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“YOOOOO WELCOME BACK SUNNY!” Kel said, holding his hand up for a high five from his friend. It was hot outside and they were both sweaty – Kel because he was insane enough to play basketball in this weather and Sunny because the bus that brought him to Faraway didn’t have the best AC – but neither cared. Their hands met with a satisfying SMACK, and so did Sunny’s luggage, rocketing to the ground from the force of their bro-moment.
Sunny shook his hand in the air, trying to get the sting out, and picked his stuff back up.
The pair looked eyes to eyes as Kel grinned down at his little friend. Kel couldn’t put his finger on it, but Sunny had definitely done something new! Something beyond just being kinda gross (summer was just like that). New clothes maybe? Yeah, that had to be it. Sunny was wearing a black tank top, white shorts, and for some unfathomable reason he had gone full middle-aged suburban dad and was wearing black socks and sandals.
“Hmm… did you do something different with your hair Sunny?” Kel said.
Sunny rolled his eyes, “Moron.”
“Hey!” Kel huffed, crossing his arms. “Jeez, why you gotta be so mean to meeeeeee?”
Sunny didn’t so much laugh as he exhaled air through his nose in short little bursts while smiling.
“C’mon dude. Something is different about you, you know I’m no good at this stuff,” Kel said. He tried to picture Sunny in his head, but he looked pretty much like, well, Sunny. Dark hair, pale skin, glassy eyes that stare into his soul but in a good (or at least neutral) way, vaguely Asian… Yeah, no, he was at a loss here. “I give up. Pleeeeeease?”
“Kel. Look me in the eyes.”
Kel did, and, well, they sure were eyes! Look at those. One had a scar, but- “SUNNY YOUR EYE GREW BACK?!”
This time he got actual laughter from Sunny. He was using his vocal chords and everything! Oh geez, he’d really said something super stupid, huh? But y’know what, it didn’t matter if Sunny was laughing at him so long as he was laughing at all!
It was still embarrassing though; Kel rubbed the back of his head, averting his eyes sheepishly, “Um… Guessing not. That’s not a thing, is it?”
Sunny shook his head and lightly headbutted Kel’s chest in one of his weird displays of affection.
Kel rubbed his head. Daaaaw, Sunny really was the group baby, huh? Though the term didn’t make his chest feel tight and heavy back then, but sometimes it really felt like Sunny hadn’t aged past sixteen so much as he just lost some baby fat. Maybe that’s why he got along with Sally so much? Because she was even younger?
“C’mon dude, you probably need a shower. Also, uh… are you literally just wearing pajamas?”
“It’s seven at night.”
“Dude. It’s summer. The sun’s still out…” Kel said. Wait, no. That wasn’t the issue with this. “Why were you wearing pajamas on the bus???”
“Cooler.”
“And the socks?” There was no way socks and sandals were somehow less hot than just sandals.
“I don’t want people to look at my feet…”
“Dude. I don’t think anyone on the bus cares about your feet.”
“They might…”
Kel wasn’t going to win this argument. “C’mon dude! I’ll help you get your stuff!” He grabbed Sunny’s rolling suitcase and pulled it back into the house, taking it up to his room. Hero was living at the house right now so they didn’t exactly have an empty bed, but they’d been gathering pillows and blankets and figured they could help him make a fort, like old time’s sake! And worst case scenario, one of them could use the guest bed in the basement, but Sunny seemed to prefer sleeping with at least one of them also in the room.
“Ah, Sunny’s here?” Hero said, pushing himself up from his desk.
“Sunny’s here!”
“Here, I’ll put his stuff away,” Hero said, taking the suitcase and going over to the area of the closet he’d managed to clear space in – they had both outgrown a lot of clothes (especially Kel), so he’d ran some to a donation center – and had started putting them up when both brothers heard a sound they didn’t expect:
Sally was crying.
Kel got to the pair as fast as he safely could, wondering what could’ve happened, but Sunny was just holding her, albeit in a weird position: her back bent over Sunny’s legs as she screamed and Sunny held her by her lower shirt and a leg. Was she trying to escape?
“Dude. What’d you do?” Kel asked.
“I don’t- nnn…” Sunny whined, looking down at Sally and trying to scoop her up for a hug, or at least to stop being in such a precarious position.
“Sally, what’s wrong baby girl?” Kel said, sweeping her up into his arms. Her little fists clung to his shirt and she pressed her face into him despite the sheen of sweat. Then again, the snot and tears weren’t any less gross. “Aaaw, I gotcha.” He bounced her lightly and she calmed down in seconds. There. All settled now. “There… What happened dude?”
“I don’t know…” Sunny said. His brow was furrowed and he was blinking repeatedly, trying to keep back tears. “Does she not like me anymore?”
“Aaaaw, I doubt that. Maybe she’s just wet or something?” Kel said. He pulled her pants back enough to check her diaper, but it was dry as the Sahara in summer. “Or hungry? No wait, she ate like half an hour ago… but who knows with babies, y’know? C’mon Sally, go to Sunny! Go to Nee Nee!” He pulled her away a little, grinning as she gasped.
“NEE NEE?!” Her little arms waved around as she swung her head around like she was looking for him?
“Pffft, silly girl. Here’s Nee Nee!” Kel said, holding her out to Sunny’s outstretched arms, but she took one look at him and started wailing. Panicked, Kel brought her back, “Alright, alright! No Nee Nee! No Nee Nee!”
Sunny sniffled and Kel realized in dawning horror that he was about to have two crying children. Oh no. “Hey- Hey! C’mon dude! It’s alright! Shh, shh!!! It’s okay, it’s okay…” He shifted Sally into one arm and looped the other around Sunny, mentally swearing as Sally looked over and smacked Sunny directly in the face. “Sally no! No hitting!”
“She hates me…” Oh god Sunny sounded so heart broken. He leaned into Kel’s shoulder, though apparently was more bothered by the smell than Sally since he reared back with a face like a cat displeased by a banana.
Okay, Kel had to laugh a little, “Pffft. That bad?”
“You need a shower,” Sunny said, shaking his head. But apparently Kel’s stench had been enough to stop the inevitable breakdown as he went to sit on the couch, pulling his legs in towards himself.
Kel sat down next to him, but Sally would only briefly look out before pushing right back in. What was he going to do? “Sallyyyyyyy… You’re making Nee Nee sad! Don’t you wanna see Nee Nee?”
“Nee Nee?” She said, sniffling and pulling back to look around. But she slunk away from Sunny, fussing and whining. “Nee Nee? Nee Neeeeeeeeee!”
“I’m right here,” Sunny said, reaching out.
For a moment Sally looked excited, but then she looked up at him and screamed, hiding back in Kel.
Welp. Only one thing left to do. Kel took a deep breath and, “HEROOOOOOOOO!”
“Herooooooooo!” Sunny joined in but quieter.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!” Sally was helping too! Like a very good girl!!! Or maybe she just wanted to scream, who ever knows.
Hero bolted out of the room, staring at the lot of them.
Kel pouted and held Sally out to him, “She wants Nee Nee!”
“Nee Nee??? You mean Sunny?” Hero said. He sighed, “The boy next to you? Like literally right now? You can just, like… stop… holding her?”
“Bro. I’m not that stupid. She wants Nee Nee, but doesn’t seem to recognize Sunny? You’re in med school, right? Do you think she’s okay?”
“She doesn’t…? Oh dear,” Hero said. “Come here…” He started checking her eyes, taking her to darker places, to lighter, mumbling, “seems to be dialating… focus is good… no other problems…” until eventually he came back and sighed, “Not that I can find. There aren’t even any bumps on her head, and she’s been pretty good at not falling lately. Plus babies are surprisingly sturdy. I can’t see why she wouldn’t…”
“I guess we can ask Mom and Dad when they get home?”
“Kel, they’ll be out until midnight at least. Remember?”
“Oh. Right,” Kel said. Their parents had been called to some kind of business trip, trusting Hero and Kel (but mostly Hero) with Sally. “Um… Hmm…”
“What do you think Sun- Sunny?!” Hero’s head swung around as he looked for Sunny. “WE LOST SUNNY!” How did they lose him so fast?! “Oh no, NOT AGAIN!” Why was Sunny so good at being so quiet? He’d always had a talent for it, as Mari could attest.
“Bro, no worries. He’ll come back! He’s, like, sixteen.”
“Yes, but also…”
“Yeah let’s go. C’mon Sally! We’re going on an ADVENTURE!”
“No!”
“Sally please,” Hero sighed.
“No no no!”
“C’mon kid,” Kel said, not even bothering to try negotiating and just carrying her as she screamed, trying to hold onto the doorframe. She cried for approximately five seconds and then just completely stopped for no apparent reason. “Don’t worry bro. She just doesn’t like the doorframe, I guess?”
Hero looked confused, but okay then??? “Geez… I’m trying to remember if you were like that…” It was so long ago, he could barely remember what Kel was like at that age… “Actually, Kel, you go home and call the others. I’ll go look for him.”
Kel stared at Hero until Hero saw sense and took the baby, heading back to the house. Kel took off running as soon as his load was lightened. Literally no one questioned why Kel was running full pelt through town and he wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that, but he did find Sunny pretty fast. “SUNNY!!! There you ar-AAAAAAAH!!!” Kel screamed and jumped back as Sunny turned to look at him, one eye on him and the other almost rolled up in his head, sticking slightly sideways at an awkward angle. His heart raced in his chest as he remembered, oh right, Sunny got a glass eye. Was, um… Was it supposed to do that though?
Oh wait. Sunny was laughing at him. That was completely on purpose.
“Sunnyyyyyyyyy! Why did you do that dude?!”
Sunny snickered, slicking his hair back and adjusting his eye (though it was still off, now facing inwards like he was staring at his own nose), “It was meant for Basil.”
“Pffft- dude, he would scream.”
“That is the plan.”
Geez. His friend was such a gremlin sometimes. It was great. “We scaring Basil then~?”
“I’m scaring Basil. Unless you’re part chameleon.”
“Hey! Maybe I can do it!” Kel crossed his eyes with all his might. “Am I doing it? Is one up and the other down?”
Sunny stared for just long enough for Kel to get suspicious, but before Kel could correct himself, he was smacked in the forehead. “Hey!” He huffed. “What was that for?”
“They’re not stuck…”
“You were trying to make me get stuck cross eyed? So mean…”
“I wanted to know if it was true.”
“What were you going to do if they did?”
“Hero’s a doctor… kinda.”
“Geez,” Kel chuckled. He got behind Sunny, escorting him to Basil’s. Though on that note… “Why are we going to Basil’s?”
“To ask Polly. She’s a caretaker, right?”
“Dude. YOU’RE A GENIUS!”
“Thank you,” Sunny said, blushing softly. They got to Basil’s soon after and Sunny pulled his eyepatch out, presumably for the surprise.
“Oh? Who’s there?” Polly said. She opened the door and grinned, “Sunny! It’s so great to see you again! And you too Kel! Come in! Make yourselves comfortable! I’ll go get Basil.”
The two immediately went to crash on the couch, Kel dive bombing it and then Sunny calmly sitting on Kel’s back, removing the eyepatch. His eye was still off.
“Sunny! Sunny, you’re here!” Basil said, running out to glomp Sunny. Sunny was stiff on Kel’s back, so Kel pushed himself up and made it a group hug. GROUP HUG! Literally none of them smelled good – Kel with his BO, Sunny with the stench of Summer Bus, and Basil reeking of bug spray and dirt – but didn’t care either. Basil grinned, “Sunny! Good to see- EEEEE???” He had spotted the eye, staring at it with a strained smile, an expression closer to a bunny baring teeth than anything: strange to see, trying to be scary, but more silly than intimidating. “Sunny- you, uh- heh. Eye! Eye- I mean, um… Good…”
“Snrk… c’mon dude,” Kel said, patting Sunny’s back.
Polly looked over, raising an eyebrow, “Ah… did you get a glass eye sweetie?” She came over, leaning down to Sunny’s level. “It looks like it moved out of place a little. Do you mind if I put it back in place?”
Sunny was a little red faced, his good eye looking down and his glass eye showing just white. “Go ahead…”
“Look straight ahead, alright?” Polly said. Basil moved aside to let her through and she got up close to move the piece of glass. Sunny shuddered, but overall seemed to take it well. “There you go! How does that feel?”
Sunny blinked a few times, then nodded. “Yeah. Feels right.”
“So, you, um… got a glass eye?” Basil said. He was staring directly at the ground.
“Hey, you okay?” Kel said.
Basil looked down, curling up in on himself. “I… Yeah. Sorry, you’d think I’d be used to it. And I knew why he was wearing an eyepatch all that time, but-”
Sunny wrapped his arms around Basil, pulling him tight, “It’s okay. We- We both hurt each other.”
“It’s really not-”
“Hey,” Kel said, keeping his voice even. He wrapped his arms around both once more. “It’s in the past, alright? If Sunny’s forgiving you, then, y’know, maybe forgive yourself too, yeah?”
“I don’t know if I can…” Basil said, wiping his eyes the best he could. “But I’ll try. Thanks guys.”
“Mm hmm,” Sunny hummed.
“I, um, I like your new eye by the way?” Basil said. “I might not’ve guessed if, well, y’know. I didn’t know what happened. Though I guess the scarring kind of implies it…” There was a bit of scarring around Sunny’s bad eye, though it wasn’t visible earlier?
“Makeup’s running…”
“I guess that’s one way to hide it?” Basil said. “We can get something more water proof. If- if you want, I mean.”
Sunny gave a noncommittal shrug, and then there was silence. Lots of hugs, but also increasingly awkward silence as no one was sure when to break the silence or when it was okay to let go of the others. They were stuck in limbo. A snuggly, but particularly odorous limbo. There were worse fates, but people probably weren’t meant to hug forever, especially when their collective hygiene was questionable.
“So what brings you boys over?” Polly said.
As if on cue, the phone rang.
“Oh, give me one moment to answer this,” Polly said. She walked over, picking it up. “Hello? Oh hello Hero! Yes, Sunny’s here. And Kel is too! What’s that? Ah, you want to talk? It’s for you.” She handed the phone to Sunny.
…
…
…
“Sunny. You, uh… Know phones work verbally, right?” Kel said.
Sunny nodded and continued to say absolutely nothing.
“Is Hero monologuing??? I don’t hear him though,” Basil said.
There was a faint call of , “Sunny? Can you hear me?” from the other side of the phone.
Kel gently relieved Sunny of the burden of speech, taking the phone for himself, “Heya bro!”
“Kel! Can you hear me? Is Sunny okay?”
“Yeah, Sunny’s okay! He’s just, uh… I dunno what he’s doing. I think he either spaced out or he’s messing with you.”
Hero sighed in relief, “Yeah, that sounds like him.” Sally was babbling in the background, thought it quickly turned into a series of thumbs and babbling in the foreground as she presumably stole the phone.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Sally screamed.
Kel snickered, “Hi Sally.”
“BUDDAAAAAAH!”
“Yes Sally, this is your brother. Can you give Hero the phone back?” He could hear her little feet hitting the ground and the clang of the receiver hitting the floor. Then the squeak of sneakers, something else falling, um… “Sally? Is Hero okay???”
A few seconds passed and Sally screamed, but Hero was back on, “Hi Kel. I’m here. Sorry. Sally stole the phone and knocked it down… and then I fell over trying to catch her. Heh, whoops.”
“Geez. Sally, did you get him? Silly girl~”
“Yes, yes she is,” Hero said. “But enough about that. Why are you and Sunny at Basil’s house? Just… why?”
“Huh? OH RIGHT!” Kel held the phone away and asked, “Hey Polly! Sally doesn’t recognize Sunny anymore. Can we bring her over and see if you can figure it out?”
“Hmm? Well, I can’t promise anything, but I can certainly try,” she said.
“Thanks!” Kel picked the phone back up, “Come on over bro! Polly’s gonna help us.”
“Kel… Alright. Alright… I guess that makes sense. See you in a few minutes.”
“See ya!”
Hero hung up the phone and Kel gave it back to Polly. “Thanks Polly. I kiiiinda forgot that I was supposed to be finding Sunny. He kind of immediately wandered off without telling anyone. Again.” He looked at Sunny, trying to hide his secret amusement with a face of being completely unamused (a skill he’d had to learn a lot with Sally recently). “Sunny. Do we need to put a bell on you or something?”
“Nya.”
Basil giggled, “Sunny noooo! You’re not a kitty!”
“Nya~”
Kel rolled his eyes. “Geez. You’re something dude.”
“A cat,” Sunny said.
“Sure thing buddy.”
Again they trailed into silence, though this time Basil was the one to break it. “Does it hurt?”
Sunny tilted his head, so Basil added, “The eye?”
“Not much,” Sunny said. He poked at it, shuddering. “Feels weird… It’s a bit tight, I guess? Like, I can feel it in there, but it’s not my eye. Still, better than… y’know.” He shut his eyes with a sigh. “It’s nice, getting to see it in the mirror again. I can’t see, but it looks better. And feels better too, honestly.”
Basil nodded, “Ah, yeah, I guess that makes sense. There’s supposed to be something there, so it wouldn’t be too bad? Just… alien. Does- does it… does it look at you?”
“Something isn’t real, Basil,” Sunny said with a firmness that Kel wasn’t used to hearing from his friend. “There’s nothing watching me. Or you.”
“Sunny…”
Kel shifted in place, feeling his insides squirm. Part of him wanted to just leave, and maybe it’d have been smarter, but bad things happened when those two are left alone. Even with Polly here, he’s not sure she could stop them both. He wants to believe that it actually is over, that neither of them are a danger to themselves or each other anymore, but he’s not a complete idiot. Sure, he’s not Hero the perfect prodigy, he’s not Aubrey the surprisingly competent leader of the Hoolingang, he’s not even Sunny who can come out after four years and solve half the town’s problems in a single day, bring them all back together, and then almost die in a fight. He’s just… him. Just Kel.
And Kel really was not comfortable with this conversation so he yelled out, “HEY GUYS!” Wait, shit, he didn’t plan anything past this, “Wanna see me do a cartwheel?” Seriously? That was the first thing that came to mind? He couldn’t even do a cartwheel! Or, well, maybe he could now? He had the body strength, but it’s not like he’d tried for a while? But Sunny was nodding and no one was saying no, so he got up and fell to his hands on the floor and, uh… “Guys. I’m stuck.” He didn’t want to fall, it’d hurt! So he just had to, like… stay like this? On his hands? Forever?
Basil lightly pushed him over and Kel yelped as he fell down. “I’M OKAY!”
“You don’t have to yell we are like five feet away,” Basil said, stifling a laugh. “Heh… Kel. You’re so goofy.”
Sunny nodded, but decided to be himself and went over to sit on Kel.
“Welp. Guess I’m stuck.”
“Oh! Are we doing this now?” Basil said, drifting over and awkwardly sitting on Kel’s legs. “This is… Fun?”
Thankfully the awkwardness was interrupted by the doorbell. Basil shot up, “I’ll get it!” and ran over. Hero was here! And so was Sally, being pulled along in her little wagon.
“Hey guys, we’re here,” Hero said.
“Hi Hero,” Basil said.
“Sup bro?”
Sunny just waved.
Hero pulled Sally and her little wagon in, but left all her stuff by the door. He’d packed a diaper, a few snacks, and some juice. Jeez, he had this down, huh? Hero picked Sally up, bouncing her lightly as he spoke to Polly, “Here she is. So far as I can tell, there’s no issues with her vision or anything, and she’s not having this issue with anyone else. I’d say maybe it’s because Sunny’s been away a while, but so have I and she doesn’t do this to me…”
Polly hummed, trying to pick up Sally, but she was having none of it, screaming as this woman she barely knew tried to pick her up.
“Ah, sorry about that! She’s been fussy with certain people lately.”
Polly just nodded, “Don’t worry about it. She’s probably just at that age where she doesn’t like strangers much. Almost all kids have one.”
“But I’m not a stranger… or shouldn’t be,” Sunny said, drifting over to see if maybe she’d recognize him now, but she just hid in Hero. “She hates me…”
“I don’t think she hates you,” Polly said, mussing Sunny’s hair. “But she clearly doesn’t recognize you…” Polly hummed, looking Sunny up and down.
“I mean… nothing normal could’ve done that to him, right? Unless- Unless Sally’s seeing something weird?” Basil said, curling up on himself a little.
“Babies do tend to notice the oddest things. But everything is new to them, they don’t really have any idea what’s ever going on. So even little changes… Oh,” Polly gasped a little, looking at Sunny. “Sunny, you only got that eye recently, right?”
Sunny nodded, “A week ago.”
“Has she ever seen you with it?”
Sunny shook his head, “But wouldn’t two eyes be more normal?”
“Well, to us maybe, but she’s mostly known you with an eyepatch. If you have it, maybe try putting it back on? It might feel like a silly thing, but that could be it.”
Sunny nodded and grabbed the eyepatch from his pocket, putting it back over his glass eye. “Sally? Look at me…”
Sally turned her head out of Hero and gasped, getting a huge grin and shrieking in sheer joy, “NEE NEEEEEEEEEE!” She wiggled, stretching out every possible limb in sheer determination to emulate a video game character whose physics had completely broken, leaving them spasming everywhere.
Sunny couldn’t be happier, given the grin on his face. He scooped her up and hugged her, giggling into her hair and kissing her cheeks, only smiling more when he lightly nommed one and she went, “HEEEEEEEY!”
Kel just watched, glad that the great mystery had been solved and was, in the end, pretty innocuous. Seriously, she just couldn’t recognize him because he seemingly had two eyes now? Geez, babies are weird. But it was kind of cute in a way. Kel didn’t really fancy himself a poet, but even he could see something poetic in her loving him when he was what most adults would consider “damaged”.
Aaaand now Kel was feeling a little sappy. He didn’t want to interrupt those two, so he instead went over and bear hugged Hero.
Everyone was just hanging out amongst the flowering plants of Basil’s house, watching them bloom in the sweet, hot summer air. They’d made it, and somehow they were still here…
“We’re pranking Aubrey with your eye too later, right?” Kel said.
“Absolutely,” Sunny said.
Everything was perfect… Okay maybe not, but they were getting better. They were getting better.