Chapter Text
To say Hero was worried would be an understatement. At first, he was elated. Sunny was finally outside, hanging out with Kel, and there to greet him when he arrived home. Sure, he was moving in a couple days, but there was still time for all three of them to hang out together, just like old times. Well, almost like old times, anyway.
But as he walks along behind the two boys, he worries. Sunny is pale and thin, wearing such a blank expression Hero half-expects him to pass out at any moment. He knows it’s been four years, but surely Sunny’s body should be in a better state than this, right? His mother was caring and kind, there’s no way she would let him deteriorate this far, right?
He watches as Kel tells Sunny some story from school, laughing and waving his arms around. Sunny, for his part, shows no sign that he’s even listening aside from the turn of his head and the slightest squint of his eyes. While they’ve been chatting and walking along, they’ve ended up making their way to the lower streets of the neighborhood, where nary a soul can be seen aside from the three of them. Now’s as good a time as any, Hero thinks.
“Hey, Sunny.” At the sound of his name, Sunny stops and turns to look at Hero. Kel does as well, stepping to the side from where he’d been sandwiched between them. Hero hadn’t really understood why he was the walking behind them, besides maybe because he’s the eldest and not as close with Sunny as Kel is. When he’d asked, all he’d gotten was a cryptic ‘You’ve always brought up the rear’ from Sunny and that had been that.
“This is a bit of a random question, but how’ve you been eating?” Hero hopes it’s not a touchy subject, that he’s ignored the signs of an eating disorder somehow, but Sunny returns only a blank stare as always. Kel looks at Hero pointedly, as though he’d been hoping to ask the same. After some time has passed and nothing is said, Hero wonders if they’re going to keep walking like he’d said nothing at all before Kel speaks up.
“Well, we had those hamburgers dad made today! And Hero made us breakfast, remember?” He looks between Hero and Sunny as he speaks, nudging the latter in the side when he mentions Hero’s homemade breakfast. Sunny gives the barest of nods in response. Well, that’s two meals so far, Hero thinks, not bad. But then he wonders something else.
“We left the house pretty soon after you woke up, Sunny. How much were you able to eat?” At that, Sunny gives it a moment before shaking his head. Ah, so no breakfast then. One meal, that being only a single burger, and all the walking around they’ve been doing? Hero really wonders now how Sunny hasn’t passed out after all this time. He should’ve at least asked to sit down to rest at some point.
“Okay, how about yesterday?” Hero’s worrying is starting to ramp up a little.
“Hm, well, we had supper at Basil’s house, and I definitely remember Sunny eating at least half his plate before getting up.” Kel was the one to answer again, realizing that waiting for Sunny to answer would have them standing there for way too long. Sunny nods in agreement. Okay, so far that makes it one meal a day if this trend keeps up. And at least yesterday he probably had more than just a burger.
“The day before that, though, I remember we just had some snacks once I got him out of the house. Did you eat before you left, Sunny?” Kel was the one to ask this time, looking over to Sunny. Sunny looked to the side for a moment, the first time he seemed to give any of this conversation real thought, before looking back to the brothers.
“Steak.” His voice was small, barely a whisper in the breeze. It sounded rough, too, like he’d hardly used it up until now. Had he? Hero wondered how much he had audibly spoke all this time, cooped up in his house like he’d been. That wasn’t the point of this, though. The point was that so far Sunny had eaten one thing a day, maybe some snacks, and that was it. His gaze drifted down to Sunny’s arms, his wrists. They were so thin, he wondered if Sunny had any strength left to give with them. Maybe, if they were to go swimming, they would even be able to see Sunny’s ribs poking out from beneath his skin.
Hero shook his head, clearing those thoughts from his mind. Sunny obviously had some energy, as he was able to walk around with him and Kel for a whole day. Even before that, he’d been wandering the neighborhood with Kel for two days now. That had to mean something, right?
“Hey, Sunny?” Sunny looks up at him from where he’d been picking at the hem of his shirt. Hero must’ve let the silence run a bit too long to make him uncomfortable like that. “Sorry, this’ll be the last of this conversation and then we can get back to walking, okay? I know you’ve at least been getting something in your system since Kel got you out, but what about before that? The past four years, how have you been holding up?”
Kel does his best to keep his face neutral, but Hero can tell it’s laced with concern as they both stare at Sunny. The small boy doesn’t shirk under their gaze. Instead, he simply looks to the side again, thinking. Silently.
The silence drags on for a while longer before Hero realizes with dawning horror that that’s his answer. Silently, Sunny had conveyed exactly what Hero had hoped wasn’t the truth, but which should have been obvious from the start. Of course, he hadn’t been eating well. For four years, Sunny had never stepped foot outside of his house. His mother, kind as she was, was facing her own demons and it wouldn’t be hard to imagine her giving him full rein to do as he pleased so long as he stayed.
So long as he didn’t leave her too.
Kel, sensing the growing tension in the air, linked his arm with Sunny’s, pulling the boy out of whatever he’d been thinking. Hero took a deep breath himself, trying his best to clear his head. He gave Sunny an apologetic smile and that was all it took for the three of them to return to their walk, as though nothing had ever happened. Kel, with his infinite smile, began another story to brighten the mood, swaying back and forth as he did. Sunny, his arm trapped under Kel’s, was forced to follow him, back and forth.
Forced to look at their backs, to compare the differences he saw, thoughts came unbidden to Hero’s mind. He thought back to the night before, when he’d woken up at random in their pillow fort. Kel had been snoring lightly, obviously still deep asleep. But Sunny was gone, his bedsheets neatly folded back. Hero had gotten up by then, worried for the small boy, when he’d heard the tinkling of the piano. Making his way downstairs, Hero had found Sunny just standing there, staring listlessly just beyond the door.
“Oh, hey, Sunny!” At the sound of his name, Sunny had whirled around, startled by the intrusion of another living being. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just heard the piano and figured you would be in here.”
Sunny nods, turning back to look once more at the piano. When Hero gave it a real look, he could see a thin layer of dust had settled along it, dulling the color as the moon shone into the room. He wondered briefly how often Sunny even went into this room before turning back to the boy.
With the help of the moonlight, Hero was able to get a clear view of Sunny. He was thin, obviously, and almost as pale as the moon. Surprisingly, his hair was well-maintained, probably due to his mother’s care. But Hero had focused in on just how small he was. Sunny was the same age as Kel now, but he’d barely changed at all. The slope of his shoulders, the length of his legs, even how dainty his hands were. It all seemed as though Sunny hadn’t aged a day. Like he was still that little twelve-year-old kid.
Hero had tapped Sunny on the shoulder then, though he wasn’t sure why. Maybe to say something, or just to get his attention, he wasn’t sure because it had died on his lips the moment Sunny had turned to him.
The blankest expression met him. Sunny’s eyes, which Hero could remember from before were bright and shining, were dark now. Hero didn’t want to say they were dead, no that would be too harsh, but he could see in Sunny’s eyes a schism. A disassociation from reality. He was definitely looking in Hero’s direction, but had he really been looking at Hero? It had been hard to tell, with how the light had backlit Sunny, darkening the shadows on his face.
Briefly, Hero had wondered about Sunny’s mental state then, but he’d wrote it off as sleepiness. As the haze you enter when first waking up. Quickly, he’d ushered Sunny upstairs, staying behind to reminisce with the piano. The tears then had fallen quietly, clearing the dust in small soft drops.
Now, as he continues his walk with the two boys, Hero thinks he should’ve done something more. He was supposed to have stepped up, to be there for all the others. They had been kids, only twelve, but he hadn’t done a thing. No, instead he selfishly pulled himself away, hauled everything inside and stayed that way. Whether it was cooping up for a year or shipping off to college, he had pulled back. Even though Kel had needed him, Aubrey and Basil had needed him, he had pushed them away because the hurt had been too much.
But now he sees where he messed up. Sunny, the shy little boy who always gave it his best, was in front of him, thin and pale like he was two steps from death. He couldn’t mess it up now, not with the little time they had left together. So, Hero slapped on that brotherly smile and jogged to catch up with the boys, slinging his arms around them. Kel let out a small laugh as they were nearly toppled over and Sunny squinted just the slightest bit more. Well, that was good enough for Hero.
“Hey, guys, why don’t we swing back up by Gino’s? I’m hankering for a snack, and I think we all need a rest from all this walking, huh?” Kel nearly smacked Hero in the face with his whoop of excitement, but he didn’t mind. Sunny nodded along as Hero changed their course, guiding them back up the neighborhood streets.
It wasn’t much, and it certainly wouldn’t undo all that had been done, but small steps were still steps. And if helping Sunny meant getting him to stuff his face before the day was over, well, Hero would do just that. Maybe they would have something a bit healthier for supper than pizza, though.