he mess up this bad?
He cupped his hands over his mouth and leaned his weight against the doorframe. He must still be dreaming. Basil would never do this! He was so happy just the other day.
“Basil.” Kel felt his throat begin to hurt as he held back tears.
“Get up. This isn’t funny.” He took slow steps into the room.
“Basil, please. Get up.” His vision blurred as tears welled in his eyes.
“We’re all here for you. PLEASE , get up. S.. Sunny’s here. Isn’t that what you always wanted? He’s here for you! So please, please get up. You have to get up. ” Kel’s voice began to raise as he got closer to his friend’s corpse.
“Wake up. Now.”
Kel reached down to grab Basil’s body, only to feel someone grab his arm and pull him away.
Hero turned Kel around and held him close against his chest. Shaky hands ran through Kel’s thick curls in a poor attempt to soothe both boys. Kel gripped Hero’s shirt and spoke through pained cries. “Hero, You have to help him! You’re a doctor! Fix him!” Desperation clung to each word as he begged Hero for help, but Hero’s head was elsewhere. The older boy shook as he felt the weight of the situation crash upon him.
Though Hero spoke no words, Kel was certain his brother was destroyed. This was the second time he lost someone to suicide and they all missed the signals. They all let their friends lose themselves and die twice .
Hero gripped Kel tighter and began to breathe heavily. “Get out of here, Kel.”
Kel could tell Hero was forcing himself to seem calm for his sake. He knew Hero wasn't ok, but it would be fine. They could fix this together. “No.. No, I'm not going anywhere! We have to help Basil! Look at him, we can fix this--”
“Please leave.”
“We just need to.. We need to tell Polly and--”
“Kel.”
“We can bring him to the hospital and-and--”
“Kel.” Hero roughly grabbed Kel by the collar and began dragging him out of the room. The younger brother grabbed at Hero’s hand and tried to get him to release his grip. He opened his mouth to tell Hero off, but was shoved towards the door before he had a chance to make a sound.
Kel stumbled back and barely caught his balance by grabbing onto the doorframe. He looked hurt. “Don’t you care about Basil? He needs help, so fucking help him!”
“Calm down.” Hero stepped towards Kel and took a deep breath, using his hands as a guide so Kel would mimic him. “You don’t need to see this. Please leave.” Hero inched closer to his brother and held his hand out. He took several more deep breaths, still motioning for Kel to copy him.
Everything Hero said sounded like a demand and didn’t leave Kel feeling soothed at all. It left a bad taste in Kel’s mouth. He wanted Hero to stop pretending for his sake. They just needed to fix Basil.
“Guys-” Both boys turned their attention to the new voice. Aubrey stood in the hallway, her face full of fear and her skin pale. She tugged at her shirt. “He’s ok, right? Basil’s ok.” Her eyes grew glossy as she spoke.
Hero pushed past Kel so he could meet up with Aubrey in the hall. Kel watched as Polly joined the two and Hero began to explain what happened. He took this as an opportunity to rush back to the corpse’s side.
He dropped to his knees in front of Basil’s body and weakly smiled. “It’s time to get up! I know you’re scared, but it’s ok!” He curled his fingers into fists. “If you wake up, we can go see Sunny! You two can be best friends again.” An ocean of tears poured down his red cheeks. “He’s… He’s waiting for you! You… you two can...be *hic* ... be happy.. You just gotta wake up..” The brunette sniffled and wiped tears and snot from his face.
“This isn’t fair.” He started as he dropped his arms down to his sides. “This isn’t fair, Basil. I’m going to be alone all over again.” He squeezed his hands into tight fists. “I cared about you so much. Wasn’t I important too?”
He smashed his fists down into the pool of cooled blood. “This isn’t fair! I don’t want to be alone anymore and… and now everyone is just going to leave me alone again! I need you! Why were you so selfish!”
There was no response from the corpse. Not a single hint left of life in the flower boy. He wanted to see Basil’s smile. He wanted to hear Basil stumble on his words when he got embarrassed. He missed how Basil would fiddle with his overalls when he was bored or shy. He missed how the sunlight would add to Basil’s beaming face when he found something of interest. He needed to hear the boy’s sweet voice as he dumped information onto his friends.
He closed his eyes tight and tried to imagine his friend when everything was ok but the sight of Basil’s body displayed against the wall with the gash in his chest was burned into his mind. If Basil was here, he would tell Kel how much of a screw-up he was and-- no, no that didn’t sound right. Basil would never say that.. But then, why could Kel so clearly hear it ringing in his ears?
Kel’s eyes shot open and he turned to his side as he felt Hero’s hand tug at him. His big brother looked so tired and broken. He wouldn’t put up another fight with him. He took his brother's hand and let him help him onto his feet. They slogged towards the door where Aubrey waited for the two with puffy eyes. She glanced at the life in the room and then towards the death. She looked as if she would begin to cry again.
Hero placed a hand on her shoulder and guided everyone out of the room and into the hallway. Polly stood pressed against the wall while she made a frantic phone call for the hospital.
Kel sighed and took in the familiar surroundings. The leafy wallpaper, the creaky floorboards, his new friend Polly and his old friend’s Hero, Aubrey and S-...
He looked around, peaking into the bathroom to see if Sunny was nearby. Oh, of course, he must still just be asleep! He left the others and found his way into the living room where they all had their sleepover. All the bed’s were empty. Kel felt his heart drop into his stomach as he turned towards his posse.
“Where’s Sunny?”