Chapter Text
Even when she wasn’t at school she couldn’t eliminate his enchanting, alluring presence from her mind; his fanciful black hair like moving streaks of the night sky itself, glistening with stars hidden under the fluffy exterior. His ever-so adorable face, the way he always seemed to have the most interesting fantasies ever conjured constantly blooming within the seemingly limitless confines of his mind. She often dreamt about seeing those amazing places with him, even if she knew he’d never think the same.
That’s right, she was just a normal, average girl. Worse than that even. They’d never even talked before, although occasionally he caught her staring devotedly at him, gazing upon his majestic appearance as if he was the incarnation of the moon itself. Despite his name, he was like that to her, a guide in the dark of night; her pressing, troublesome life was made so infinitely better just by having him in the same class. He didn’t shine too brightly that it hurt her eyes, she could stare into his tenderness forever in fact, and that went far beyond just his appearance
Sunny was perfect, perfect in every single way possible, even if that shouldn’t be possible. Everything she’d ever dreamt of in a person, somehow living in the exact same town as her, attending the same school, even so much as being the same age. The stars had aligned so much that she could be blessed with the chance to so much as peek at him so often. It felt wonderful, even if it was torment never being able to talk to him.
It wasn’t exactly due to the fact that he wasn’t super outgoing, though he was quite reserved. He wasn’t abundantly busy, even though he had a great group of friends.
No, it was because of a much… different problem. With her specifically. In the end, it’s not like it would matter anyways. Sunny’s friends all seemed to be great people, and she was just an ordinary girl, in fact most people had more interesting things about them. She saw herself just about as bland and useless as possible.
After all, her only interests were about as typical as they come, all basic girlish things really. She didn’t have a passion either like some of the other kids did. She liked the color pink, sweet foods, and beautiful things (such as Sunny). There truly was nothing interesting about her in the end. No reason to talk to her over anyone else.
In fact, Sunny probably found her weird for staring so much, but that was just about all she could do.
She couldn’t help it.
Today however, she was determined. After ultimately failing to make any progress for nearly two years, she’d make a stand at last. Once school was over, she wouldn’t get to see him again for the entire summer; outside of chance encounters. She was so unfathomably fortunate that their school was so small, otherwise her odds of ending up in the same class would be even lower. Regardless, she couldn’t handle another summer without being able to see him at least every now at then.
Life without his grace was like living in an endless abyss of arbitrariness, chaotic objects strewn about the purplish floor. Things just didn’t make sense until he was there. A flashlight in a pitch-black cave. Suddenly there was a reason for everything whenever he was around. A reason to wake up, to endure the sting of her mother’s beatings, or the frantic yelling of a harrowing argument between her parents.
She stared down the person of her limitless affection, sitting on the other side of the slowly emptying classroom from her, as everyone made their way out for lunch. He was smarter than the others, always choosing not to get up until the commotion had died down rather than scramble through the intimidating crowd and its frantic clutter. She’d have time to talk to him, all she needed to do was wait.
There it was; the perfect chance. The line had cleared and he was beginning to get up from his seat; coolly seizing his backpack and adorably placing his supplies inside with the utmost care, like a scene from a movie where the protagonist lets a bird rest on their still finger. Every action of his furthering to demonstrate how he truly must have been the gentlest and most serene person in the world.
She stood up as well, freezing up for a brief moment. She’d been practicing what to say the entire duration of the class, having not paid attention to a single thing in the end. That was fine, after all, first impressions are everything. Sunny was significantly more important than any class, than any star. Nothing would ever change that fact to her.
A fuzzy storm of blackness began to set in around the corners of her vision; perhaps she’d been a little too excited and stood up too quickly, feeling as she started wobbling already and she wasn’t even within fifteen feet of the stunning boy.
Just… give it a moment.
Standing still worked like a charm, and she was thankfully able to recover herself.
Good.
She hesitantly began to take a few steps towards him, planning to intercept, muttering her next sentence repeatedly in her head as if her life were on the line, which as far as she was concerned it was.
“Hey Aubrey!”
NO NO NO NO NO
Basil’s annoying voice entered her ears from behind, stunning her for a brief moment. She couldn’t let him get in the way of things again. He always did this, just when she felt as if she’d finally be able to talk with Sunny, he swooped in to stop her.
“NOT RIGHT NOW BASIL! CAN’T YOU SEE I’M- “
Quiet!
Right, the last thing she wanted was to scare the precious boy, or cause him to think she was a nuisance. It didn’t help how often Basil got in the way of things, but he doesn’t exactly know any better. Not many people seem to understand why Sunny is so amazing, in fact the other girls laughed at her after she ranted for a mere thirty minutes about how truly amazing he was.
“Can you just give me a minute?” She rephrased, hoping he might understand.
“Oh sure, take your time.”
“Right-” She whispered back, turning around before suddenly something unexpected happened. Sunny was… right there… right in front of her…
Her heart began to pound out of her chest as the world collapsed around the girl. She hadn’t realized how close she was to him. In just a moment she’d be able to reach out her own arm and grab him if she wanted too; if that were okay to do in the first place.
It was like staring at one of Basil’s flowers, admiring their divine beauty from up close so as to notice every detail about them. Only, the most magnificent flower in the whole world was standing in front of her, shining luminously, once again akin to the celestial moonlight.
Her excitement was almost too much to contain as little Aubrey’s danced around in her head squealing chaotic and random things like cats meowing for food.
What do I do? He’s right there! Do I say it? What do I say again? Oh no, does he think I’m weird? Am I drooling again?
This is bad this is bad this is terrible oh no-
Excitement Level: 100%
In an instant, everything went black. She could feel her body thrusting itself to the side and crashing against the harsh metal of a chair, followed promptly by her slamming into a desk before even her sense of touch went numb to the outside world.
Ever since she was six years old, Aubrey was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition. Whenever her body produced too much serotonin, her brain shuts down temporarily. This always resulted in complete loss of consciousness.
Her parents couldn’t afford medication for her, but she didn’t want it anyway. As far as she was concerned, it’d just make her sadder all the time. After a while she learned to handle it, and it didn’t happen very often.
She thought she’d finally gotten over it at one point but then it started coming back.
Her condition never left her, and it made it impossible for her to be happy without having to worry that she’d pass out all of the sudden.
I guess… it happened again…
She peeled herself up slowly from the chilly metal desk, taking note that someone must have placed her in the seat while she was unconscious. It took some getting used to, but at this point she was used to constantly waking up all of the sudden like that. A routine had formed eventually that she’d go in to check her surroundings. It was unfortunate to think that she was so used to her condition that it would be like that for her.
In the end, it was the main thing preventing her from talking to Sunny. No matter what she did she’d almost always pass out before she could get to him one way or another. Basil was sometimes there to catch her, being that Sunny often didn’t notice since he usually couldn’t see what was going on, whether it be that it happened behind his back or that there was a crowd around her.
Basil usually just ended up getting in the way of things though.
She noticed a sudden frosty feeling on her forehead, covering up an aching pain from where she must have hit. It wasn’t a bag of ice cubes like usual, rather a soft gel ice pack. It felt comfy resting against her head.
“Sorry about that Basil…” She groaned, “I guess I-“
Sitting on the desk in front of her was her usual friend of course, but to his right however, as she had just noticed, was none other than Sunny himself, bearing an expression with a sign of worry on his face. Even having never actually talked to him she could tell how he must have been feeling at certain times. After all, he wasn’t that difficult to read as long as you simply paid attention.
Her face suddenly burned red, not even the ripest tomato could match the vibrant color of her fluster, realizing that Sunny himself had been waiting the entire time for her to wake up. That he was worried for her, although that part wasn’t exactly shocking, outside of it being her that his unyielding care was directed towards.
Of course, this only served to worsen her panic.
Excitement Level: 90%
“She’s awake!” Basil yelped as she plunged her face into the desk to hide her blushing mess. “Does anything hurt? Sunny gave you his ice pack since I didn’t have anything on me.”
He…
He gave…
He…
Heeeeee-
Excitement Level: 100%
“Aubrey?”
Basil lifted himself from his chair, Sunny following shyly behind.
“You saw that, right Sunny?”
He nodded back, she was definitely awake a second ago if they both agreed on that, unless she did all that while unconscious.
Sunny watched as Basil slowly peeled Aubrey’s limp head off the desk, a foaming puddle of drool leaking out from the sides of her mouth, causing him to quickly place it back down before backing away.
“I umm… I suppose she was just having some kind of a dream then?” He nervously chuckled, unaware of why she was like this so often. “Anyways, you should probably get going, you said your friend was waiting for you right?”
“W-Will she be okay?”
“This tends to happen a lot actually, it’s fine. I’ll keep looking out for her until she wakes up.”
Sunny still seemed nervous to leave after having seen her plummet so suddenly. They were lucky that she landed on the desk first otherwise, well…
He stopped himself from wondering further what might happen, fully aware that his mind would picture it in as gory detail as possible. Instead, he simply stared at the girl, contemplating eating lunch here instead. Oddly enough, she didn’t seem to have any food with her; her backpack laying wide open and being visibly stuffed with books. If Mari was here, she’d certainly give her something to eat, especially after witnessing her pass out all of the sudden like that.
“Sunny? What’s going on?”
“She doesn’t… have a lunch today… so I was going to… give her some of mine.”
“Oh, that’s kind of you… actually, I don’t usually see her eat much. She probably has a snack or two in her backpack that she planned on having.”
“Is that… all?”
Mari would never let him get away with eating so little in his life. But maybe this was just a thing she did? Mari tried going on a diet one time, thought it only lasted for about a week until she succumbed to Hero’s magnificent cooking.
He packed more than he planned to eat anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to just share some of it then. Right? It’s not like she had to eat it or anything.
Suddenly Aubrey’s hand flinched, he watched as she peeked her head up just slightly so that they could barely see her eyes, letting out a cute squeak. Perhaps she was just embarrassed by the whole thing, fainting all of the sudden when, from the little Sunny had seen of her, she often bore a tough attitude whenever she could.
He peeked into the lunchbox to see what Mari had packed for him this time around, taking note of a delicately crafted sandwich, sliced perfectly into two triangles, a bag of off brand chips, as well as a juicy green apple. He certainly didn’t need all of that, in fact he was hardly feeling hungry at all today.
“Aubrey? You’re awake right?” Basil called out to her, beginning to trot towards the door, “I just realized I have to go get my lunch from the cafeteria, so I’ll see you later then. Take care!”
His sudden exit left only the two of them in the room together. Sunny hadn’t ever been in this type of a situation; in fact, he hadn’t talked to a girl other than his own sister in perhaps his entire life. Something fuzzy began to jumble his thoughts, admiring her long dark brown hair, as well as the petite bow that adorned it. That adorable little shriek from just a moment ago. Perhaps, he thought she looked cute. Still, that was awkward to think about.
The more he contemplated the more he rushed himself, hoping to leave as quickly as possible.
Hastily he unpacked the sandwich from his lunch bag and placed in atop a paper towel in front of her on the desk alongside his bag of chips which he was somewhat reluctant to part with.
“I hope you umm… like it. Sorry if…”
What was he sorry for? Why is he getting this shy around her all of the sudden?
Averting his gaze from her head, he swiftly grabbed hold of his backpack and lunchbox and made his own abrupt exit as well. “I have to… go eat lunch with… my friend now… he’s probably wondering where I am so…”
Why can’t he just speak in a way that make’s sense?
Actually, where were her friends?
Should he stay?
Instead, he simply resorted to rushing out the door, overwhelmed by his thoughts. Maybe he could think about it first, or bring it up with Mari. He was probably making her uncomfortable anyway.
Aubrey, now left alone, gently lifted her head from the table, noticing the gross puddle of drool she’d left behind on it. The glowing red on her face slowly began to fade as a frown began to form.
She just couldn’t manage to say anything to him, could she? It was always like this. She wasn’t even like this normally either. She’d stopped passing out years ago and then it all just came back… as if it wanted to stop her.
Maybe… this wasn’t a good idea.
She stared at the gifts he’d left behind, chips and a well-made sandwich on pale white bread. It made her blush at first, thinking about how he so thoughtfully cared for her but… at the same time… was that even because of who she was? He only cared because she toppled over and hit her head, an inconvenience to him in the end. All because she just couldn’t handle herself.
She was cursed in the end. That she’d found such a remarkable person, her own moon. That shimmering like in the vast darkness that was the struggles of her life. But she could only sit and stare at it from so very far away. And, to top it all off, it felt like simply watching it from afar was never enough. She wanted more. She wanted to be able to say “Hello” every morning at school, or go hang out with him and his friends on hot summer days. Or be able to talk about her problems, and then listen to his own.
Tears began to form in her eyes as she reached out for the scrumptious sandwich, shoving it in her mouth to quell her lingering misery. It tasted remarkable. She didn’t even know sandwiches could taste so delectable and yet it still felt so uncannily hollow. Like a note played on a broken piano. In the end it was simply a tiny distraction from her problems. No matter how sweet the thought was.
She couldn’t tell anyone either; obviously not her parents. Basil would probably find it weird, the way she thinks of someone she’s only ever watched. If only she could just talk to him instead of all of this.
But… these past two years of school that she’d known him simply proved the opposite. The first, she never tried getting close and, this past year has only shown the same results.
Face it Aubrey, you’ll never be able to say anything to him.
She wasn’t one to simply accept her fate but… after things like this she’d let it set in for a while. It was an endless cycle, and she was bound to try again soon.
Maybe, before summer, there was a chance it would work out. Technically, she’d made some progress today.
She probably just came off as a nuisance though.