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“Maaaariii! You got a package!”
Mari gets up from her late afternoon piano practice, sudden excitement in her heart as she bounds over towards the sound of her dads voice. He’s holding something, a small box of something that she ordered online a while ago, and it finally came in!
“Thank you!” She excitedly takes it from him as she comes up to her room with it. Sunny is laying down in his bed, playing his game boy as she barges in, slamming the box down onto her bed. He looks over curiously, as Mari tuts a little bit. “Uh-uh, Sunny! Don’t touch that, or try and open it, ok? I’m gonna be right back.”
Sunny watches as Mari leaves the room, maybe to use the bathroom or something. Sunny looks over at the box. Well, obviously he’s gonna open it. He picks at the tape carefully so he can put it back once he opens the box. He quietly removes the tape and opens it up.
He takes in a sharp breath and almost lets out a scream as he sees a giant grey spider, but on closer inspection, it’s just a picture of a spider. He picks up the box and reads the label. “Chocolate spider legs”.
Suddenly, Mari hugs him from behind, surprising him as he flails a bit in her grasp. “I told you not to open it silly! Now you’re gonna get visited by the tickle monster!” Mari shoves her hands under Sunny’s armpits and starts tickling him, making Sunny squeal and laugh. He twists and manages to escape, grabbing a nearby pillow to use as a shield. Mari has her hands up with an evil look on her face, ready to pounce again, before they both flinch hearing their dad yell up from the living room.
”Oi! Don’t be so loud!”
The energy between them now ruined, Mari sighs and sits down on her bed as Sunny comes over cautiously and sits with her, looking at the box that she has and making a grossed out face. Mari giggles. “Aw, what’s the matter Sunny? Don’t you want one?” Sunny shakes his head a lot, making Mari giggle again.
”How come you got these?” Sunny looks up at her as he asks the question.
”Oh, you know. Reasons!” Mari can hardly contain her devilish smile as she imagines what’s gonna happen. This is gonna be soooooo funny.
- - - - - - - -
”Oh, Heeeeeroooooo~!” Mari walked up to Hero and Kel, Hero watching Kel play on the monkey bars. Hero’s face brightens up and flushes a bit as she approaches, Kel waving wildly and almost falling because of it.
”Hey Mari! Look, I can hang upside down from the bars now!” Kel proceeds to demonstrate his newfound ability, twisting his body until he is hanging just by his legs. “The hard part is getting between the bars!”
Mari claps nicely. “Good job Kel!” Kel grins widely as he swings his body back and forth.
”Don’t stay like that too long or else you’ll get a headache Kel.” Hero warns his brother as Mari comes in closer while he’s not looking, arms behind her back as she bumps him with her hip.
”Aw, you’re not gonna say hi to me, Hero?” Mari puts on a fake pout as Hero nervously stammers.
”U-oh! Sorry Mari, um.” He flicks his hair with a flourish as he puts on his best ‘handsome boy’ face. “Greetings fair maiden, how are you doing this fine morning?”
Mari and Kel both retch comically as Hero giggles a bit. “Ewwwwww! I was gonna give you something, but never mind!”
”Give me something? What do you mean?” Hero tilts his head quizzically as Mari smiles widely. She opens the box behind her back and pulls out a couple long chocolate sticks, showing them to Hero.
”Ta-da! It’s fancy imported candy! I figured you might like it!”
”Oh!” Hero takes one as Mari tries to keep herself from giggling. “Is this one of those ‘pocky’ things you were talking about?”
”Mmmm, something like that!” Mari’s grin grows wider as Hero takes a bite of the chocolate.
”Mmm, this is pretty good! Nice and soft and stuff, with some crunchy bits in there.”
”Yeah, the crunchy bits really make it work. You wanna know what they are?” Hero nods as he finishes the chocolate stick, swallowing what he ate. Mari’s grin gets devilish as she sways back and forth. “Spider legs.”
Hero blinks as he stands there dumbfounded, unsure of what he just heard. “H-huh?” Hero then shakes his head, a smile growing on his face. “H-haha, Mari. There’s no way I’d fall for a trick like that, you’ll have to try a bit ha-” Mari then shows him the box she was hiding behind her back, which made him go quiet. “O-oh.”
”Hehehe, you should see the look on your face!” Mari giggles, her eyes closed as Hero puts on a strained smile.
”Ye-yeah, haha. Um.” Hero swallows nervously. “C-could you watch Kel for a minute? I need to. Do. Something.”
Mari tilts her head. “What kind of-”
”Thanks!” Hero waves as he speed-walks away towards what Mari assumes to be his house. Hmm. Honestly, not the reaction she would’ve thought she’d get. She figured there would be more cute screaming. Oh well.
Mari turns towards Kel, who has turned himself right-side up on the monkey bars. “What about you Kel? You want a spider leg chocolate?”
”Ew, no! Gross!” Kel makes a face as Mari laughs.
- - - - - - - -
A couple days pass and everyone decides to meet up in the treehouse to play some games! Sunny excitedly walks slowly, his deck of cards with him. The boy really loves texas-hold-em and blackjack. As for Mari, she of course cooked a nice bunch of cookies for everyone! Of course the hard part, she thinks to herself as she looks up at the ladder that Sunny is currently climbing, is getting up there with one hand. Of course, she put the cookies in a small bag, figuring out the solution months ago as she puts the bag in her teeth, climbing up the ladder with relative ease.
”Heeey everyone! Cookies are here!” Mari muffledly announces as Sunny finishes climbing up. Aubrey and Kel are already sitting down as Hero looks over from the corner with Basil. Hero walks over and offers his hand to Mari as she comes up, giving Mari a wide toothy grin. “Oooooh, my Hero~.” She grabs his hand as Mari brings herself up, opening her mouth and grabbing the bag with her other hand. Mari grins as Sunny puts his deck on the table as Basil walks over to him, smiling.
The two still hold hands as they walk into the treehouse, Mari setting her bag down on the nearby counter. She lets go of Hero’s hand as she opens up the bag, taking a cookie out. “And as always, Hero gets the first one, hehe!”
”Awww, thanks Mari.” Hero grabs the chocolate-chip cookie from Mari and starts to open his mouth, but then pauses for a second and just…looks at the cookie. The rest of the kids are talking amongst themselves, but also clearly watching them, waiting for the opportunity to grab their own cookie.
Mari confusedly tilts her head. “Hero?”
“Ah! Oh, haha.” Hero jumps a little as he laughs nervously, setting the cookie down. “Sorry, I just, uh, realized I’m not hungry.”
”Not..hungry?”
”Yeah, everyone else can have the cookies, it’s ok, haha.” Hero grins widely, scratching the back of his head as Mari frowns a bit.
”But, you always eat my cookies…..pleeeeeease Hero?” Mari sidles up to him and brings her head onto his shoulder in the way she does whenever she wants him to do something. Hero, to Mari’s complete surprise, waves it off.
”No, really, I can’t eat anything else right now, haha. Go on everyone! Grab some of Mari’s cookies before they’re gone!” At that, all the kids excitedly went around the bag and grabbed a couple of cookies for all of them, then returned back to the table, Hero sitting amongst them as Sunny starts shuffling the deck. Mari stands there for a moment before slowly walking over and sitting next to Hero. She looks downwards, bringing her hand towards her own heart, thinking that everyone is busy with their game of cards right now.
Why did that…….hurt so much?
- - - - - - - -
Okay, this is getting ridiculous now. Mari harumphs as she finishes making her 5th batch of cookies this week. Every time that she’s offered him a cookie recently, he’s turned it down! Every time! What the hell is his problem! Everyone else is going crazy for them! HE used to go crazy for them! What the hell changed?! Always making some sort of goddamned excuse. ‘Oh, I need to watch my weight’, ‘Oh, I need to save my stomach for mom’s dinner tonight, it’s a big one, haha!’ Always with the “haha”s. God.
He’s not gonna escape getting his cookies this time around. The two of them are gonna be watching Aubrey today, and Aubrey thankfully doesn’t make gross faces when she and Hero get romantic. So they’re gonna get romantic, and she’s gonna give him his cookies, and he’s gonna EAT THEM, DAMNIT!
She thinks this as she hurriedly puts the cookies in a little bag, and makes her way to Faraway Park.
Ok, Mari. You need to put on the mega charms. Lean into him like crazy, bump him at every opportunity. Be like a fucking cat who’s asking for treats. Put on your best smug face, and act like he’ll already do it for you, like he would have so many times before because her cookies are delicious and full of love. Like he always says.
Full of love.
Her love.
But first, you need to calm down.
She takes a moment to breathe in and out, in and out. Phew. She puts on her best smile and a little pep in her step as she comes into view of the park, waving at Aubrey and Hero who were already there, sitting at a far-off corner of the park next to the trees. She’s hiding the bag of cookies behind her back as she sits down with them. “Hey you two! Having fun together?”
”Yeah! I’ve been showing Hero my spinning skills!” Aubrey does a twirl 3 ties in a row and then jumps, landing it decently well. Both Hero and Mari clap enthusiastically.
”Good job, Aubrey! You could probably do ballet or something!” Hero grins as he compliments her, Mari deciding now would be a good time to sidle right next to him and put her head on his shoulder. Hero flinches a bit at the sudden contact, but relaxes into it pretty nicely. He’s still too shy to put his arm around her, which is cute.
Although with how he’s been rejecting her cookies, maybe he’s not putting his arms around her because he just doesn’t l-
She brings out the cookies from behind her quickly and suddenly. “Look what I’ve goooooot!”
”Wow, Mari!” Aubrey’s eyes go wide as she sees them. “You’ve made so many cookies lately!”
”Well, what can I say? I caught the cooking bug, eheh. Hero probably rubbed off on me.” She grabs his arm and snuggles her head into it, surprising Hero a bit and making him blush. She’s never been this physical before! “So, Hero~.” She suddenly gets real close to his face, doing that cute smug grin he likes, making him even more flustered. God, they haven’t even kissed yet, and she’s just so close to him! She then suddenly brings a cookie up between their faces. “Would you do me the honor of eating the first cookie, handsome~?”
”Uh, uh, um.” Hero looks to the left, then to the right, then back at Mari, still wearing her smug grin. “Um. I………..” The silence goes on, for an uncomfortable amount of time, before Hero shakes his head no. “S-sorry, I, uh……”
Mari’s face visibly falls as she gets rejected. Again. She starts trembling as she looks downwards, her grip tight on the cookie. Hero concernedly brings his hand to her shoulder.
“H-hey Mari, are-”
”Why.” Hero is taken aback as Mari looks up at him angrily.
”Wh-I don’t-”
”Why aren’t you eating my cookies anymore Hero? And don’t give me any of your usual bullshit!” She points a finger in his face as he starts to speak up. “I know there’s an underlying reason, so tell me!”
”I just-”
”Do you not like me anymore? Is that why?”
”Wh-what!? No, it’s-”
”Then why, Hero!?”
”It was the chocolate spider thing you gave me!” Hero shouts his answer out quickly and loudly before Mari can interject again.
”Huh?!” Mari looks at him exasperated and confused.
”I…” Hero sighs. “I know it’s stupid, but every time I look at chocolate nowadays, I just…keep thinking about spiders, and spider legs and it’s just…” Hero shakes his head agitated.
Mari stands up suddenly, gripping the bag tightly. “You’re telling me you haven’t been eating my cookies all because of your…dumb, stupid spider phobia!?”
”Wh-I…I-”
”I work hard on these!” Tear’s start coming out of the corners of Mari’s eyes as she starts yelling louder. “I work hard because I want you to eat them, and your stupid fear of spiders is just getting in the way of that?! There’s not even any spiders in these cookies! What is your problem!?”
Hero’s own eyes start tearing up as he brings his hands together, gritting his teeth. “I-it’s not…I can’t help-”
”You can’t help what, Hero?”
Hero’s hands tighten into fists as he tries to speak. “I-it’s your fault in the first pl-place! Y-you gave me th-those chocolate s-spider things…”
”What does that have to do with anything?!”
”I-I know it’s dumb, but I can’t just stop thinking like, ‘what if she put spiders in these too’, and-”
Mari feels a hot flash of anger rise from deep within her. ”Just stop being a fucking pussy and take my cookies already, damn it!” Mari shoves the bag in front of Hero’s face, hot tears streaking down her own.
Hero is silent for a moment, looking up at her from the ground. Mari gasps a little as tears start running down his face. His hand goes to his mouth as he chokes out a sob, then he gets up quickly, stumbling at first as he bumps into Mari and starts running away, Mari dropping her cookies from the collision. She looks at him run off, dejected. She looks at the bag of cookies, her love covered in dirt and grass, spilled all over the ground. She looks over at Aubrey-
Aubrey!
Oh god she forgot she was here! Aubrey’s own face is covered in tears as she’s curled up in a ball, looking at where Hero and Mari were, as Mari comes up to her hurriedly. “Oh my goodness, Aubrey. Hey, hey are you ok?”
Aubrey sniffles as she shakes her head, Mari bringing her in to a hug as she sobs into her shoulder. “A-a-a…are you and H-hero gonna b-break up?”
”Noooo, no no no.” Mari says automatically, honestly not quite believing it herself, saying it as much to comfort herself as it is to comfort Aubrey. “It’s just…it’s…w-we’ll work it out.”
Aubrey clings to her harder as Mari rubs her back, looking towards where Hero ran away to.
It’ll work out, right?
- - - - - - - -
Mari sighs deep into her pillow. These last couple of days have been so rough. Hero is straight up avoiding her in school now. Any classes they have together, he just ignores her completely! And at lunchtime, when Mari tried to prod him, and try to go back to teasing him like she did before, the look he gave her…… It was so. Angry. A “stay away from me” kind of anger. She had never seen Hero like that before. And then he just left, to eat lunch somewhere else. It was honestly heartbreaking. It took all Mari had not to burst into tears right then and there.
”Are you ok, Mari?” Sunny looks over towards her from his bed, concerned.
”Oh, yeah, it’s…I’m fine, Sunny.” Mari attempts to give a warm smile, but it fails spectacularly, looking strained and tired.
Sunny is silent for a moment before he speaks up again. “You know, Aubrey told me. About things.”
”O-oh.” Mari turns herself towards the ceiling, hands across her chest. “Sunny? If, like, I somehow made it so that every time you ate steak you thought of spiders, would you hate me?”
”Yes.” Ouch. Not one to mince words, even if he is being slightly teasing.
Mari sighs deeply. “I think…I think I did bad, Sunny.”
Sunny kicks his feet a little as he sits up on his bed. “Well…sorry usually helps, right?”
”I don’t know if it will, though. It’s just…i dunno how I can actually make it better.”
Sunny shrugs as he lays back down. “You have to make him not think of spiders anymore.”
”Yeah…..” Make him not think of spiders when eating chocolate anymore, huh…. ”Yeah.” Mari’s brain starts kicking into overdrive, as an idea rushes and fills her head. “Yeah! Yeah that could work!” She springs up as she gives Sunny a great big hug. “Oh, thank you Sunny, you’re the best little brother I could ask for!” Sunny hugs her tightly too as she pats his head. The two then separate, with Sunny giving a thumbs up. “Hey, you wanna help me cook something?” Sunny nods as the two head towards the kitchen.
- - - - - - - -
”It’s over this way!” Basil leads Hero on through the park, Hero holding a flower pot, looking both ways as he does, before immersing himself in a certain thicket of trees.
”In the secret hideout? What sort of rare stuff could grow there?”
”Oh you know, it’s a super rare flower! Very pretty, I always wanted one! But I needed someone with a…delicate touch to help me get it.”
Hero nods. Kel would be happy to help, but would be way too enthusiastic about it. And he’s not sure Sunny can do hard labor, much less delicate hard labor. “Well, I’m happy to help regardless.”
”Thank you so much Hero, I knew I could count on you!” Basil smiles secretly to himself as they finally make it to the clearing, and what Hero saw almost made him drop his pot.
It was Mari, on a picnic blanket, two plates set down, and a basket next to her. She’s wearing something casual, but makes her look really good: A nice purple vest, white undershirt, and purple long skirt, tied together with a nice red tie. Honestly, even if Hero feels angry at seeing her, he has to admit she still looks good.
Speaking of, Hero looks downwards at Basil, who is seemingly shocked at the situation. “Oh, wow! Hero, look, it’s Mari! And she’s all nice and dressed up and stuff!” He takes the pot out of Hero’s hands. “You can go and talk to her, I can get the flower myself!” Basil walks off in a random direction, seemingly casual as he disappears into the bushes.
Hero breathes in, then lets out a deep sigh. So. This is how it is, huh? All right, fine. He slowly walks his way over to the picnic blanket, stone-faced as he approaches. Mari gives her usual smug smile as he gets closer. “What’s cookin’, good-lookin’?”
”I’m not in the mood for that, Mari.” Hero sits himself down in front of her as Mari’s face falls, feeling an intense sting from that remark. Ouch. Really fucking ouch. The two remain silent and still for a bit as Mari opens her picnic basket, revealing a bowl of fresh hot food.
”I…I made omurice. If you…want some?” Mari looks up at Hero, hopeful, a tinge of hurt still entering her voice even if she didn’t mean to.
Hero sits there for a little bit, looking over at Mari, then the omurice, then at Mari again. “Ok.”
Mari brightens up again almost immediately. “Great!” She gets to work putting some on both of their plates, handing Hero a spoon to eat it with. “Hehe, Sunny helped with this, you know. He was really enthusiastic about it too.”
”Is that so?” Hero looks over at Mari flatly. “You sure you didn’t put spiders in these too?”
”Wh-no! No, I di- I wasn’t-.” Mari stops her stammering as Hero chuckles, taking a bite out of the omurice. Oh. He was joking. Mari leans back as she takes her own bites. It’s pretty stellar, just as she thought it would be. And so the two ate in silence for a little bit, both making glances at each other but avoiding eye contact when the other notices. Finally, about halfway through the meal, Mari sighs, her fork hand falling.
”I’m……sorry.”
”Hm?” Hero swallows the food he had in his mouth as Mari continues to speak.
”I went too far. I said…very, very mean things to you and I just…” Mari starts tearing up as she shakes her head slightly. “I was so worried when you stopped eating my cookies when you always loved them before, and…” She sniffles as she wipes her tears. “I got so worried, I thought you didn’t like me anymore and I was so frustrated and I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry. An-and I know that it’s cause of the spider stuff, but when you said it was my fault, I just…snapped and I know it’s no excuse and I’m just sorry.” She brings her hands up to her face as she keeps crying, tears falling off her face in huge drops.
Hero is stunned at her apology for a moment, but as she keeps crying, he crawls over and hugs her close to him, surprising Mari. He begins rubbing her back as Mari clutches him close, nuzzling in his chest. She looks up at him with wet eyes, seeing his genuine smile and caring, loving eyes looking at her. Right at her. “S-so….you forgive me?”
Hero leans down and kisses her forehead. “Yeah, I forgive you.” Mari is stunned for a moment, before Hero realizes what he did and becomes stunned too. Oh god, they haven’t even kissed properly yet, and he just kissed her forehead like it was nothing!
Mari puts on a pouting face as she snuggles in closer to Hero. “Hey, you could’ve just kissed me on the lips instead of the forehead you know.”
”Ah, uh….y-yeah I-I guess so!” Hero nervously laughs as Mari’s smug face returns, her bringing her arms around his head and putting their foreheads together. Hero gasps lightly as he takes in the beautiful lady completely in front of him, her face so close to his.
”Well~? What are you waiting for?” Stunned, Hero brings his own hand up towards Mari’s face and gently, chastely pecks her lips with his own.
Wow. She didn’t think he would actually do it. She feels her heart soar as her lips connected with his. Her need to feel it soar again overrode any desire to tease him as she begins kissing him over and over again, on the mouth, on the face, everywhere she could reach. Hero laughs at the sudden overaffection that Mari is showing him, barely able to keep up with his own kisses.
Soon, the two of them manage to calm down, panting and holding each other and looking at each other with pure, simple adoration. They stay like that for a long, long while, just looking at each other, occasionally giving each other another kiss on the lips, and simply enjoying each other. Then they remember their food and both quickly get back to eating it before it gets cold.
With a satisfied sigh, they both finish the omurice. Mari smiles widely. This could not have gone any better. And now, it’s time for phase 2 of the plan.
”Alright Hero, I’m gonna do a little therapy on you!” She reaches into the picnic basket and brings out her cookies, again in a small bag, and places them next to her. Before Hero can question what she means, she moves the plates off of the blanket and pats her thighs. “Come over here, you’re gonna lay your head in my lap.”
Hero’s face burns brightly as she says that. He doesn’t even consider anything else as he lays his head down in her lap, face looking up towards her, smiling dumbly. Mari smiles back as she begins patting his head, running her hands through his hair, softly scratching his scalp, listening to his sounds of enjoyment as she reaches over and takes a cookie out of the bag.
”Open wide, Hero~.” Hero does as he’s told, opening his mouth and biting off a chunk of cookie as Mari keeps patting him and massaging his scalp and scratching his head. “Now, everytime you have some chocolate.” He bites off another piece of it. “Instead of thinking about silly ol’ spiders, you’ll be thinking of me~.” He finishes off the cookie as Mari reaches for another one. “You’ll be thinking of my love, and my kisses, and everything else about me.”
Hero lets out a content sigh as Mari continues pampering him. Unbeknownst to the two of them, a nearby Basil snaps a picture, giggling to himself as he walks off out of the secret hideout. Despite his mischief, Basil is secretly very glad and very relieved.
It looks like they really, truly love each other after all.