Chapter Text
“C’mon…” Sunny muttered, ball prepped in his hand and aimed at the bottles. Aubrey could see the sweat dripping down the side of his head as he squinted his eye, before drawing his arm back and chucking the ball at the bottle. It not only went completely off track, but it didn’t even reach halfway to the shelf. Sunny groaned in frustration while Aubrey sighed.
“You know, I could give it a shot if you want-” Aubrey started.
“No, I got this,” Sunny interrupted, reaching into his pocket to give the attendant money for another attempt. The attendant gave him three balls and Sunny took a deep breath, winding his arm back. Aubrey winced as the first ball hit the corner of the shelf and bounced to the ground, the second one bounced off the wall right above the bottle, and the third ball actually hit the bottle, but not applying enough force to knock it over. Sunny groaned once more, reaching a hand into his pocket before Aubrey grabbed it, stopping him.
“Sunny, Sunshine, you’ve wasted $27 on this already,” she deadpanned. “Plus, you’re already at a pretty big disadvantage with your lack of depth perception, not to mention your whole… er…” She awkwardly gestured to his missing leg. Sunny huffed. Aubrey quickly back-pedaled. “Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up, I- look, I’ll get a prize, ok Sunshine? Don’t you worry!” she exclaimed, reaching into her pockets to get some money out before Sunny stopped her, holding out his money. “Sunny, don’t worry, I can pay-” she started before he pushed it into her hands.
“…just let me do this for you,” he muttered. Aubrey looked away before sighing.
“Alright Sunshine,” she said, handing the money to the attendant. She took a deep breath, tying her hair back. “Which one do you want me to get?” she asked with an air of confidence. He pointed at the plush of a black cat. Aubrey smirked. “Cake.”
$39 later, Sunny had to drag Aubrey away from the booth, screaming and kicking about how rigged carnival games were and how capitalism was unfair. It was a pretty impressive task considering he was using crutches.
“I would’ve definitely got it that time, Sunny, I was getting close!” Aubrey exclaimed as the two slowly walked through the amusement park. Sunny simply stared at her with his signature blank expression. “Don’t look at me like that,” Aubrey pouted. Sunny decided to heed Aubrey’s wishes, giving himself a double chin and staring at her with eyes that spoke a million words, none of which believed the absolute bullshit she was on.
“Nevermindpleasegobacktotheotherface,” Aubrey quickly said, uncomfortable at the sight of double chin Sunny. Sunny shifted his face back to a neutral expression. Aubrey sighed, gazing around the park’s attractions. What else could they do that didn’t involve stupid dumb stupid rigged carnival games? A roller coaster caught her eye but she quickly shook her head. Sunny wouldn’t be able to go on it and she didn’t want to leave him behind.
Actually, most of the rides at the park Sunny wouldn’t be able to ride due to his amputated state. Aubrey frowned. What was she thinking? This was a terrible place for a date.
She probably should’ve thought about it more before deciding to come, but she just got really excited when she learned her luck seemingly turned around, winning a giveaway for two free tickets to the park, and immediately asked Sunny if he wanted to go.
Stupid idiot, she mentally berated herself. She had cornered herself in a corner. There weren’t any rides she could go with Sunny on but they had only been at the park for about an hour so far, leaving now would just be a waste.
Maybe I should’ve just given the tickets to Basil, he and Mikhael would’ve gotten something out of that, she thought. Jesus, this truly was her low point, she was actually unironically comparing herself to Mikhael, fucking MIKHAEL. The thought made her want to throw herself off a building, or maybe a ferris wheel considering there was one just a few yards away from them-
A lightbulb went off in Aubrey’s mind. Ferris wheels are pretty slow, you’re inside an enclosed carriage, and they were, gasp, romantic. It was a foolproof idea! She put a hand on Sunny’s shoulder. He looked up at her and she pointed at the ferris wheel.
“Sunny let’s go on that!” she exclaimed. Sunny’s eyes darted between Aubrey and the ferris wheel, gears visibly turning in his head as he appeared to come to the same conclusions she had. He nodded enthusiastically.
A few minutes in line later they were seated across from each other in the carriage, Sunny’s crutches placed in a holding area. The park attendant closed the door and the carriage began to shift.
Aubrey closed her eyes, giving a sigh of relief. This date was still salvageable. She just needed to not fuck it up again.
Aubrey opened her eyes, finding Sunny pouting at her. Goddamnit, where did I fuck up this time.
“What is it, Sunshine?” she asked. He narrowed his eyes.
“…you’re sitting across from me instead of next to me,” he mumbled. Aubrey stared at him. She narrowed her eyes, leaning forward and smirking.
“I just wanted to get a better view of that cute face, love~,” she said teasingly. Sunny blushed and looked away.
“…you could touch this ‘cute’ face if you were next to me,” he muttered. He brought a hand to his nose, rubbing it. “…with your lips. Just to be clear.” Aubrey snickered, standing up. She towered over the sitting Sunny, covering him in her shadow.
“I can still do that from here,” she said cheekily, crouching down. Her face inched closer and closer to his, his lips glistening in the sunlight. He looked perfect. So perfect. She just wanted to eat up that perfectly adorable face. She just wanted to pin him to the side of the carriage and bite into-
GIRL, RESTRAIN YOURSELF, YOU’RE STILL IN PUBLIC!
…A-ah, uh, y-yeah, I should- why would I even- I mean, he’s missing a leg, that’d be- that’d be dangerous to pin him. Up. Against the carriage. It’d be totally h- dangerous. Super dangerous. Yeah.
Aubrey breathed, trying to cool her burning face before giving up, puckering her lips and closing her eyes as Sunny did the same. She began her descent onto his face and he followed through, both filled with the anticipation for that connection. The gap between the two slowly grew smaller and smaller until…
CREEEAAAAK
The carriage shook, causing Aubrey to stumble, ramming her forehead into Sunny’s. The two cried out in pain as Aubrey fell to the floor of the carriage and Sunny recoiled from the impact.
Aubrey hissed in pain, holding her red forehead in her hands and mumbling various curses. She lifted herself off the floor of the carriage, groaning. Looking outside, it appeared the ferris wheel had stopped moving. The lights had also turned off. They were stuck.
“…FUCK!” she yelled. “GOD FUCKING- just when things were finally looking good, god decides to FUCKING smite me, GRAHH!” she screamed, punching the side of the carriage, causing it to teeter back and forth.
“A-Aubrey, it’s fine, my- my head just hurts a little,” a disoriented Sunny reassured her. Aubrey groaned.
“How is this fine?! The ferris wheel stopped and now we’re gonna be stuck up here for god knows how long, JUST FUCK ME IN THE ASS AT THIS POINT, DAMNIT!” she raged putting her head into her hands.
“We’re stuck?” Sunny questioned. He glanced out the window. “Well, it can’t be that bad. At least we have a nice view of the whole park.”
“We could be down in that park if god didn’t decide he hated me today,” Aubrey huffed.
“God didn’t decide he hated you today,” Sunny said, scooting closer to the window. “He probably decided that when your dad left.”
“Your dad left too, idiot,” she muttered. Sunny shrugged.
“I would’ve assumed god began hating me before that when I killed my sister,” he said, looking down through the glass. Aubrey sighed.
“Oook Sunny, I think we’re moving a bit too far into traumatic territory,” she interrupted, closing her eyes. “What did we talk about in regard to you having ‘killed’ Mari?” she asked.
Aubrey expected the usual, monotone reply of, “Mari’s death was an accident that, while technically my fault, was the result of numerous unfortunate factors, all of which Mari and I and everyone else contributed to in some way and I should not let it haunt me anymore as Mari would not have wanted that and also you’ll suplex me if I do,” but received silence in response. “Sunny?” she called, opening an eye.
Sunny was afraid.
“Sunny? Hey, Sunny? You ok?” she asked worriedly. He continued to ignore her voice, or perhaps he couldn’t hear it, as he continued staring down through the window, a fearful expression on his face. “Sunny?” she called again, glancing towards whatever he was staring at.
There didn’t look to be anything in particular that stood out in what she assumed was Sunny’s field of vision. The only thing she saw was the park, really far below them. She hadn’t realized how… high… the ferris wheel… was…
Oh my fucking god I forgot he was afraid of heights.
Sunny’s breathing quickened.
“Sunny!? Sunny! Hey, look at me!” she pleaded, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Fuck! How could I- Fuck! Hey! Sunny! Breathe! Breathe!” she said, grabbing and turning his body away from the window. Tears were flowing out of his eyes at this point, him still hyperventilating.
“Sunny! Sunshine! Deep breaths, ok?” she instructed, holding his hands in hers. “I’m here, ok? Don’t worry, just focus on me, ok? Here, follow my breathing. In… and out.”
In…
…and out…
…in…
…and out…
Sunny breathed heavily as Aubrey wiped his tears with her sleeve.
“I-I… I thought I w-was over this a-already,” he mumbled. “I-I- I guess I’ve n-never been this high o-outside of my dreams.” Aubrey wrapped her arms around the shaking boy, stroking his back.
“It’s not your fault, don’t worry Sunny,” she spoke, almost a whisper. He sniffled, crying into her shoulder.
“I… I-I just wanna go home now…” he murmured, and Aubrey’s heart sank.
God, she thought as she cradled him. How do I keep messing everything up?
“Aubrey?” Kel called, poking her in the side. She groaned, lifting her head from the table.
“What the fuck do you want, Kel?” she rasped. He shrugged.
“Just checking to see if you were dead or not,” he replied. Aubrey glared at him. “What? Your head’s been down on the table since forever.” Aubrey huffed.
“Fuck off, Kel,” she grumbled, smooshing her face back into the table.
“You’re the one who’s inside my house!” he exclaimed.
“You don’t pay the bills here, do you?” Aubrey said in a mocking tone, raising her head to narrow her eyes at Kel. “You don’t own this house, it’s not yours.”
“He has a point, Aubrey,” Hero called from the couch, watching the news. “You’ve been sitting there doing nothing for the past twenty-seven minutes. Is there something on your mind?” Aubrey sighed.
“…Hero did you and Mari ever go on any bad dates?” she asked, before quickly shaking her head. “S-sorry, you don’t have to answer that if you’re not-”
“Hey, don’t worry, it’s fine, Aubrey,” Hero interrupted. He rubbed his chin. “But yeah, we definitely had some bad dates. Like this one time when we took a bus to Nearby and we ended up getting lost for three hours because neither of us could understand the routes,” he reminisced, chuckling. “It’s just a fact of life, Aubrey, sometimes things go well and sometimes things go bad.”
“But what if things always go bad?” she questioned, gripping her wrist. “Nothing goes right whenever me and Sunny go out on a date, I was fifteen minutes late to our first date, the new Spaceboy movie was pure dogshit, I accidentally spilled soup on him and his wheelchair when we went to that new Italian restaurant, terrible place by the way, would not recommend it, a soccer ball flew into his face during our picnic, Kel showed up out of nowhere and third-wheeled when we went to the mall-” Hero gave Kel a disappointed look, to which Kel simply shrugged. “-and just yesterday I somehow forgot that he couldn’t go on any of the rides at the amusement park and gave him a panic attack!” she yelled, wrapping her arms around her head.
“Maybe this was all a mistake, maybe I… maybe we shouldn’t have started dating,” she muttered. “He’s already dealing with so much like his leg, his eye, getting used to eating more, and…” She glanced at Hero before averting her eyes. “...everything else, meanwhile all I’m doing is just making everything harder for him.” Hero stayed silent for a moment.
“I think you’re focusing a little too much on the little details here, Aubrey,” he said, standing up from the couch and walking to the table, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Sure, your dates seemingly haven’t been going well, but take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Are these mistakes really as date-ruining as you make them out to be? Or are you getting worried over your dates not being picture perfect? Because even on the best date of your life imaginable, there’ll still be a few slip ups here and there, and that’s perfectly fine, you can just laugh it off or make a note to remind yourself what not to do next time.” Aubrey didn’t answer. Hero glanced at the weather report on the TV. “Oh look, Aubrey, there’s gonna be a super clear sky Saturday night! Clear enough that you can see the stars! Why don’t you try taking Sunny stargazing?” he suggested. Aubrey looked at the TV.
“Stargazing?” she breathed.
“Wouldn’t that get boring after a while?” Kel asked.
“Shut up, Kel, nobody was talking to you!” she exclaimed before putting a hand on her chin. “No, Sunny once said something about him really liking space. Pluto especially. And it’d be pretty romantic, just the two of us sitting on a blanket pointing at the stars, oh! We could also do a do-over of the picnic! It’d be nighttime so there’s less of a chance of flying soccer balls, it’d be nice and quiet, nothing scary, yeah!” She slammed her hands on the table. “It’s perfect! We’ll go stargazing!” Hero gave an awkward chuckle.
“Er, just remember that it’s ok if it doesn’t go perfectly, alright?” he requested.
“Yeah, yeah, nothing’s perfect, yada yada,” she brushed off. “Anyways, Hero, do you have any really good places for stargazing?”
“There’s this hill near the outskirts of town that me and Mari sometimes visited, not many people, great view of the sky, and a tree for shade,” he replied. Aubrey’s face contorted.
“Hero, he can’t go up hills, he’s missing a fucking leg,” she replied.
“Why don’t you just carry him up the hill then? Like on your back?” Kel suggested.
“Shut up, Kel, you’re not a part of this conversation!” Aubrey repeated. Her face softened. “Wait, actually, that’s not a terrible idea.” Aubrey tried to envision it. They’d arrive at 8:30 pm, half an hour before the sun would set. She’d lift him onto her back, his arms wrapping around her neck to keep himself secure. He’d hold tight to make sure he wouldn’t fall off, face close to her neck, so close that she could feel his hot breath dragging along-
Aubrey’s face turned red. A-ah. That’s- That’s a bit too much for me! she thought, shaking her head and trying to change the mental subject. Oh, yeah, that’s right, if he was on her back, they wouldn’t be able to carry the picnic basket! They’d both be too busy trying to keep him from falling off. Yeah, it wouldn’t work! I need something else!
The image of a bridal carry appeared in her mind. T-that’s even worse!
Wait, actually, no, that works better because his arms would be free and he could carry the picnic basket, the only downside is I actually have to look at his cute… defenseless… face… as he’s… in my… arms…
Aubrey slapped her cheeks. She could worry about the embarrassment later. “Ok! I’ll do it! For Sunny!” she announced. Kel and Hero stared at her, confused. Oh wait they didn’t hear any of my thoughts so I was here blushing and shit over seemingly nothing and now they probably think I’m crazy UGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH-
She coughed. “I’m gonna bridal carry him up the hill. Neither of us would be able to carry the picnic basket if I was carrying him on my back,” she clarified. Hero’s face lit up and he pulled out a booklet from his back pocket.
“Oh, hey, that reminds me, Mari gave me this a few years ago in case she wasn’t… here… for when either of you did something that she could embarrass you over, ‘Mari’s Guide To Teasing Your Younger Siblings, Blood Related Or Otherwise’,” he said.
“What?” Aubrey mouthed before Hero flipped to a page in the booklet.
“AHEM.”
“...remember to use protection-”
Aubrey ripped the booklet from his hands, ripping it to shreds before leaving through the door, making a not-so family friendly gesture at him, also known as the middle finger, and slamming the door.
“Where are we going? Isn’t everyone else gathering in Faraway Park to see the stars?” Sunny asked, looking up at Aubrey while the two made their way to the edge of town, Aubrey walking slowly, picnic basket on her arm, and Sunny wheeling himself alongside her.
“You’ll see,” she said as they moved along the sidewalk. A few minutes later, a grassy park with a hill came into view and Aubrey motioned to Sunny to stop moving. She bit her lip. “I’m gonna carry you up the hill, is that ok?” she asked. Sunny processed her words for a moment, blushing slightly before he slowly nodded.
She gave him the picnic basket to carry, then wrapped her arm around his leg, then his torso, lifting him out of his wheelchair. The red from his cheeks quickly spread to the rest of his face as he realized he was in a bridal carry. He looked up at her, and holy jesus christ he’s so freakin’ adorable with his slightly agape mouth and widened eyes and overall flustered and starry-eyed look UUUGGGHHHHH-
Aubrey could feel her own face warming slightly as she trudged up the hill, trying to avoid looking at his cute face.
Reaching the top, she placed Sunny down, leaning him against the tree on the hill, taking the picnic basket from him, and setting up the picnic blanket. She turned around to help him move to the blanket but found that he had already crawled to it. She walked over to him, sitting down next to him, and pulled out some sandwiches from the basket. The two ate in awkward silence, the prior intimate bridal carry still fresh on their minds, both too embarrassed to speak. The awkward silence slowly grew unbearable however and Aubrey spoke up first.
“S-so!” she started. “Pretty nice view, right?” Sunny nodded. “Yeah, Hero recommended it to me, saying he-” She quickly pinched herself before she could bring something up that could trigger him. “...saying that it had a really good view of the stars.”
“Mhm,” Sunny hummed in agreement. And with that, the conversation came to a close, the silence coming back even more awkward than before. Aubrey scoured her mind, trying to find some other topic to discuss.
…
…
“…uh, Sasquatch, huh?” she said, immediately regretting it. You idiot, his Sasquatch shenanigans are what costed him his leg, WHY WOULD YOU BRING THAT UP YOU GODDAMNED IDIOT-
“Yeah, I always wanted to become Sasquatch since I was a mere child,” Sunny replied, a small smile on his face. He pouted. “Though, while it was my first option, my status as a human being of a below average height had led me to believe that I was incapable of becoming the lad known as Bigfoot, and I had instead decided to become an effigy of the physical manifestation of my trauma, an entity inspired by Mari’s dead hanging corpse,” he said, as if that was a normal thing to say because it totally was, weaponizing your trauma demon is pretty radical. His face lit back up. “So it was a really nice surprise when I ran into Faraway Park and got called the motherfucking Sasquatch. My dreams had all but been achieved at that point, I could die mostly happy with myself.”
“Which you nearly did,” she deadpanned. She breathed in sharply. “Sorry no offense by that I mean it’s not your fault that you ran into the park if anything I’m to blame for that for chasing you all the way there and for trying to kill you and for punching you in the stomach and-”
Aubrey felt a finger on her lips. She looked back at Sunny.
“Aubrey, what did we talk about in regard to everything being your fault?” he asked, eyebrow raised. Aubrey sighed.
“I cannot be held accountable for anything as everything is the fault of society,” she muttered.
“Good,” he replied. Aubrey groaned.
“Sunny, I think we really need to have another talk about accountability, I can’t just shift the blame of everything onto society, there’s still some stuff here and there that I’m-”
“Shh,” he interrupted.
“But-”
“Shh. Accept denial. Blame society.”
“HOW IS SOCIETY TO BLAME FOR ME TRYING TO KNOCK YOU DEAD WITH A BASEBALL BAT-”
“If I’m not allowed to blame myself for accidental murder, you can’t blame yourself for attempted murder,” he pointed out.
“Sunny, one of those is clearly worse than the other,” she said, exasperated.
“You can’t blame yourself for attempted murder on account of you being mentally unstable and unfit for rational decision-making at the time,” he clarified.
“You were mentally unstable and unfit for rational decision-making when you committed accidental murder!” she argued. Sunny pointed finger guns at her.
“Exactly. Our actions are one in the same, if you can’t blame me for accidentally killing Mari, I can’t blame you for two accounts of attempted murder,” he concluded. Aubrey made a sound that was a mixture between a turntable scratching noise and the sound a 27-year-old man would make after stubbing his toe into a Lego.
“You are SO fucking stubborn,” she complained.
“You still love me,” he said in a goofy voice, batting his eyelashes at her. She huffed, blushing slightly. She did still love him.
“Wait, you said you could’ve died mostly happy,” Aubrey said, returning back to the Sasquatch conversation. “Was there some other thing you wanted to do before you would presumably die?” Sunny blushed, looking away.
“O-oh. That’s. Hm. How do I put this…” he muttered, twiddling his thumbs about. “The- the last thing I wanted to do before I died was…” He looked down, hair covering his eyes.
“Sunny?” she asked.
“…y…” he mumbled.
“Sunny?” she repeated, leaning in closer.
“…I… I wanted…” He looked up at her. “I wanted to do this.” Aubrey suddenly felt a warmth on her lips, eyes widening as she realized what was happening. Sunny broke away from her, face concealed with his hair once more and her face coated in a layer of red. Aubrey averted her eyes.
“...y’know, we’ve already done that several times already,” she murmured. “You didn’t have to demonstrate again… not that I minded, but, er, well, uh, it’s just, uh, eheh, uh, I-” she sputtered, burying her face into her knees.
“I know, i-it was just too embarrassing to say it out loud,” he mumbled.
“What you did was even more embarrassing!” she screamed into her knees. “I-I still don’t mind, I’m just pointing out the facts! I would gladly kiss you again! As long as you give me some time to mentally prepare myself before it!”
“O-ok. C-can I kiss you again?” he asked. Aubrey looked up at him, taking a deep breath.
“...s-sure,” she said meekly. She leaned toward him, puckering her lips and closing her eyes, and he followed through, their lips coming into contact once more. This kiss lasted much longer than the quick peck Sunny had given her previously, though it wasn’t a very passionate kiss, just a soft, comforting one. The two separated, gazing into each other’s eyes, before breaking eye contact, looking away from each other. No matter how many times they kissed, no matter how confident they seemed before, they always were the same, flustered messes afterwards.
Aubrey gazed up at the sky to distract herself from her pounding heart. The sun had fallen, halfway hidden behind the horizon, the sky filled with lovely warm hues, slowly fading into a cool, dark blue. She smiled. It was almost time to stargaze, and nothing had gone wrong at all on their date so far.
…outside of her nearly ruining everything by bringing up something that could’ve triggered Sunny. But he was fine after it, so she counted that as a certified ‘cataclysmic event avoided’. She nudged the boy in the shoulder.
“Look, you can see the stars now,” she whispered, and Sunny looked up. She watched as his eyes grew starry, mouth slightly agape at the beautiful sight. She sighed dreamily. This truly was the perfect date. Nothing had gone wrong, Sunny was loving the view, she got a few smooches, nothing could ruin this for her! She looked back up at the sky to see a star slowly be engulfed by a dark shadow.
What.
It appeared that a few clouds had rolled into the sky, slowly covering the stars.
“Huh. That’s unfortunate,” Sunny mumbled, and Aubrey’s face fell.
“It was supposed to be a clear sky tonight!” she yelled. “The weatherman fucking lied!” Sunny shrugged.
“Maybe it’ll clear up in a bit?” he suggested. Aubrey then felt something hit her cheek. She rubbed her thumb against it, finding it was wet. Oh my fucking god.
Aubrey quickly picked up Sunny, bringing the two of them under the tree as rain began to fall around them. “Guess it won’t be clearing up then,” Sunny muttered. Aubrey felt her eye twitch as the picnic blanket got soaked by the rain. She punched the tree.
“GAH! FUCK! WHY?! WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?!” she screamed, gripping her hair tightly. “EVERYTHING WAS GOING WELL! AND THEN GOD DECIDES TO FUCK ME OVER AGAIN!” She punched the tree again, not caring that her knuckles were starting to bleed. “THIS DATE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PERFECT! AND NOW IT’S FUCKING RAINING EVERYWHERE! EVERYWHERE, FUCKING RAIN! WHY DOES NOTHING EVER GO RIGHT FOR ME?! FUCKING- AUGH!”
She fell to the ground, curling up into a ball. She huffed. “Nothing ever goes right for me. Nothing ever goes right for us. It’s either god fucks up our dates or I fuck up our dates.” She buried her face into her knees. “I just can’t do anything right. I can’t do anything right for you, for me, I just keep fucking it up and making everything worse.” She felt tears building up in her eyes. “You… you don’t deserve someone like me. I… all I do is fuck everything up. You deserve so much more than me, and I…” She sniffed. “I-I think y-you s-should- I t-think we s-should b- we s-should b-break- break-…” She breathed heavily. She couldn’t say it. It hurt too much. “...y-you… y-you should j-just f-find someone b-better for you, better t-than me.”
The rain fell around Aubrey as she cried into her knees, sniffling. Silence encapsulated itself around her, the wind carrying cries of sorrow into the empty field beyond the hill. She was alone. All alone. Because she deserved it. All she did was hurt those around her. All she did was hurt those who loved her. No matter how much she tried to change that, it stuck to her, it clung to her, like a parasite, and she couldn’t remove it. Because she was the parasite. She took, and took, and took, and what did she give? Nothing. Nothing but pain, nothing but agony, nothing. She had nothing and she gave nothing. She was nothing. Nothing but a single figure in the rain, huddled and alone.
“I can’t really leave you, Aubrey, I’m missing a leg,” Sunny finally called. Aubrey looked up, eyes red and puffy. “...y’know, since you’re my only mode of transportation at the moment? Because my wheelchair’s still at the bottom of the hill? Speaking of that, I’m probably gonna need a new one, the rain’s probably gonna make it rusty. Ah, don’t blame yourself for that, unexpected rain is hard to plan for.” He then put a hand on her leg. “Also, even if I still had my leg, I wouldn’t leave you.”
“...what?” she breathed.
“I said I wouldn’t leave you even if I still had my leg,” he repeated.
“What does your leg have to do with any of this?” she asked, confused.
“Well, I made a joke about me not being able to leave you because I don’t have a leg, it was literally four paragraphs ago, reading comprehension much, Aubrey?” She stared at him in confusion. “But, like, I also just wouldn’t leave you in general just because of a few bad things happening on a date.” He looked at the sky. “Besides, I wouldn’t count this as a bad thing, I like the rain, it’s nice and calming.”
“You can’t really see the stars anymore, though,” she grumbled. She felt a hand on the side of her face, turning her to look at him.
“So? Why would I need to see all the stars in the sky when the only star I need is right here?” he asked. Aubrey blushed, averting her eyes.
“...am I really a star? All I do is ruin our dates,” she muttered.
“How so? I can’t really think of anything you’ve done that’s ruined any of our dates,” he replied.
“I was fifteen minutes late to our first date-”
“To be fair, I was actually ten minutes late.”
“I suggested that horrible Spaceboy movie for us to watch-”
“It’s not like you can predict the future.”
“I spilled soup on you at that Italian restaurant-”
“Ok, yeah, that was kind of a date ruiner, but it’s kind of funny looking back, right?”
“You got hit in the face with a soccer ball on our picnic-”
“How does that correlate with your own actions?”
“Kel third-wheeled when we-”
“Again, how does that correlate with your own actions?”
“Well, what about what happened on Wednesday?!” she exclaimed. “I not only took you to an amusement park when you couldn't go on any of the rides there, but I gave you a panic attack because I forgot you were afraid of heights!”
“I mean, it’s been five years, so it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to assume I had gotten over it, which I thought I had,” he replied. “And, I mean, I was the one who agreed to go with you when I also knew I couldn’t go on any of the rides, so you shouldn’t beat yourself up over that one either.” Aubrey huffed.
“Ok, so maybe I haven’t ruined all of our dates, but have I ever taken you on a good date?” she asked.
“See, now, the answer to that is very subjective. What constitutes a good date? Is it good food? Intimacy? Laughter? It all depends on your-”
“You think all of our dates are pure utter dogshit,” Aubrey deadpanned.
“Yeah, all of our dates have been pure utter dogshit,” he muttered. “But, I mean, I didn’t fall in love with you because I thought you’d be able to take me out on good dates.” He cupped her face in his hands. “I fell in love with you because you’re… you. I love you and all of you. I love how true to yourself you are, never letting anyone tell you who to be. I love how much you care for me and everyone else, how you’d fight to the death if it meant protecting us. I love how you chose to love me, how out of everyone on this planet, I get to be the one who receives your love and affection, I get to be the one who you feel you can be vulnerable with, I get to be the one who can help and be there for you. I love you for everything that you are, not for everything that you aren’t. I love you.”
Aubrey breathed. The previously deafening rain had turned to a soft, gentle sound, surrounding the two of them, just the two of them. They weren’t alone, they were alone together. He loved her. And she loved him. Nothing she did and nothing he did would change any of that. No matter what would happen, she knew, she just knew that they’d be together through it, that they’d always have each other. She knew that she could trust him, and she knew that he would trust her back. They loved each other, and she believed it fully.
He really always does know the right thing to say, she thought to herself, reaching her hand towards his. He quickly drew his hand back.
“Trying to hold my hand before marriage? How lewd,” he scolded her. Aubrey stared blankly at him.
“I don’t understand how you always know the right thing to say to ruin the moment,” she said, slightly annoyed. He shrugged.
“I blame society,” he replied, and Aubrey chuckled.
“Well, I hear handholding is frowned upon in society, so…” Sunny brought his hand back to its previous position.
“Fine,” he said in a mock pout. You aren’t fooling anyone, Mr. Suzuki, she thought before grabbing his hand. She leaned into him, and the two sat in comfortable silence as the rain fell around them.