Chapter Text
Basil was prepared for another hellish day at school. He'd already brushed his teeth, eaten breakfast, gotten dressed, taken a shower and packed his lunch on his own, and now he was already out the front door.
The school itself wasn't 'hellish', as even though the system was heavily flawed, it paled in comparison to some of the students. And by 'some', he meant a certain someone. Someone and their gang.
That someone was a girl named Aubrey. She was a semi-delinquent with long, pink hair, teal contacts and a blue bow, a yellow and white varsity jacket, a black crop top, a blue skirt and multicolored shoes, not to mention her favorite item; a baseball bat that was also chock full of nails. Just thinking about the weapon gave Basil a couple of sweatdrops, as one swing from that bat could murder someone.
It wasn't only Aubrey Basil had to worry about, though, as she also had a friend group with her. That friend group consisted of five other people who mostly followed Aubrey around and helped her with whatever she needed to do to harass Basil.
God... Basil feared Aubrey with every fiber of his being, and he always tried to avoid her and her friends at all costs. After all, an injured leg is better than whatever injuries the group of hooligans might bestow upon him.
His train of thought was abruptly derailed by a bright light shining directly onto Basil's eyes. He shielded himself and looked away before realizing that it was simply the sun in it's full glory. Right. The forecast predicted a sunny day today, and it was right for once. Basil appreciated it because the weather was finally something other than cloudy or rainy. Basil disliked it because it made it harder to concentrate on his surroundings, which he needed to do if he wanted to be prepared for an ambush from Aubrey's gang.
Whether he was focusing or not didn't matter anymore, though, as Basil had arrived on school grounds without getting harassed on the way. Judging by the giant clock in front of the school doors, he was 30 minutes early, but he wasn't the only one there. Students were scattered around everywhere, and the students from swim practice were teetering across the hot granite floor. Makes me glad I don't use the pool, Basil thought, making himself chuckle in the process. Not that anyone would be watching, of course.
After admiring the view, which seemed alien due to the sunlight, Basil started heading for the building, proud of himself for not having to encounter Aubrey on the way when he froze, suddenly overcome by an overwhelming feeling of being watched. Shit, I forgot that she sometimes waits for me to arrive before attacking. The voices that chimed in shortly after confirmed his suspicions.
"Come on, Kim, let's go teach Basil a lesson," Aubrey's voice said.
"Ooh, can't wait!" another voice echoed. Kim, Basil recognized. Kim was a bratty girl with red glasses, sideswept brown hair and an oversized hoodie.
Basil turned around once he heard the footsteps, and, sure enough, Aubrey and Kim were approaching him. "W-Wait, guys, w-we can talk about this-" Basil's mind went into autopilot instantly. Basil, what the hell?! This is the reason you get targeted in the first place! It was too late to change course, though.
"Shut up, nerd," Kim interrupted. "Since you didn't learn from last time, we have to teach you again."
"Teach me what?!-" Basil began. What do you mean 'lesson'? What do you expect me to learn from getting beaten up daily, Kim?!
"We said shut up, you little brat!" Aubrey raised her bat, and Basil backed away on instinct. Even though Aubrey promised the hooligans that she'd only use the bat for intimidation purposes, and they took promises very seriously, thank goodness, Basil always shuddered when she brought it out due to the danger of it. "Now, Kim..." Aubrey continued speaking. "On the count of three... One!"
Upon hearing the signal, Kim ran up and kicked Basil in the stomach, sending him to the ground. He clutched his stomach in pain instantly as he saw blood beginning to seep out of his knees and elbows from the friction of the floor. The worst of it went out quickly, though, and Basil was able to sit up for a few seconds before Aubrey and Kim brought him back down by kicking him in the legs, back and arms repeatedly, and Basil's heart hurt with pain due to getting attacked from all sides. The onslaught continued exactly like that for an unknown amount of time until Basil stopped feeling anything anymore.
~~~~
"Hello?"
Basil kept his eyes shut.
"Hellooo?"
Basil still kept his eyes shut.
"Are you there?"
This time, Basil opened his eyes. The first thing he could make out was a boy crouching over him with a concerned expression. He had black, messy hair, extremely dark brown eyes that looked like black ones, pale skin and an outfit that was exactly like Basil's, except there was no flower pin and the vest was colored black instead of yellow.
"...You're awake. Are you okay?"
After giving himself a few seconds to breathe and regain his composure, Basil sat up. "I'm fine," he said as the boy motioned his arms, ready to catch Basil if he gave out to the floor.
"You don't look fine."
"I'll get over it soon enough," Basil said, shrugging. "Not the first time."
"Not the first time?!"
"..." Basil took the boy's expression contorting from nervousness to worry as a cue to stop. "I'm fine, really. What's your name anyway?"
The boy hesitated for a few moments. "My name's Sunny. Sunny Suzuki." He extended a hand to Basil.
"That's a pretty name..."
"I know. What's yours?"
"Basil." Basil took Sunny's hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Basil." They shook hands quickly before Sunny helped Basil back to his feet.
Sunny watched as Basil wiped the dust off his clothes quickly before resuming conversation. "Second period is about to start, so we should go."
"Wait, what?" Basil was taken aback by the revelation, and he took a glance at the giant clock on the school building, which said that the current time was 9:00. "...Shoot, I was unconscious for about an hour." Hopefully the teacher would take 'I was beaten up and knocked unconscious by some bullies' a valid excuse to miss class, Basil thought to himself.
Sunny simply let out a small gasp and covered his mouth with his hands. "Jesus Christ, Basil... Are you sure you don't need help?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Basil responded. "See you," he added too, before Sunny could interrupt, and he started to walk away when he froze for no distinct reason. Sunny did the same.
Basil could hear faint footsteps in the distance, and he instantly recognized the pace and noise they gave off. Shit. Not again, please no-
Unfortunately for him, they were the footsteps of his bullies. Kim spoke first, "Looks like we need to teach baby boy Sunny a lesson too!" before letting out a shrill cackle.
"Oh well, that just means another person to beat up! I was honestly getting sick of dealing with Basil over and over," Aubrey replied.
Sunny and Basil both looked at each other before turning to the source of the noise at the same time. Aubrey and Kim took a few more steps before stopping and acknowledging the boys' existence. Aubrey pursed her lips. "Hmph. Kim, you deal with Sunny, I deal with Basil."
"Sounds good to me!" Kim said, and she got ready in a fighting stance.
Before Basil could react to anything, Aubrey pushed him back down to the floor and pinned him there with her left leg on his stomach, amplifying the pain that never truly went away there. She pulled out her bat and aimed it at him, making sure he wouldn't try anything. Basil had to watch helplessly as Kim suddenly switched to a different stance, catching Sunny off guard and sending him flying about nine feet away before he landed back on the hot ground with a thud. Shit, I don't think he's gonna be conscious at all after that...
"Take that as a lesson, okay, Sunny?" Kim said in a mocking tone, even though he was probably too far gone to hear her by now. "Stay away from the wrong people. Like Basil, for example, because that's how you got in this mess in the first place." Basil had to resist the urge to get up and tackle Kim right then and there, because A) He was too far weak to do so, and B) Aubrey was holding him at nail-point. "This is your only warning, by the way," Kim continued. "Get anywhere near that bastard again and you'll be hurt even worse than you were just now."
With that, Kim seemed satisfied, because she was about to turn and leave when she gasped in shock. At that moment, Basil also felt the weight of Aubrey holding him down fade, and he turned back to where Aubrey was supposed to be, only to see a tan boy wearing a basketball jersey wrestling her. They continued throwing punches for a few seconds and then they changed positions, and, from that point, Basil could see the backside of the boy's jersey. In white print, the word 'KEL' was written on it, and, below it, the number '14' was marked clearly. So his name must be Kel, Basil thought.
Kel and Aubrey kept fighting for a while, and they both seemed to be at about the same level, but Kel eventually won, pushing Aubrey back down to the floor. After the ordeal, Kim lunged for Aubrey, helping her back up before they both shot deathly glances at Kel. "We'll get you next time, nerd," Kim growled. "So watch your back..."
"Come on, Kim, let's go," Aubrey commanded, although her voice wavered. Kim followed, and the two of them fled back into the school.
Once Aubrey and Kim finally left, Basil's body went on autopilot, and, the next thing he knew, he was crouching over Sunny. His forehead was oozing out blood at a steady pace, and he had some scratches and bruises on his face and arms. Basil gagged, and it took all of his energy to not vomit then and there. He hated blood, especially when it was coming from a person.
Kel also arrived at Sunny's unconscious body, and he examined the smaller boy. While Kel did it, Basil switched his gaze to the taller boy and examined his facial features. He had brown, long and slightly unkempt hair, accompanied by freckles and dark brown eyes like Sunny's. "Shoot," he finally said after he was done. "He's not dead, per se, but we need to get him to the nurse's office ASAP. I'll carry him. You can tell the nurses what happened, because I honestly don't know. You know where it is?"
Basil nodded blearily. Of course I know, he thought. I've been there about a dozen times. He then watched Kel pick Sunny up, get back to a standing position, and head off into the building. Basil followed them.
~~~~
"He's gonna be unconscious for another hour, and he'll have a mild headache for the rest of the day, but otherwise, he'll be fine," the nurse said as she finished bandaging Sunny's head.
"Phew," Kel finally said. "That was a lot of blood, even if it was just a head injury, and he was pretty small too, so he could've..." He didn't continue, but it didn't take a detective to figure out what Kel would've said.
"Uh huh," Basil replied, still feeling numb after everything that had happened. So my day was happening like any other day, and then Sunny came out of nowhere and talked with me, then Kel arrived and saved the two of us from the bullies? What the actual hell is happening? "...I'm glad you were there. Thanks, Kel." It was the least Basil could do for him.
"No problem... Anyways, can you tell me what happened?"
Basil explained the day, starting from when Aubrey and Kim arrived to beat him up. "...And then you came outta nowhere and beat Aubrey in a fight somehow and now we're here," he finished.
Kel's expression changed from concentration to concern. "Oh. You okay, by the way?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Happens to me a lot," Basil said.
The reply only made Kel even more worried. "What do you mean, 'Happens to you a lot'? Do you need any help?"
"No, I'm practically used to it by now." Well, he wished he was used to it. Even though it's been like this since the beginning of the school year, Basil still felt the pain whenever Aubrey and her gang went off on him.
"Uh, that's not normal. You want me to protect you?"
"...No. Absolutely no way, Kel. You'll just get targeted by them, and, besides, they're looking for me, not you."
"Then they'll have to get through me."
Basil sighed. "Look, I don't want to burden anyone. Whatever happens, it's between me and them only. Joining in will make things even worse. You saw what happened to Sunny..."
Kel gave Basil an apprehensive look. "Hey, Basil, they're going to attack me anyway. You heard what they said?"
"It's probably just an empty threat." Basil hoped it was, at the very least.
"Well, you never know."
Basil decided to stop arguing at that point, since Kel was probably too stubborn to back down. Besides, he could use the extra protection anyway, no matter how selfish. "Fine," he finally said. "You can protect me."
Kel raised his arms in a cheering stance upon hearing his final verdict, before putting them behind his head in a relaxed position. "Then it's settled! I'll protect Sunny too, since he's probably gonna get put in this mess too because he's my friend."
"Wait, you know Sunny?" Basil didn't know why this came as a shock to him, as practically no one would have interfered in his situation unless someone they actually loved was also involved.
"Yeah, he's my friend. You, too!" Kel added.
"I'm not your friend!"
"Well, now you are."
Basil sighed. "Whatever... We should probably get going to class anyway."
"Hm? Oh, sh- shoot, right. I have a test in math."
"Lucky you. I have to work with someone else in science for class, and, knowing my luck, it'll probably be one of my bullies I get partnered with." Basil almost wished that he was Sunny right now, laying unconscious in the nurse's office, before realizing what he would have needed to go through in order to actually have an injury bad enough to get sent to the office.
"Shame," Kel said, stealing a glance at Sunny, who was still resting. "See you at lunch?"
"Uh," Basil began, but he decided to accept the offer. "Sure. See you at lunch," he said as he began to leave the nurse's office.
"What's your name, by the way?"
Basil froze upon hearing those words, before turning back and replying, "My name's Basil."
"Good to know, Basil. I'm Kel."
"I know."
"How- Oh, right. My jersey," Kel said, pointing at himself and chuckling. "Anyways, I know you need to go to class, so bye for now. I'll stay here for a few extra minutes to watch over Sunny, by the way."
"Alright," Basil said. "Bye, Kel." And with that, he was out the door, ready to actually start the school day.