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It was funny how some words could turn your blood to ice. It shouldn’t have. It was just a casual remark, but it hit her right in the heart. Aubrey had only half been listening to her teacher ramble on about the themes behind Hamlet. They’d been assigned to read it, and the teacher had decided every little thing had significant meaning.
How was this supposed to help them in the future? She can't do taxes, but she can definitely tell you the colour of the currents in Hamlet's mom's room. Well, it wasn’t like Aubrey knew. She had been fine to tone it out, but certain words cut through her fog of daydreams like a knife through butter. (She’d never had Sunny’s skill at blocking everything out.)
“Do I think Ophelia intended to commit suicide? No, not exactly. I think she just simply didn’t try to save herself once she fell in the water.”
All colour drained from Aubrey’s face, and the rest of the class became static in her ears. She skipped last period in order to rush to Basil’s place. It was stupid, but there was some relief seeing a bit of blond hair through the window.
It was kind of funny, even though she was the delinquent of their old friend group, she wasn’t the one that skipped school all the time. Technically, Sunny had first place on that matter, though she did hear he was back in school in his new city, but Basil was actually pretty bad at showing up. The school still excused him, since they still had the fact his grandmother was extremely ill on record. Even though she’d passed, the school just didn’t bother to actually punish the boy.
He’d probably enjoy that, the nasty part of Aubrey she formed in those years since Mari’s death chimed in. The pink haired girl scowled, just in time for Basil to open the door.
...Well, this might as well happen.
“A… Aubrey?” He looked as pale and pathetic as he did back when she pushed him in the lake. Since that day in the hospital, she hadn’t been able to face him. She hadn’t taken it as bad as Hero, but things just couldn’t be forgotten.
He took her silence as a confirmation that her scowl meant that she’d come to chew him out. The dark look in his eyes returned, which only feel Aubrey with more of that slimy feeling in her gut. Disgust, but not at him. She’d been disgusted by him long enough. She just didn’t know how to bridge the gap. So she fell back on what she did best.
“Piss off,” she snapped, turning sharply and riding off toward her own house.
That night she dreamed of that day in the park. When he was pushed, Basil popped right back up at first, but then he sunk. He didn’t know how to swim. Everyone knew that, but he didn’t struggle. He just… Sunk.
Did he want to make her a murderer? Maybe then she would understand Sunny. No! That wasn’t it. Maybe he just didn’t care if he lived or died at that point.
“Maybe, maybe, someone would care about me if I died in such a miserable way. If I took my own life, I’d just be selfish,” the Basil in her dreams would call, answering a question she didn’t want to ask.
Aubrey woke up with a dry mouth, something she couldn’t do anything about right now because their water had gotten shut off again. She’d have to call in the morning. At least cuddling Bun-Bun could help calm her shakes a little.
She’d never admit it, but Aubrey definitely planned the next interaction. Catching Basil at school was next to impossible. He showed up maybe two days a week. (He was definitely failing, Mari would be so disappointed.) The best time to catch him was when he was gardening. Which, was normally in the early morning, when nobody else was around.
It was barely sunrise when she strode up to his house. This time, she left her bike behind. The temptation to just fly past would be too strong otherwise. Heavy footed, she stomped her was over to the boy.
“Basil.” Her sharp voice alerted to boy. He’d looked happy when he looked to his plants, the weird purple ones that looked like swords, until he caught sight of her. Then he ducked down, terrified. How had she not realized he was in need of help all that time.
“Ah… If you wanted to, umm… Ride, er, walk by, I can just head back…” Basil trailed off, beginning to head inside when she grabbed him by the wrist. He flinched, and she left go like he burned her.
“No.” Come on Aubrey, say more than that.
“No?”
“No.” Looking at his scared face was pissing her off. Damn it! “You’re not allowed to die, jackass.”
Blink. A moment passed between them.
“...Thank you?” The blond squinted at her. “I… I’ll try not to?”
He probably thought she was crazy. Well, fuck it, might as well go with what she had going already. “Good. I’ll be checking in sometime. Cause I don’t trust you with you.”
Basil just stared at her, stunned. Aubrey felt her face heat up. This was embarrassing. It was stupid. He shouldn’t be her responsibility. He should be the one asking her to be his friend again, but he didn’t so someone had to be responsible between them.
Her piece said, she stomped off. Her feet carried her to her friend’s secret hangout spot. She didn’t like being here alone anymore. Then again, she didn’t really like being alone at all.
Aubrey’s attention was soon taken up by something new when a wind storm swept through Faraway Town. She should have known something would happen to make her piece of shit house even more shitty. The house felt like it was swaying with the wind, even though she knew it wasn’t. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise when a piece of dry wall fell off her already cracked wall. The fact it landed next to Bun-Bun’s makeshift hutch made something crystal clear.
This house just wasn’t fit for pets.
Bun-Bun wasn’t a spry young bun anymore, though, and there was no way she could rehome him. Not that she wanted to. She wasn’t giving up on the little guy! She could probably get one of her friends to look after him, but…
She sighed. She was kind of on thin ice with most of the Hooligan’s families right now. Apparently daring The Maverick to make a love confession to his crush of the week on the school intercom was “childish, distracting, and plain stupid”. Given this was not the first stunt she’d gonna her friends to perform, Aubrey really didn’t have the ground to ask any of them to house her beloved bun.
She supposed she could ask Kel. ...Actually, no. That wasn’t happening. First off, he’d hold it over her head forever, and secondly, Hector existed. Hero was in the dorms at college, so he wasn’t an option either. Also, Hector was still an issue.
There really was only one option, someone she knew couldn’t actually say no. ...No, she wasn’t looking for a chance to check in on him more often. How dare her inner critic judge her for that. He was just probably the best one equipped to look after Bun-Bun.
So, once the sun came up properly, she packed up a few things, tucked the grumpy bun in her sweater, and headed to Basil’s place. It was no surprise to her to find him working on his garden again. It was nicer than it had been in years. Maybe he was healing a bit.
“I’m alive!” the boy squeaked out as soon as Aubrey opened her mouth to speak. She just narrowed her eyes at him.
“No, clearly you’re a zombie.” A zombie would probably look more alive than you. “It’s not about that.”
Basil blinked at her, then noticed the squirming mass in her sweater. “Um, your shirt is moving?”
“Yes, I can see that.” Aubrey had to force herself not to make any more sarcastic quips. It would be so easy though. “It’s a bunny. His name’s Bun-Bun. He needs a place to stay for a while.”
Something in her eyes must have told the flower boy not to ask why, because he didn’t. Instead, he just blinked. “Are you sure you’re okay with him staying here? I… I know you don’t trust me.”
“First off, I didn’t say that.” No, she only implied it during their every conversation in the last four years. “And secondly, you wouldn’t hurt a bunny. You’re all about that nurturing stuff. Mostly for plants, but rabbits aren’t that different.”
“They actually-”
“I know!” she hissed, before immediately back peddling. “What I mean is… I’m trusting you to take care of him. You can, right?”
“I’d have to ask Polly, but I think she’d be okay with it. She talked about how maybe I should get a pet, so…” Something to love would probably help him. Aubrey wasn’t going to say it, but this was probably the best for everyone. Her home wasn’t fit for humans, let alone innocent bunnies.
“Cool then, I’ll get the rest of his stuff. I’ll message you about his feeding schedule. You’ve got MSN, right?” She totally wasn’t asking so she had an easier way to contact him, and for him to reach out if anything went wrong. Not at all.
“MSN?”
Aubrey groaned. “Messaging program. I’ll help you set it up when I bring his stuff back. Here.”
She shoved the bun into his unexpecting arms before heading back to her house. Dragging the hutch downstairs was going to be a pain. And also loud. Maybe her mom would notice what she was doing for once.
Bike_and_Bat_Brey: basil.
Bike_and_Bat_Brey: y is ur prof pic bun-bun
Placeholder_Name_Basil: (>///<) He was just being really cute! I’m sorry, I’ll take it down!
Bike_and_Bat_Brey: its fine
Bike_and_Bat_Brey: also, change your name
Placeholder_Name_Basil: I don’t think that I can. My parents might get mad.
Bike_and_Bat_Brey: i meant ur screename!
Bike_and_Bat_Brey: w8, would u change ur real name just cus i asked?
Placeholder_Name_Basil: How do you change the screen name?
Bike_and_Bat_Brey: answer the question basil. would u change ur name if u could just cus i asked???
Placeholder_Name_Basil has logged off
Bike_and_Bat_Brey: coward. im on my way 2 ur house
Her fingers ran through Bun-Bun’s fur as the rabbit sat in her lap. Basil was up right now, because if he wasn’t, the rabbit would have gone to him instead. Traitor. She housed and fed him for years, and this is how he treats her? Not that Basil and Polly were doing a bad job.
Looking to the side, she noticed that they definitely added quite a bit to the hutch she’d originally built for Bun-Bun. Not just that, but his fur was softer than it had been in ages. She could see some greens in his bowl, so it made sense. She could rarely afford more than pellets for the little guy, sometimes skipping her portions of dinner in order to feed the greedy little lapine.
“Do you give him stuff from your garden?” Aubrey asked. She could hear Basil yelp from the other room. He was still so skittish. Between him and the rabbit, the rabbit was braver.
“Sometimes, but some s-stuff isn’t safe for him. I hope that’s okay.” He always asked like she was going to shut him out for every little thing.
“I was asking cause he looked really healthy. ...You’ve been good to him.” She turned to look at Basil, who returned with a glass of water for each of them. He sat down beside her on the couch, though with plenty of room so she didn’t have to touch him. The traitorous rabbit immediately hopped over to him.
“Well, ah… It was mostly him being good to me.” Basil handled the little rabbit with such gentleness and reverence. It was almost the way he’d looked at Sunny once. “It feels like he always knows when I need him, and he’s…”
“He’s warm.” She said, leaning over so she could pat the rabbit as well. Her arm brushed him, and he jolted up, but did not flinch away.
“Yeah… He is.”
It wasn’t that Aubrey’s mother didn’t work. She did, otherwise they would have lost the house a long time ago. She worked under the table for a local contractor and got most of her payments in cash. She normally left the envelope on the table for Aubrey to grab from. Someone had to handle the groceries. And the bills. And the mortgage. It was funny how companies didn’t question these things over the phone. The money came in the mail and nobody asked questions.
Despite the fact that Aubrey knew her mom went out sometimes, it was a shock when she brought someone home. Her mother almost had a bit of energy for once, clearing enough of her trash for her date to actually sit down. This might have been a good sign, til the guy actually came over, and Aubrey found two pairs of eyes looking at her with the same expression.
Leave.
You aren’t wanted here.
Neither of them actually bothered to address her directly. They didn’t need to. They didn’t feel she was worth the effort. Aubrey was too proud to actually be thrown out of her own house, something she saw coming if she resisted. She hadn’t felt safe in her home for a long time.
She grabbed her bike and started to make her way to Kim and Vance’s place before she stopped. It was a school night, there was no way their mom would be cool with her coming over. Somehow she found her way to Basil’s house instead. She’d just stay for a bit, and slip back into her house when her mom had passed out in a drunken stupor.
With one knock, Polly came to the door, and immediately the smell of a home cooked meal wafted through the air. Aubrey’s stomach growled, causing her to flush. She could cook, but she wasn’t really great. She could make the basics and that was about that. This smelled absolutely divine after rice and boiled green beans for the last week.
“I… Didn’t realize you were eating, I’ll-” She started to turn before Polly let out a little laugh. Great. Aubrey went even redder.
“Oh, don’t worry! I made too much by mistake. Please, join us.” The caretaker stepped aside for Aubrey to enter the house. At the table, she saw Basil perk up- Wait.
“Why does Bun-Bun have a seat at the table?” That killed her embarrassment dead. She might be intruding, but she wasn’t the one with a rabbit at the table, chewing on a leaf of lettuce.
“He… He wants to be included.” Basil was so red when he spoke. Aubrey couldn’t help but snort at his expression. He was adorable when he got flustered. It was nice to see embarrassed but not in a bad way for once.
“Spoiled. He’s gotten so spoiled.” She shakes her head. “He’s never gonna be able to move back to my place now.”
The room tenses a little, and the pink haired girl has to immediately amend the statement. “I’m not taking him home any time soon, don’t worry.”
Clearly, the edge to her voice caused alarm, and she was ushered to sit down at the spot next to Polly’s at the table, directly across from her spoiled rabbit. If she noticed the fact the portion that she got served was larger than Basil’s. Aubrey wasn’t going to say anything.
After dinner, Polly cleaned up while Basil placed Bun-Bun back in his hutch. It was three times the size it was when Aubrey had him in her room. She couldn’t help but be a little jealous. Everyone was happy here, and she was kicked out of her house for the night. She settled on the couch for a bit, planning to interrogate Basil on rabbit care, before Polly piped up.
“Aubrey, are you going to be staying the night tonight? It’s already quite dark. The sun does set so early in winter.” The caretaker had a way of making it sound like Aubrey was no trouble at all. The pink haired girl couldn’t fault her for that.
“Wouldn’t that be weird? It’s a school night.” Her gaze flicked to Basil, who had come to sit next to her. Since Bun-Bun had moved in two months ago, he’d let himself sit closer and closer to her, and now their legs brushed. The flower boy looked a little sheepish at the mention of school, but she couldn’t judge him too harshly.
“I probably won’t…” Basil started, before moving to another point. “It would be nice. I think Bun-Bun would like to see more of you.” The way his cheeks flushed, she got the feeling it wasn’t just Bun-Bun.
Living on the same street, Basil had always sort of known what Aubrey’s home was like. It was better when her dad was around, but ever since he left, it was near impossible not to see the rot that crept into her once nice house. He knew she didn’t come here for the bunny. He knew the bunny was here for a reason too.
Aubrey was proud, she wouldn’t admit it. Instead she let out a forced yawn. “I am pretty sleepy. I guess I could stay. If you’re both cool with that.”
Basil smiled, a bright grin that almost hurt to look at. “That’s great! We have lots of quilts that you could use. A-and I can wake you up for school when I go out to water my flowers. If you want. Or, Polly..? Would you-”
“I’m not picky, Basil. I’ve slept over here before, remember?” Nobody really wanted to remember that night, the night Basil and Sunny tore each other apart in their fear and grief. It wasn’t something that could be forgotten. “This couch and I are old friends.”
“Thank you, Aubrey.” Why did he thank her, when she was the one burdening him? Burdening him with a rabbit, and with her presence. Somehow it made him happy, and though she wasn’t sure how she felt about him after everything that happened, she wanted him to thrive.
“Yeah, whatever. You just want a captive audience to listen to you rant about plants.”
Basil blushed all the way to his ears, but the bashful expression he wore said he totally intended to regale her with tales of his garden. He used to do this was Sunny all the time. Fuck, she needed to get Kel to give her Sunny’s MSN. Then she could get Basil to outpour his nerdy facts on him instead.
Not that she didn’t like hearing them.
Somewhere around the time Basil got talking about how different roses meant different thing, Aubrey blacked out. He sounded sleepy too. It was a nice, safe place.
In the morning, she woke up with her fingers tangled in his blond hair as they’d fallen asleep leaning against each other on the couch. Polly had left them a note about how she trusted them to be appropriate, and also the fact they were adorable.
That woman clearly misunderstood their relationship.
Polly kept making too much food by “mistake”. Aubrey knew it was because the woman noticed the fact that strange men kept coming in and out of Aubrey’s house. The girl hadn’t spent much time at home. Most of the time, she found a friend willing to let her sleep over, so she didn’t need to go back. Once she was sure the guys were gone, she’d make sure her mom was alive. Unsurprisingly, her mom’s paycheck had mysteriously disappeared with one of the guys.
Aubrey couldn’t really hide it from the Hooligans that she was couch surfing right now. They were normally pretty welcoming to her. Their houses had weird quirks, like how The Maverick’s siblings had interrogated her on her interest in baking or how Angel’s sister insisted she pose for some art. She even got the chance to bully Kel into doing his chores the one time she ended up over there.
As much as she liked the various paintings of her as a war goddess, Angel’s sister had damn good taste, the house she felt most comfortable at was Basil’s. In every other house, she felt like an outsider. Basil and Polly made her feel like part of the household. That was part of the problem.
“Ah… Aubrey?” the flower boy asked one day as they sat after dinner, Bun-Bun flopped across their laps. “Ummm, would you be interested in maybe… Staying here? You don’t have to! I just thought it might…”
The boy needed to learn to finish his sentences. Aubrey’s eyes widened and she stared at Basil like he’d grown another head. “You mean like for the night, right?”
“More for a while. Until your home is safe again.” Of course he noticed. “We have an open room, since Grandma passed.” Sorrow clung to those words like a stain, but Basil pushed through. “I just thought I’d offer. I know you might not want to be near me…”
“Yeah, cause I spent two nights a week here in duress,” Aubrey scoffed. She couldn’t address what he asked. She just couldn’t. Her mind was swirling. “Don’t put yourself in shit just cause you feel guilty or whatever.”
“I don’t!” His voice raised higher than she had heard it in a while. He rarely raised it out of anything but fear. But he wasn’t scared right now. Basil met her eyes. “I’m offering because I care about you. I… I want you to feel safe. I felt… Scared for so long, but lately, when you come around, you’ve been making me feel safe. It’s selfish, I know, but, I want to make sure-”
“It’s not selfish, Basil.” Stupid emotions. It’s easier to be angry, but Aubrey was feeling overwhelmed. “I’m just, I don’t deserve it.”
“You’ve done so much to protect me,” he insisted. “After everything I did, you still showed up and helped me. You made sure I didn’t fall back into… Those dark thoughts. You’re… An amazing friend, if I can call you that.”
“I almost killed you, Basil!” It spilled out like fizz from a shaken Orange Joe. “I pushed you into the lake, and you just sank. You could have died! I could have been a murderer! And if I didn’t kill you that way, I treated you like trash. No wonder you didn’t even struggle in the water. I was a monster to you.”
A silence falls between them, something Bun-Bun noticed as he pushed himself up. Basil quickly grabs the bun to stop him from wandering off. If only the rabbit could drown out the heavy emotion that filled the air.
Once those words were said, they could never be taken back. You couldn’t unbreak a vase. You could only work to repair it, but it would never be the same. Aubrey couldn’t pretend this hadn’t happened, and Basil couldn’t unhear the words.
“I never blamed you for that. It was an accident. And… I felt like I deserved what you did. I was almost nice, to feel punished for my actions. It wasn’t the same, but…” The blond shakes his head. “After everything I did, how could I judge you?”
And, wasn’t it the same from her side. She wanted to hate Basil and Sunny when the truth was revealed, but she couldn’t deny her own sins. That day in the park, she could have been the same as them, covering an accident as a suicide. It made her sick to think about, so she pushed it to the back of her mind.
“I… I forgive you, you know?” she managed in a soft voice. “When I saw what you did to yourself, and Sunny… And the day in the park, I knew I was the same. So I couldn’t hate you without hating myself. So, I forgave you, but I couldn’t say it.”
Tears gathered in her eyes, which she doubt Basil would notice as he was currently tearing up himself, unable to wipe the moisture away due to a rabbit occupying his hand.
“When… When Kel came to say he forgave me, I didn’t really believe him. I think he forgave me because he wanted to keep me around.” The admission of how easily he could have been lost to them caused Aubrey to take in a sharp breath. “I didn’t tell him that. He still checks in on me too, less since he knows now you’re taking care of me. But, I still don’t forgive myself. I won’t ever forgive myself. I felt relieved when I thought you hated me still. That Hero hated me. I don’t know if he still does. But you… I can’t help but believe you, Aubrey.”
As tears rolled down his cheeks, the pink haired hooligan scooped him into a loose hug, careful not to crush their shared rabbit.
“Fuck, now I guess I’ve gotta move in.” Her laugh came out strained, as she failed to hide her tears. “Don’t you think your parents are gonna be weirded out that you moved a random girl into your house?”
“You’re not random, you’re Aubrey!” He said that like it meant something more than just her name. “B-besides, it’s not their house, technically.”
Latching onto a change of subject, Aubrey released the flower boy to raise a brow quizically. “Then whose house is it?”
“It was my Grandma’s. But, ah, she left it to me in her will, so when I turn eighteen…” A shaky smile was offered. “So, it’s mine? Right now, it’s in trust. They live in Near City, so I don’t think they’d notice anyway and Polly already said she’s fine with you moving into Grandma’s old room.”
“Fuck, Basil you’re seventeen and own your own home.” Aubrey snorts in laughter. “Wild. I gotta get Sunny’s MSN handle so you can impress him with your house owning prowess!”
“No!”
They were too exhausted for any more serious talk. The rest of the night devolved into jokes and laughter. In the morning, they would figure out how to get the rest of Aubrey’s stuff from her house. With any luck, her mom wouldn’t notice she moved out til the tv shut off. Aubrey would deal with her then.
“Intriguing.. So you have mastered the art of taming tree and containing them in these little bowls…” The Maverick inspected the bonsai tree in Basil’s hallway. He had to be stopped before he poked it, Aubrey slapping his hand away.
“Te-technically, it wasn’t me,” Basil admitted. “They careful cultivate the trees for generations, but still, they need to be carefully pruned and kept in flat dishes to him them grow properly. It’s actually quite amazing. I would love to do more with them, but I don’t know anyone locally who grows them. This one my Grandpa got almost fifty years ago.”
“An ancient threat!”
Angel cackled. “Small things can pack power! I get it!” He did not get it at all, but Basil wasn’t going to correct him.
Aubrey almost felt like she was in that fantasy dream world Sunny described. Everything was perfect, as perfect as it could be without Mari. When Sunny came to visit, Basil’s house ended up being the meeting point for all of them. Her old friends and her new one. Charlie was currently playing with Bun-Bun, while Kim and Vance ate raw sugar from the cupboard like fiends. Kel and Sunny were failing to play catch out front, thanks to Sunny’s lack of depth perception. Even Hero was here, carefully making sure said game of fetch didn’t result in a garden getting trampled.
As Aubrey went to shoo the sugar fiends from her cupboard, she couldn’t help but feel almost sad. She might never be this happy again. This only became possible because of all the horrible things that happened. She didn’t feel like she deserved it.
But life wasn’t about deserving things. Lots of people got what they didn’t deserve. That’s why when you had something good, you had to saviour it. And if anyone tried to take it from her, well, she did still have her bat for a reason.