Chapter Text
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BE-
Sunny slapped the snooze button on his alarm and sighed. He was awake, but that didn’t mean he HAD to get up from bed. He laid still on his mattress and stared up into the ceiling. It was another dreamless night for him. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in Sunny’s eyes but some days he couldn’t help but wish that he would dream something. Sunny’s dreams were no longer the meticulously crafted ideal reality, nor were they the psychological horrors of Black Space.
It was a nonsensical blend of Headspace and whatever fever induced bullshit he cast aside into Black Space. Nothing followed a linear path anymore and it was always something different when he did dream, though sometimes that was more of a detriment than a relief. Still, it was better that way, since he wouldn’t get trapped in his head like that. Sunny yawned and rubbed the tiredness from his eyes while sitting up in his bed. The faint sound of cupboard doors opening and closing could be heard in the kitchen.
Sunny blinked a few times when he realized that he heard the kitchen cupboards opening and closing. “God damnit, again!?” With a pained sigh, Sunny threw the covers off of himself and left his bedroom. A few steps away from his bedroom, Sunny entered the living room/dining room/kitchen, where a boy around his age wearing a lavender V-neck sweater over a gray dress shirt, black pants and dress shoes, with mahogany hair tied up in a small ponytail was currently taking out a cast iron skillet from one of the cupboards.
The boy looked up at Sunny and smiled. “And the sun rises at last!” He set the skillet down on the stove and turned to Sunny with his hands on his hips. “Sleep well?”
Sunny gave a small wave. “Mornin’ Ciel. I slept well, but I have a question. Did you get in here by phasing through the fucking wall? I locked both the front door and the balcony door.”
Ciel chuckled and held a finger up to his mouth. “That’s my own little secret!”
Sunny facepalmed and sighed. “Okay, but why do you show up so early in the morning? It’s like 7:30!”
“Hey, you know I’m a morning person!” Ciel turned his attention to the fridge, opening it up and searching through it’s insides. “Besides, you said your mom was taking on early morning shifts for the week, so I figured that someone should at least make you some breakfast while she’s off doing that!”
“Okay, but I can make my own-”
“Today’s breakfast is that grilled cheese english muffin from that high calorie, high protein diet menu you and your mom got hooked on.” Ciel backed away from the fridge with the ingredients in his arms, looking towards Sunny with a smug grin.
“I’ll be in the shower.” Sunny said quickly, heading towards the small hallway. “Don’t cause a fire while I’m in there.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ciel waved his hand up and down. “I know my way around a stove!”
“And yet you don’t seem to understand the ‘shoes go in the shoe rack’ rule.” Sunny snarked, earning a complimentary middle finger from Ciel. Sunny chuckled and walked into his bedroom so he could grab a set of clothes and hurried into the bathroom, flipping on the hot water and discarding his sleepwear.
Minutes later, Sunny had dried himself off and equipped his outfit for the day. A white sweater where the sleeves stopped at the elbows and an unzipped blue hoodie vest, vaguely reminiscent of what he wore nearly two years ago before he moved to the city, faded gray jeans with socks of the same color and a black and white checkerboard wristband on each wrist. He used his Mom’s hair dryer to rid his hair of any leftover dampness and ran a comb through it, leaving him with soft, lush raven black hair that had looked a lot fuller and lively than a year ago, grown out to a length that began to cover the right side of his face.
Stopping briefly to throw his sleepwear in the dirty laundry, Sunny returned to the kitchen, where Ciel had set down a large plate of the english muffins on the dining room counter with a bowl of orange slices next to it. Ciel looked up at Sunny and gestured his arm towards the food with a wide grin. “Bone apple tea!”
Sunny rolled his eyes and knocked his knuckles against Ciel’s head. “Just for that, fuck you.” The two chuckled as they took a seat and began to tear into the english muffins. The breakfast was a part of Sunny’s special diet menu the hospital gave his Mom as a way to help with his malnutrition. The diet menu became obsolete about a few months ago, but Sunny and his Mom enjoyed each dish listed on it, so they kept the menu for easy access, even if Sunny remembers the name of each dish on there.
“So…” Ciel started, taking a couple of orange slices from the bowl. “Whatcha got planned for the week?”
Sunny took a bite of his muffin and shrugged, being sure to swallow his food before speaking. “Dunno. Last week was pretty dull and was basically me going back to being a shut-in.”
Ciel scoffed. “To be honest, I don’t blame you on that front. Last week was hot as hell. I wouldn’t want to leave my air conditioning either.”
Sunny chuckled lightly. “Yeah, but it brought back too many bad memories…”
“I can imagine.” Ciel pursed his lips and hummed. “The others should be awake by this time, so maybe we can plan something out with them.”
“Maybe, but you have to remember, everyone else's parents aren’t as lenient as yours or trapped at work like my Mom.” Sunny grabbed a couple of orange slices and sighed. “So most of them might end up going on a family outing. Not to mention that it’s Summer, so I doubt any of them other than you and me will keep up their school night sleep schedule.” Sunny gave a soft chuckle as he began to eat the slices.
Ciel huffed. “Right…” He tapped his fingers on the countertop. “You want to play some games till noon, then?” Ciel looked up at Sunny, who was considering the offer.
“You just want to make another attempt at beating me, don’t you?” Sunny looked at Ciel with a smirk, communicating to the lavender wearing boy that he accepted the offer.
Ciel made a smirk of his own and nodded. “I have a good feeling about today!”
Ciel’s eye twitched as he looked over at Sunny, casting a small smug grin towards him. “I hate you…”
Sunny chuckled and slugged Ciel in the arm. “Hey, you got close! You picked a shooter, which I don’t have that much experience on!”
“And yet you still kicked my ass.” Ciel sighed and set the controller down. “I was winning for half of the first match, too…” Sunny patted him on the back as he glared at the raven haired boy. “Is there a game that you haven’t mastered yet?”
Sunny retracted his arm and rubbed his chin, humming in thought. “Drakengard.” Sunny finally said. “Though, that’s mainly because of how...Different it is.” Sunny winced. “I can only get so far before I have to switch to a different game as a palette cleanser…”
Ciel raised a brow. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”
Sunny looked Ciel in the eye for a beat before standing up and grabbing the case, holding it out to the jade eyed boy. “See for yourself.” Ciel took the case from Sunny’s hand and looked it over as he walked back to the kitchen. “You want anything to drink?”
“I’ll take a tea!” Ciel called out. Sunny nodded and grabbed a bottle of tea and a can of cherry soda. He walked back to the couch and set the tea on the coffee table as Ciel put the game in the console. The two sat down on the couch, Sunny opening up his can of soda to take a sip as the pre-rendered opening crawl began playing before the menu popped up.
While Ciel fiddled with the game's settings, a trio of knocks echoed from the front door. Sunny raised a brow and hummed, setting his soda on the table and standing up. Another round of knocks came from the door as Sunny approached it. Unlocking the door- Seriously, how the fuck does Ciel keep getting in here when everything is locked? -Sunny turned the knob. On the other side of the door was the familiar sight of a blue hoodie and red glasses, causing Sunny to let out a small gasp. “Kim!?”
Kim raised up her hand with a slight chuckle, no doubt at Sunny’s shocked expression and the dark haired boy caught a glimpse of what looked to be blue and magenta striped arm warmers. “Howdy, nerd!”
Sunny raised up his free hand to wave back as the sound of footsteps from behind him grew louder. “Who’s at the door?” Ciel asked, looking over Sunny’s shoulder.
Kim looked over to Ciel. “I’m Kim. I’m a friend of Sunny’s from Faraway.” She narrowed her eyes. “Who’re you?”
“Ah, this is-”
“The name’s Ciel.” The lavender wearing boy leaned against Sunny, pushing him away enough to become the main focus. “And might I say, Kim, you look rather lovely in blue!” Ciel gave a smile that showed off his teeth. Kim folded her arms in response, keeping her eyes narrowed as she raised a brow.
Sunny tapped Ciel’s shoulder. “Careful there, Casanova. The person you’re talking to is essentially Proto-Aubrey.” Sunny smirked as Ciel backed away sheepishly and cleared his throat, going back to his relaxed posture.
“Nice to meet you, Kim. My name is Ciel.” He gave a slight wave. “I’m one of Sunny’s city friends.”
“That’s more like it.” Kim muttered. She waved her hand between the two. “Now can I come in or are you two just going to try and keep me out?”
“Huh? Oh, right.” Sunny moved out of the way and gestured his arm out towards the couch. “Come on in.” Kim nodded and walked inside. Sunny closed the door and hummed. “Well, I can say with confidence that this was unexpected.”
Kim chuckled and turned to Sunny. “That was kind of the point.” She dug her shoe into the floor. “Aubrey’s idea, not mine. She used her status as the boss of the Scooter Gang to make sure I didn’t give you a heads up.” She sighed. “That’s what I get for taking her under my wing…”
Sunny walked over to the fridge and opened it up with a snicker. “Talk about a weak ‘thank you’!” He turned to Kim. “Do you want something to drink?” Kim shook her head. “Alright then.” Sunny closed the fridge and pointed to the couch. “Ciel was just about to get started on a game before you knocked.”
Kim tilted her head. “What game?”
“Something called Drakengard.” Ciel replied, taking back his spot on the couch. “Apparently, it’s one that Sunny can’t seem to play for too long without getting disturbed, or something...”
Kim’s eyes widened and she turned to Sunny. “You? Getting disturbed by a game!?”
Sunny rubbed his neck with a slight chuckle. “Hard to believe, huh? Especially after what I’ve told you.” He sighed and walked back over to his spot on the couch. “You’d have to see it to understand…”
Kim raised a brow. “Okay…? Is that all you guys have been doing?”
Ciel nodded. “Pretty much. Beforehand I was trying to beat Sunny at a shooter, but he ended up winning in the end.” He sighed and shook his head. “His skill at games is inhuman…”
“Oh really?” Kim tapped her chin and hummed. She smirked. “I bet I could beat him!”
Ciel chuckled and grabbed his bottle of tea. “Good luck with that. He didn’t even have experience with shooter games and yet he still kicked my sorry ass!” He hummed. “Weird how you don’t about that though? Didn’t you say you were a friend of his?”
“It’s a bit of a recent development.” Sunny replied, rubbing his arm. “It happened during Spring Break.”
Ciel nodded. “Ah, okay. Well then, if you want to see for yourself how much of a god Sunny is at games, I recommend heading to the Arcade.”
“But I have games here.” Sunny muttered.
“You do, but I want to see what it is about this game that makes you uncomfortable, so I’m taking control of your TV and console.” Ciel chuckled as Sunny flipped the bird at him and started the game, a quick narration playing from the speakers.
“Okay...Where’s the Arcade then?” Kim asked.
“Well, there are many around the city, but the one me, Ciel and the others all like to go to is the one at the mall.” Sunny explained. “We’ve pretty much become regulars there and have even made friends with the owner, Vergil.”
“You say that like it was a hard thing to accomplish.” Ciel scoffed as a pre-rendered cutscene began playing. “He may look intimidating but that image crumbles away pretty quickly once you talk to him.” Ciel let out a soft chuckle. “He’s a pretty chill dude, you’ll love him!”
Kim simply nodded at the information and turned to Sunny. “So how do we get there?”
“The fastest way to get there is by the train, since it’s in the downtown area.” Sunny stretched and pointed to the hallway. “Me and Mom got train passes during our first few weeks here, so I can get on without having to pay for a ticket.”
“Alright, then hurry up and get it, I want to check that place out already.” Kim sat down on the couch arm as the cutscene ended and a story explanation was given .
“I’ll be quick about it.” Sunny quickly walked past the two and into his bedroom, opening up the closet to pull out a brown messenger bag and taking out a red wallet with a magnetic clip from within. He opened it up and looked inside, pulling out a small plastic card with a train design on it. With a nod, Sunny set the wallet back into the bag and flung it over his shoulder as he left the bedroom.
“The combat is pretty bland so far.” Ciel muttered. “All I’m really doing is hitting the square button…”
Sunny sighed. “Yeah, that’s a bit of a downside with the game, but the parts I found myself enjoying the most were the flight segments with the dragon.” He walked over to the shoe rack by the front door and grabbed a pair of black high-tops. Walking back over to the couch, Sunny caught a glimpse of the game and hummed. “By the way, those are infinite spawning enemies. Just ignore them and head to the objective.”
Kim smirked. “You found that out the hard way, didn’t you?”
“Yep.” Sunny sighed and sat down at his spot on the couch, slipping on a shoe and tying it.
Ciel groaned while Kim began chuckling. “I hate it when games do that…”
“So do I but at least it makes sense in some of them.” Sunny replied, slipping on the other shoe.
“And considering that you’re going through a battlefield, you can kinda guess why there are endless waves of enemies.” Kim stated. “I don’t know how wars work but I know that reinforcements are a thing that exist.”
Sunny nodded. “True.” He finished tying his other shoe and stood up with a stretch. “Ready when you are, Kim.” He turned to the delinquent, who promptly jumped off the couch arm.
“Sweet, let’s get going then!” Kim started making her way to the front door while Sunny quickly grabbed his soda and patted Ciel on the shoulder.
“Good luck with the game. Far as I’m aware, you’re gonna need it.” He walked past Ciel, who raised a brow at the comment.
“Is that for the game in general or are you wishing me luck on being able to stand it better than you can?”
Sunny hummed for a beat. “Both.” He waved at Ciel and kept walking to the front door. “See ya later!” Ciel hummed in response as Sunny opened up the door and walked out with Kim not far behind him. He turned back towards Ciel, who was resting his feet on the coffee table. “Feet off the table, Ciel!” Before Ciel could comment, Sunny closed the door behind him. “Alright, let’s head out.”
Kim nodded. “Yep.” She jabbed a finger at Sunny’s chest. “You’re leading by the way. I don’t know jack about this place.”
Sunny chuckled and rubbed his neck. “Alright, that’s fair. I’m guessing Aubrey gave you the directions to get here?” Kim nodded. “Ah. Well, the train station isn’t actually that far, maybe about a 4-5 minute walk.”
“Sounds good.” Kim stuck her hands into her hoodie pockets and nodded her head down the hall. “Well, let’s get going already.”