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A cold hand poked Sunny awake, breaking through his sugar-fueled dreams. He groaned in protest and tried to draw him warm blankets up to shield himself from whatever was drawing him out of his sleep, but the hand persisted.
Grumbling, Sunny pushed himself up from the air mattress on the floor and waited for his eyes to adjust. There was a moment where he thought he might have died in the night, choked on a candy bar, maybe, and an angel was there to take him away before he realized the halo was made of bent wire and flickering portable fairy lights. It was only Basil in his wrinkled Halloween costume.
“Sorry, Sunny,” he whispered. The batteries in his halo were dying, and the faint colored lights danced over his features like the reflections of a traffic light in the rain. “I can’t sleep. The drip is really annoying me.”
Sunny frowned, senses dulled with drowsiness. It took him a moment to piece together the meaning of Basil’s words. Then, in the quiet of the house, he heard it. A distant dripping, just fast enough to indicate water was still flowing somewhere, but inconsistent and absolutely infuriating. It was no wonder Basil couldn’t sleep. Sunny and Kel were both famous for sleeping through anything, but now that he focused on the noise, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep again until it stopped.
Stumbling to his feet, he would have slipped on the air mattress’ smooth surface and crashed right down to the pillow-covered floor if it weren't for the quick hands of Basil. He was still wearing his homemade ghost costume, two large holes cut out of a bedsheet. The dumb thing was way too long, and he had been tripping all night as the group of friends moved from house to house, Raiding Faraway for every sweet they could get their hands on.
“Careful!” gasped Basil, helping him up. “Maybe you should take it off?”
He shook his head firmly. It was still Halloween until the morning, as far as he was concerned, and until then, he would remain a spooky ghost. No one could stop him, not even Basil asking politely. This stubborn moment of defiance melted almost instantly under Basil's concern. How could anyone say no to that face? That pout should be weaponized.
After giving in, taking off his costume at Basil’s pleading request, Sunny stepped over a pillowcase of spilled candy
The hallway was an eerie sight that night, or perhaps it was just the spirit of the season, but both boys huddled close, clutching the other's hand. The only source of light came from the flicking TV downstairs, glowing and dimming and random intervals. Neith boy could remember leaving it on. With fear in their hearts, they rushed to the bathroom, quickly shutting the door behind them. They only began to relax when they flicked the light switch on and found the source of the offending sound.
The tap was indeed leaking, the drip echoing through the chilly room. Grumbling, Sunny stood in front of it and tried to remember how to deal with it. Normally, he would wait for Mari to get irritated, and fix it herself. That way, he didn’t have to get out of bed. However, the fatal flaw of this scheme is that he had no earthly idea how to make it stop.
“Uh...you okay Sunny?” He was also being watched. Wracking his sleep-deprived, sugar-addled brain did provide a single detail. He needed to jiggle the taps. So with an unsure hand, he proceeded to jiggle them a bit before he placed them back again. This stipped it for a moment before it just started up again. He repeated it, every time the leak stopped for a little longer, but just came back. Basil could see Sunny going slowly red as he winced. “It’s okay Sunny, I can just sleep with a pillow over my head or something!
He would not let some common household plumbing beat him! So he tried one more time, and with a bit more force. Sure the taps were bent a bit past what they were meant to, but the drip stopped. Sunny knew better though. He knew as soon as he turned his back, it would start, so he just stared at the faucet, daring it to drip. It took a bit too long before Basil realized Sunny was having a staring contest with a bathroom fixture and decided to intervene. Maybe Sunny had a touch too much candy earlier.
“Hey, you did it! Now how about we go to bed?...” However, Sunny was not having any of that and did not break eye contact. He had to put the fear of God in the sink, or it would start again. Basil gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before prying his friend out of his staring contest. But as soon as they turned around, they heard it. Sunny whipped his head back, watching the now worse, faster drip just bubble down the drain. Thankfully, Basil was fast enough to cover his mouth when he let out or attempted to at least, a frustrated scream.
‘Did you hear that?” Mari perked up a bit, scooching away from Hero as she quirked her ear. The trashy b movie they were watching together after the kids fell asleep momentarily forgotten, as well as their cuddling. Hero shrugged.
“Nope. Maybe one of them is using the bathroom?” This seemed to sate her as she sighed and cuddled back down. ``Yeah, I’m surprised they could even wake up after the amount of candy they ate.”
“I’m surprised you're not vibrating with the amount you stole from Sunny miss witch.” He laughed as she smacked him with her floppy hat. After brushing it off, she indignantly put it back on, and snuggled into him, enjoying the flush on his face. “Shut up, or I’ll turn you into a newt.”
Basil was so busy trying to soothe a glum and frustrated-looking Sunny, he didn't even notice Aubrey stumble in with bleary eyes. Mr. Plantegg dangled from one hand, as the other rubbed her eyes, purple face paint smearing worse than it already had. Bits of her normal skin tone were peeking through at this point, and some of it had gotten into her long dark hair. “Why are you guys being so loud, and what is that annoying noise?” Her irritation apparent, her eggplant stem hat, still in place, cut the intimidation factor quite a bit.
Her eyebrow raised as she looked at Basil, petting Sunny’s hair as he tried to calm him down. Both were sitting on the lip of the tub. Sunny looked a little frazzled, taking deep breaths through Basil’s hand, his hair sticking out a touch oddly. “I...erm…” Basil stuttered
“Did I interrupt some-”
“NO. I just couldn't sleep cause of the leaky sink, and Sunny tried to fix it but….he got a wee bit frustrated.” Aubrey just raised a brow, Sunny got angry? And she missed it?! “Awwww, that woulda been so funny to watch. Don’t worry, I know how to fix this!” With confidence, she strode over to sunny, holding out her plush veggie till he took it with a confused look. “Squeeze him, it's what I do to calm down when Kel is being a dumb butt!”
He did take it from her slowly and squeezed as hard as his anemic arms could manage. The odd strangled squeak it made almost made Basil crack up a little. At least he was calming down. “Now let ME fix it, Mari showed me how to do it once!”
With the confidence of someone twice her size and three times the weight, she began to jiggle the handles. First letting them run full blast, then slamming them into a stop with a thunk. Each one, when it proved to be fruitless, she slammed a little bit harder. Although Sunny was now calm, Basil could see the red rising on her face.
“I-it's okay you know. I can just cover my ears.” Basil meekly offered, although this was rejected with a huff. “Are you saying I can’t do this?! I know how to do it, Mari is just better at it is all!” She punctuated this with one more slam. Then two things happened, the first thing is that the taps broke off with a crack. Then water sprayed down the drain violently. Way harder than it ever had before.
She slowly turned around, holding the metal taps in her hands as she muttered “oops.”.
“Wha...YOU MADE IT WORSE” Basil was freaking out a little bit now. They had made the leak worse! On top of that, Aubrey broke the dang sink! “WERE GONNA GET IN TROUBLE, AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!” Basil knew what this meant, he was going to get in TROUBLE
“SHUT UP, YOU TWO MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING STUPID!” Sunny just looked between them, deciding to just hug the plant plush and wait for this one out. He knew better. “Are you saying Sunny broke it? You snapped it clean off! How did WE do something stupid.”
“S-shut up you...you...you ASS.” Sunny and Basil gasped. They had seen many things in their young life. But to utter salty language, would get one in trouble. “Y-you said the a word, Aubrey!”
“No, I didn’t! Liar!” She was frantic, knowing a swear passed her innocent lips. She had to deny deny deny
“Yes, you did! You said ASS!” Sunny and Aubrey gasped, as Basil paled. In his haste to avoid judgment, he had also said the naughty word. “You said it too! Now if you tell, we’ll both get in trouble.” That was true until they looked at Sunny.
Sunny was just gonna sit there and say nothing, and hug this eggplant. But now they were staring at him. They looked through him, not as a friend, or ally, but as a possible tattletale, a liability. A Narc. He was suddenly thrust into a dangerous position, and he didn’t like it.
“Sunny hasn't said anything.” Aubrey glared at him. Sunny looked away, seeking salvation in basil. But that cold expression and icy eyes looked right through him. “He hasn’t” Basil continued. “And we have to make sure he doesn't say anything...right?” Aubrey nodded as both kept closer. What were they gonna do? Were they going to make sure he couldn't talk, forever? Sunny knew there was only one way out of this.
“Ass.”
Both stopped and blinked. Whereas Sunny was a bystander at first, now he was an active participant. He had uttered a swear. He was now complicit in their awful crimes, and both of the aggressors relaxed. “Okay...so what do we do about that?” Aubrey gestured at the faucet as it sprayed into the basin, violently so.
“I’m going to tell on you for saying swears!” And a new challenger entered the bathroom. Kel, chewing on candy as he just waltzed into the bathroom, grins at Aubrey. He heard the entire thing, but somehow, against all odds, managed to keep his big trap shut until now. Maybe he was chewing on taffy. He was currently carrying a candy bag as he looked down his nose at the gathered masses.
“It seems like you're saying bad words in here! I could ignore your transgressions…..for a price.” Everyone was more surprised by his use of the word transgressions than his blatant attempt to blackmail them. He slyly grinned, opening up his pillowcase. He unwrapped a chocolate before he spoke. “Half of your candy, each.”
Sunny just snorted as Kel popped the chocolate in his mouth and chewed. He assumed it was to make him seem cool, but the effect was lost considering his open mouth chewing. Well, that and he was in a wolf onesie. The only thing he could really intimidate were pigs with poor construction habits, maybe.
“The heck I am! You're gonna keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you!” Aubrey was many things. A loyal friend, someone who would beat up a bully at a moment's notice, and an overall friendly person when Kel wasn’t involved. However, if you tried to take her food, she had some badger-like tendencies. As in she would kill you and add you to the food pile, she would make. Sunny had seen it, and he thought if he put his hand anywhere near it, he would lose his hand.
“Or what? You don’t give me the candy and you get in trouble! You have no power over me Aubrey” He then attempted to laugh like Spaceboy, but inhaled his chocolate down the wrong pipe. Basil, despite being rather peeved he was trying to steal his hard-won candy away, eventually started patting him on the back as he sighed. “Come on Kel, you can’t talk with your mouth full…”
After he had cleared his throat, Kel sighed and patted Basil on the back. “Thanks, bud! But I'm still going to need you to give me half your candy too. You got the most of it!” The nice expression curdled with that. Basil glared at the grinning boy, regretting his choice in saving him. “HEY. Do you know how hard I had to work for that? I had to specifically choose the cutest thing I could think of! I couldn't be something spooky, that gets you less candy, and I had to half babytalk! Everyone thought you were my older siblings for gosh sake!”
Aubrey gasped “Is that why you picked that outfit?! No fair!” she was suddenly aware of how much more candy he got, on top of being stingy with it too! Aubrey and Kel would have to argue to get even a decent candy trade, while Sunny just got to take out whatever he wanted. “Hey, you got to dress how you wanted! I had to hang around the old church ladies for a MONTH to figure out what they hoped to see this year. I earned that candy!”
“To give it to Sunny!”
“N-no I did not!” Aubrey and Basil were getting closer, her face flush with indignation, the pink covering the blonde boy’s face more likely came from being called out on his obvious crush. Meanwhile, Sunny was just eating candy out of Kel’s forgotten pillowcase.
“Guys, guys. You're missing the point.” Kel put his hands on both of their shoulders “It’s my candy now. Because of your potty mouths.” As an argument broke out, Sunny ideally wondered what exactly they were doing in here again. Oh yea, the sink. Man, it was going hard, if only there was a way to plug it up.
When he went to bite down on candy, his eyes widened. Who the hell gave out superballs for Halloween, wrapped up in plastic?! Well, superballs were rad, so it made sense, but to wrap it up like candy was a whole new level of mean. But perhaps this was a bit of divine intervention!
Walking past his bickering friends, he walked up to this water-breathing dragon and pressed the ball to the gushing tap. With a practiced hand, he lined it up, pulled back his palm, and slapped it. With an odd-sounding plonk sound, it shot right up the tap. No more water flowed at all! Success.
When Sunny went to give Basil the thumbs up, but he just stared in horror. He was about to ask what was wrong when he was taught a violent lesson in water pressure. With a low groan, then a loud pop, the tap was flowing violently, but there was a more pressing matter at hand. The ball was launched at a velocity, not unlike a bullet., it violently bounced around the sink basin, till it began to ping off the walls. With a yelp, the gathered children hit the deck, although Kel was laughing like a lunatic.
With an unlucky bounce, the rubber met wood. You would think that it would bounce off the door and continue to wreak havoc in this bathroom. No, instead it shot through like a bullet, with a nasty sounding pop. Nobody moved, just staring at the new bathroom peephole. As is the way of the universe, Kel couldn't help but open his mouth. “Well…..shit!”
Before Aubrey could savor this triumph, the pipe under the sink burst.
Hero sighed as he listened to the screams coming from upstairs. Well, it looked like their quiet time was interrupted. Mari was already looking at him with those puppy dog eyes. “Can you go check on them, Hero?” She just furrowed deeper into the blanket burrito she had made herself into. As a dutiful boyfriend, he had fed her snacks, but getting off of the sofa was a lot to ask.
“They're probably fine right?” That's when they heard the pop and something bouncing down the stairs. Hero just sighed. Just one night, why can't he just have one quiet night? Is that so bad? No, he had to deal with his brother and his hyperactive friends when he's trying to get some cuddle time! Without Mari’s dad trying to threaten him.
“Come on Hero, I’ll make it worth your while.” She said while wiggling and giving him those eyes, those damn smug eyes. “....fine. I want a kiss then.” No way she would- “Deal!”
And he was gone.
“Okay, what's going…” Hero just stared at the scene happening in front of him. The kids were frantically scrambling to stop the flow of water coming from under the sink with towels, the tap was blasting, and there wasn't a single thought between them. Sunny spotted him first. Staring at him with dead tired eyes, he gestured at the gushing sink. “Leak….help.” He pleaded.
Hero sprung into action. He was in his element. “Aubrey, Basil, stuff towels under the door so the water doesn’t leak into the house, Kel, go downstairs and grab all the kitchen towels you can. Sunny, I need you to find a flashlight!” With that, the kids thankfully sprang into action.
Aubrey and Basil were quickly building a towel dam to keep the water off the hardwood. Kel Jumped over it and tore down the steps, earning a scream from his lazy girlfriend. Sunny just plodded off without much a sense of any urgency, of course. With a steadying breath, he slowly opened the cabinet the water was pouring out of.
“Let's see wa- UGLGUBF” Hero didn’t expect to be violently waterboarded while standing, but that's what he got. It knocked him off his feet and seemed to follow his face as he tried to scramble to shut the door again. He slammed it shut, sputtering as Aubrey yelled from behind him. “Stop doing that your making it worse!”
“I just opened the cabinet!”
“Don’t do that!” He rolled his eyes as he heard his brother sprint back up the stairs. He jumped over the tall linen dam and managed to land on his feet, only to slip and go ass over teakettle. Friction, being lessened from all the water, decided to teach this kid a lesson in motion, by having him slide on his back and crash into the wall with a thump.
“How many fingers am I holding up Kel?!”
“...less than 72.” Hero blinked as he looked at his dazed brother. He wasn’t sure if that was sarcastic or genuine, but if he could be witty, he wasn’t concussed. Sunny just slowly stepped over the dam, ignoring Basil and Aubrey franticly picking up the towels that flew all over the room after Kel’s painful slip N slide. He had a flashlight and was currently stuffing a chocolate bar into his mouth as he sauntered on over.
“Wow thanks for the rush, Now hold it up!” Sunny did so but subtly stepped to the side as Hero flung the cabinet doors open. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the water, but none came. When he peeked open his eye, then the water came fast and violent, the flashlight doing nothing to reveal the valve in the murky depths. Sunny was more impressed by the universe's sense of comedic timing if he was being honest.
With grit and determination, Hero opened his eyes, he could barely see or breathe but he would not fail. Great battles and acts of chivalry could kill a man, but the rewards would be great. If he slew this mighty aqua dragon, he would be a kissless virgin no longer! He would just be a virgin! The first step on his journey to manhood!
Mari hopped up the stairs, grumbling that she was cold and wanted snacks. However, her blanket cocoon was much too warm to leave, so she sought out Hero. Only to see the mound of towels bocking half the door, and a frantic pair of hands stacking them higher. In her ignorance, she did the worst thing she could have done and peeked over the edge.
Hero had fought long and hard to find it, but he had a firm grasp of it now. Just one twist and this waterworld would cease to be, or it would have been. In his haste, he had made a classic blunder! He was unaware of the upcoming crummy juncture, but for now, he focused on his victory and turned the valve left.
Sunny watched it, time slowing down as this trainwreck in motion. The gout of water did stop spraying into Hero’s face, but it arched over his head, and ever so higher in the air, heading towards the door. Aubrey’s eyes widened as she grabbed Basil by the torso, and hit the deck yet again, ignoring the indignation from the unexpecting blonde. That majestic arc of high-pressure water continued on its way, just barely over the towel dam, and right into his sister's curious face.
“Hey guys, what-UBGLEGLUUGBGELE” It hit her face with an audible meaty slap as it knocked her witch hat clean off her head. Without her arms to brace her fall, she went down hard. In fact, as she disappeared behind the wall of towels, he heard her yelp and squeal as she noisily fell down the steps, still wrapped up. He had a moment of panic as he rushed over and got on his tippy toes to check on her. Thankfully, she seemed fine. Mostly “Owwwwwwww…”
Looking behind him, he beheld the carnage. Kel was currently upside down, his ass against the wall and his eyes almost spinning, Hero had managed to stop the water, but had been knocked onto his ass by the final blase, and was currently sitting in a puddle, soaked, and looking like he was questioning every decision that made him end up here. And Aubrey and Basil were climbing out of the bathtub, the girl muttering something about Basil eating fewer plants as they nursed their sore bodies.
At times like these, his dad told him there was a special word to use when everything went wrong. It would make you feel better, but you must only use it in the direst of straits. As it was a magical word, one adults would use frequently, but children only had the honor when the time was right. So with a monotone voice, wary of this world of buffoonery. Consequences be damned.
“Well fuck.”