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“Hey, Sunny!”
Aubrey closed the door behind her. She still wasn’t entirely used to the layout of Sunny’s apartment, and it took her a moment to recalibrate. It was a long place, with a small protrusion separating the kitchen and rest of the apartment, with three doors to the left. Aubrey looked around. Things were definitely disturbed. The TV remote didn’t lay flat, there were dishes in the sink (that Aubrey really thought should be cleaned up, but she digressed); things were moved. That meant someone had to be here, right? Sunny only left their place if someone asked or they had to do something — but today was Saturday, and both Basil and Kel were busy. It was their off day. Sunny had to be home.
“Sun?” Aubrey walked around. They weren’t in the kitchen, nor on the couch. Aubrey knocked on their door. “Sun? You in there?”
No response. Aubrey opened the door.
Sunny was curled up in a ball on their bed. The sheets were wildly misshapen with some coming off of the bed a few corners, and the stuffed animal collection that usually sat on their desk so carefully was strewn wildly all over the floor. A pillow barely laying on the desk instead of their bed told them what happened there. Oh, man. Aubrey quickly ran over — first to turn off the lights, then close the curtain, and then to Sunny — and kneeled down in front of them.
“Hey, Sun.” Sunny's eyes fluttered open. “Hey. It’s okay.”
Sunny shook their head. That’s alright. She didn’t know much, but she’d picked up on a bit of sign language from Sunny’s mom and Sunny themselves. Aubrey mimed lifting something before pulling her hand to her chest and up to her neck. "Heavy blanket?"
Sunny nodded. Aubrey smiled back and stood up, going to their closet and looking around for the blanket. After finding it — a surprisingly hard feat, given that there was a rather unexpected amount of blankets in Sunny’s closet — she walked back to Sunny and held it up. Sunny nodded again and Aubrey helped drape it over them.
"Talk?" Sunny shook their head. Aubrey frowned. "Me talk?" Sunny nodded. Good – she was running out of words.
“Hey. It’s okay,” she whispered. “Do you want anything?”
Rather matter-of-factly, Sunny pointed at her. "Hug?" Sunny nodded before retreating their hands back under the blanket. They closed their eyes, prompting Aubrey to stand up and walk to the other side of the bed. The bed and blanket shifted as she laid down behind Sunny, wrapping her arm around their stomach and bringing them into her body. She nustled her head into their shoulder, closing her eyes as well.
For a while, they just laid like this. Every so often Sunny’s breathing hitched and Aubrey squeezed a little tighter before letting go. Whenever Sunny made a noise of discomfort she'd kiss their neck or nuzzle a bit closer, eventually taking one of their hands in hers and squeezing every so often for a bit of encouragement. Sunny's breathing slowly started to calm; as time wore on their hyperventilation slowly became a few strong breaths. Aubrey rubbed her thumb against Sunny's knuckles.
"Somewhere over the rainbow…" Sunny made a noise at that, adjusting their position. Aubrey couldn't help but chuckle. It was a little thing, a silly song that Sunny really only cared about because of their dad, but it meant something to them. "Somewhere way up high, and the dreams that you dream of, once in a lullaby…"
Aubrey stopped singing but continued to hum. Sunny squeezed her hand back after she did – an old way they'd reassured each other since they were kids. She continued to hum as Sunny's breathing continued to slow down. Their faster and sporadic breaths slowly began to be replaced by a steady flow of slow and deep ones, before eventually becoming shallow and calm. Aubrey planted another kiss on their neck.
"I see trees of green, and red roses too..." Sunny sniffed again and Aubrey's eyes flickered open. A small smile was forming on their face, and she couldn't stop one from growing on hers. "I watch them bloom, for me and you, and I think to myself..."
"What a wonderful world," Sunny finished. Aubrey smiled. "Hi."
"Hey," Aubrey replied. Sunny usually didn't start talking for a few minutes after a shutdown – maybe a few hours if it was a bad one. This was rare. Not that she was complaining. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay." Sunny uncurled their legs, moving Aubrey's arm closer to the top of their chest rather than their stomach. "Sorry."
"Hey, it's okay." Aubrey adjusted her head, opening her eyes. "I'm just happy I was here for you. Do you want anything? Some water?"
"No." It was now Sunny's turn to rub their fingers over Aubrey's knuckles, their pinky rubbing over her ring and pinky knuckles. "Just you."
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
"Mm." Sunny closed their eyes. Aubrey laid her chin down on their shoulder. "I was thinking about her again. When I came back to my room, I think I laid down too hard. Or maybe I hit the desk. Davie fell down. He wasn't supposed to fall down. They don't fall down."
"Hey, hey, hey." Aubrey squeezed their hand. Sunny's breathing had picked up again, their eyes opening. "It's alright. We'll put them back up, okay? It's okay."
"God, this feels stupid." Sunny sighed. "I'm sorry."
"If you keep apologizing I'm going to punch you." Sunny's eyes widened before they exhaled and lowered their guard, their breathing normalizing again. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. Yeah, I know it feels like you do. But you don't. Trust me. I've been here. Right here.
"I've had days like this too. It's pretty freaking scary. But you've gotta let it out eventually, right? This isn't your fault. Sometimes this just has to happen."
Sunny didn't reply – not immediately, anyways. They stopped rubbing Aubrey's hands and took their hand away from her's, running it through their hair. Their hand also found their way to Aubrey's. She held back a face as Sunny began to play with her hair, rubbing it through their fingers and against itself.
"You have nice hair."
"I know," Aubrey curtly replied. Sunny chuckled.
"Thank you." Sunny let go of her hair.
"You're welcome." Aubrey snuggled a bit closer into Sunny. "You wanna set up the gang?"
"Later. I need a nap."
Aubrey laughed and closed her eyes.
"Yeah, me too."