Chapter Text
The door swung open, a wheelchair with a black-haired boy pushed by a pink-haired girl entering out into the snowy courtyard.
“Thank god they shoveled this place out,” Aubrey, the pink-haired one sighed. “I’d rather not trudge through a pound of snow.”
“A pound of snow wouldn’t be that bad if it were spread throughout the entire courtyard,” Sunny, the black-haired one replied. “The amount at which the snow would become a pain to trudge through would be closer to around 700 pounds of snow. Though that isn’t a good way to measure snow due to how pounds of snow may differ in size based on the area of which it is covering, so you’re better off just referring to it by units of length measurement rather than weight or volume.”
“If you don’t stop with that snark, I WILL take us back,” Aubrey gritted through her teeth, glaring at him. He put his hands up defensively.
“You’re the one who wanted to come see her too,” he replied in a monotone voice that somehow contained a mass quantity of pure smugness. “Walking us both back would be a large waste of time and energy.”
“I hope you realize one day that your actions have consequences,” she muttered, pouting.
“Already did, lost an eye and a leg,” he pointed out.
“And what did you learn from those two incidents, pray tell?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Don’t fight a homosexual gardener and don’t approach society whilst dressed in a costume designed to be an effigy of my sister’s corpse,” he said with a completely straight face. He put a hand on his chin. “Oh, also don’t steal your pizza.”
“THAT’S NOT!” Aubrey shouted, finger raised, before slowly lowering it. “Huh. Actually, no, you’re right, those are all technically things that led you to losing your eye and leg, and you definitely shouldn’t do any of them ever again.”
“I’m always right.”
“No you’re not, you like pineapple on pizza.”
“Yeah, because it’s good.”
“IT IS SACRILEGE!”
“It's not my fault you’re Italian.”
“HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW I’M ITALIAN?! I’VE NEVER EVEN TOLD YOU!”
“Chapter 9, paragraph 12.”
“WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!”
“Read SGDABACTACHI.”
“I AM THIS FUCKING CLOSE TO SUPLEXING YOU INTO THE FUCKING GROUND.”
“I can and will sue.”
“DEAD CORPSES CAN’T FUCKING SUE!”
“How do you know? You’ve never talked to one.”
“I DON’T FUCKING CARE, YOU CAN GO FIND OUT DEAD CORPSE LAWS YOURSELF WHEN I SEND YOU INTO THE FUCKING-”
“Ahem.”
Sunny and Aubrey turned to look at the old caretaker of the cemetery, who had an unamused look on his face.
The two muttered some quick apologies, walking onwards through the courtyard without another word.
The two stopped at a grave at the back of the area. “Hey, Mari,” Sunny started. “Sorry it’s been a while.”
“A while indeed, Sunny,” Mari replied in a stifled tone, her skin translucent as she stood over the gravestone. Her face morphed into a chilling smile as she narrowed her eyes at the two standing in front of her and her grave.
“But, y’know, I’ve just been FINE and DANDY outside of the fact that you two STILL haven’t gotten together after FOUR FUCKING MONTHS!” Her hands gripped at her hair, eyes glaring holes into the two. “I NEED MY SUNBURN CONTENT, DAMN IT!”
“Everything’s been pretty hectic with all the holidays and all,” he shrugged, Aubrey leaning over him, patiently waiting for him to finish.
“JUST LOOK AT YOU TWO!” Mari yelled, flabbergasted. “YOU’RE LITERALLY LEANING OVER HIM! YOUR HANDS ARE INCHES AWAY FROM EACH OTHER! HOW ARE YOU TWO NOT DATING YET?! HOW ARE YOU BOTH SO FUCKING BLIND?! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP BEING SUCH FUCKING IDIOTS AND JUST-”
“Though, to be honest, it was all Aubrey’s fault,” he whispered. “Since she was always too lazy to wake up early and walk a whole 2 blocks with me.”
Aubrey gawked. “I heard that!”
“IT’S A PERFECT PAIRING, FRIENDS TO ENEMIES, THEN BACK TO FRIENDS, THEN TO LOVERS! YOU HAVE THE QUIET, INTROVERTED ONE WHO GROUNDS THE LOUD, EXTROVERTED ONE WHO IN TURN BRINGS THE INTROVERTED ONE OUT OF THEIR SHELL! AND THE BEST PART?! YOU’RE BOTH TRAUMATIZED FOR MAXIMUM HURT/COMFORT!”
“But, to be honest, it’s been kind of nice to have such a busy season,” he admitted, scratching the back of his neck. “After, you know, four years of practically nothing.”
“YOU THINK FOUR YEARS IS BAD?!” Mari gawked. “I’VE SEEN YOU TWO CRUSHING ON EACH OTHER SO BAD SINCE THE DAY YOU MET! That’s FIVE YEARS for your information!”
“I… it makes me wish you were still here,” he muttered, a sad look appearing on his face.
“I ALSO WISH I WASN’T FUCKING DEAD SO I COULD BONK YOU BOTH FOR BEING SO GODDAMN OBLIVIOUS!” Mari yelled, arms up in the air. “I swear, I-”
“Even though things are better now…” Sunny gripped his shoulder. “…it just doesn’t feel the same without you.”
“…”
“And… I just can’t help but think about how it was my fault whenever I’m reminded that you’re gone.” His eye went down to his hands. “If I… If I hadn’t… you’d still…”
“…Sunny…” Mari started, reaching her arm forward.
A hand lowered down to his face. Sunny looked up, his gaze meeting Aubrey’s.
She held a sympathetic look on her face, and Sunny gave her a soft smile, taking her hand and squeezing it.
“I…” Sunny breathed. “…Merry Christmas, Mari.”
Mari watched as the two left, Aubrey pushing Sunny’s wheelchair with one hand and holding Sunny’s hand in the other.
Mari sighed, a faint smile on her face. Lovebirds. They’ll figure it out eventually. They’ve got each other.
She turned around, fading away as she walked through the snow. Even when I’m dead, they still got me a Christmas present, didn’t they? she chuckled to herself. She closed her eyes. I can’t remember the last time I truly felt this at peace.
“You sure you don’t wanna come?” Aubrey asked, bag in her hand. “They’re all cool with you.”
Kim shrugged. “Don’t wanna intrude. You guys are all super close and tight knit, a little too personal for me.” She grinned, pointing at the boombox and costumes in the living room. “Besides, me and Vance were gonna go ‘Halloween Caroling’. Blast ‘em with Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie, you’d love it.”
Aubrey chuckled. “I swear, if you show up at the door, I’m replacing all your candy with candy canes.”
“Absolute disgrace to the great name of candy, those goddamn narcissists,” Kim grumbled. She put her hands up, waving them around. “Oh look at us, we made canes, not just peppermint canes, CANDY canes, they’re the definitive version of cane shaped candy, yup!” Her arms went down to her sides, face down turned into a large frown as well. “Peppermint shouldn’t even be a candy flavor, it’s a spice!”
“It’s sweet though, isn’t it?” Aubrey commented. “And apple flavored things can be spiced.”
“Silence, unqualified one,” Kim commanded. She gestured to the door. “Haven’t you wasted enough time already? You left your date waiting out there in the cold, least you could do is make things quick.”
Aubrey’s cheeks reddened a bit, diverting her eyes with a pout. “Fuck off. We’re just friends.”
“Oh, so you spent several hours making a gift for someone who’s ‘just your friend’?” Kim questioned, lifting an eyebrow.
“I got presents for all of them!” she defended, the blush spreading to the rest of her face not helping her case.
“Dude, embarrassed school girl ain’t a good look for you,” Kim spoke curtly. “You gotta show your dominance. Find a nice wall to pin him against and-”
Aubrey slammed the door shut. The cold wind hit her face, almost comical in how much it contrasted with her burning face. She brought her hands up, smacking her cheeks and taking a deep breath. We’re just going to the party together. Nothing special. Calm the fuck down.
She turned to look at Sunny, who now had a legion of pigeons perching on his shoulders. “Sunny, what the fuck.”
Sunny glanced at her. “I have become the pigeon lord. They have pledged their lives to me.” He gestured to a pigeon resting on his head. “This is Margot. She’s my tactical advisor. She wants to plan an attack on the human race.”
Aubrey sighed, walking over to Sunny. “Can you tell your advisor to wait until after Christmas?” She held up the bag of gifts she retrieved from her place. “We still got that party to go to.”
Sunny then looked back at Margot, making some faux bird calls that made Aubrey snicker slightly.
At least until Margot looked Aubrey dead in the eye and made a slitting motion across her throat. She and the rest of the pigeons then promptly made their leave, flying off into the forest.
“I think she likes you,” Sunny commented. Aubrey sweatdropped. Oh god, the pigeon revolution is real. “Anyways, let’s get going.”
“Huh?” Aubrey gaped. “Don’t you need to grab your gifts too?”
Sunny shrugged. “Basil can handle it.”
Basil gawked at the pile of presents in the living room. There were about a dozen presents in total, with most of them being fairly small…
And then there was one big fucking bohemoth of a wrapped gift that reached the ceiling.
“Sunny, what the shit-”
Aubrey shrugged. Basil was stronger than he looked, being a gardener and all. “Guess we should get going then,” she stated.
The two made their way down the sidewalk in silence, the soft winter winds whipping around them. As the snow gently fell to the ground she walked on, Aubrey found herself thinking back to Kim’s words.
Dating…
It felt like a… weird topic to approach.
I mean, she and Sunny had known each other for, what, six years? Technically, they only really hung out for about two years before the incident happened and they didn’t see each other for four years, but it still felt difficult to imagine what her life would have been like without him.
And yet, when it came to the topic of dating…
Aubrey’s cheeks would have tinted slightly if it weren’t for the cold already making them red.
Did she seriously just think that? How she wouldn’t be able to imagine life without him? Isn’t that, like, a super romantic thought?! And yet, it just felt confusing whenever she tried to imagine herself and Sunny acting all romantic and whatnot.
Like, a romantic candlelit dinner between the two? No, Sunny would end up starting some sort of fire whether intentionally or unintentionally. A nice, peaceful picnic date? No, she’d probably end up getting into a fight with a bee colony. Holding hands, soft cuddling and kissing? No, Kel would probably randomly show up right before they could do any of that, immediately ruining everything through the power of being Kel.
It just… didn’t feel like romance was what they needed. What they currently had already worked.
…wait, what DO we even have right now?
Um, ok, hold on a second, she’s opening a mental notepad up right now.
Friends:
- You hang out with these dipshits.
- They usually make you question your sanity.
- You still love them all the same.
…yeah, ok, Sunny definitely checks all of those boxes. Ah, but ‘friend’ and ‘significant other’ aren’t mutually exclusive titles, so let’s see…
Significant Other:
- Trust, more so than a regular friend.
- Intimacy, physical and emotional.
- …urge to kiss their face?
Alright! She admits it! She doesn’t actually understand a rat’s ass about romance! All she can think of is all those dumb romance episodes of Spaceboy when he describes how he feels when he’s around Sweetheart, who, might she add, IS A GOD AWFUL LOVE INTEREST AND A GOD AWFUL PERSON IN GENERAL AND SPACEBOY DESERVED BETTER.
But, does Sunny check any of those boxes? Nah, of course he-
Well, actually, trust? Yeah, when she thinks of trust, there really isn’t anyone she trusts more than Sunny. Sure, the whole Sasquatch incident a few months back was a large indicator that Sunny is a fucking dumbass who doesn’t know how to trust others or himself, but he got over that. Probably. And now they’re all cool.
Probably.
Besides, one teeny tiny but also absolutely fucking massive incident didn’t erase the dozens of times he let her vent to him about her problems while also keeping it between them, or how she was there every step of the process as he got used to his new aids.
So yeah, their relationship ticks that box. But, intimacy? Physical attraction? Nah, they couldn’t possibly-
…wait. Reel it back a bit.
Intimacy? Back at the graveyard, she came with him as some extra emotional support, and they… holy shit they held hands THAT’S A CODE FUSCHIA-
Ok. Calm down. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, that’s only 2 out of 3 boxes which is a majority which- CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN! Last box, urge to smooch, there’s no way she-
Aubrey glanced at Sunny’s face. His eyes were slightly drooped, gaze somewhat zoned out as if he were deep in thought. His hair, black and dotted with little particles of snow, gently waving in the wind, his cute little forehead slightly visible through little cracks in his hair. His cheeks were slightly red, the cold likely numbing the senses in them, his lips puckered and slightly purplish, also likely from the cold. Maybe I could kiss him to warm him-
OH GOD. WHAT THE FUCK. THAT’S ALL THREE. Are they… have they been dating this whole entire time without either of them realizing it?!
Like, even back when they were kids, they’d always go to the swings alone and talk with each other! That’s- that’s basically a date, right?!
No, wait, that was trauma dumping.
Outside of that, she couldn’t really think of anything else they did together that could be considered a date… and they had also never kissed or cuddled, so them dating the whole time might be a stretch.
So… what is their relationship then? Are they really just friends? I mean, that’s what she told Kim, right? They’re just friends.
Just… friends.
Everything was nice like this, wasn’t it? Nothing unpredictable.
Things didn’t need to change.
It’s not like he’d even like her.
“So, what’s the deal with airline food?” Sunny randomly asked, pulling Aubrey out of her thoughts.
“…what?” she mouthed.
“Like, is that stuff bad or what?” he continued.
Aubrey stared at him. “I’ve never even been on an airplane before. Why are you asking me this.” He shrugged.
“Thought it’d make you laugh. You looked like you needed a distraction.”
“That…” Aubrey’s face scrunched up. “That was the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard. How the fuck was that supposed to make me laugh.”
“Guess that's a fail on objective one,” he sighed, taking out a notepad and crossing something off. He pointed finger guns at her. “I got objective two, though. Consider yourself thoroughly distracted.”
“Do you just carry that-” she started, looking at the notepad, before looking back at his face. Although his expression looked like his standard neutral face to any normal passerby, Aubrey saw something in it.
Worry.
He was worried about her.
Aubrey could have sworn her heart just stabbed all of her vital organs and hid the bodies out of pure joy.
Why was that making her so happy? That he’d get worried over her? Why did her face suddenly feel really hot, her breath shallow, her palms sweating, her knees weak, arms are heavy-
Wait.
Crush:
- Urge to kiss their face.
Well shit-
“Oh look, we’re here,” Sunny mentioned, and Aubrey turned to look up at the cream colored, orange roofed house. “Ok, let’sa go,” he said in his usual monotone voice, wheeling himself up the small ramp and to the door. He glanced back at her, nodding his head as if to gesture to her to come to the door.
It was honestly kind of cute-
HANG ON, SHE JUST REALIZED SHE HAD A CRUSH ON HIM, AT LEAST LET HER PROCESS IT FIRST BEFORE THROWING THIS STRAIGHT AT HER!
Aubrey quickly walked over to the door, and Sunny grabbed the knob, pushing it open. The two entered the building, and in an instant, the atmosphere changed. Gone was the cold, isolated winter landscape, now replaced with warm air, the soft crackle of a fire, and, best of all, the smell of hot cocoa floating through the air.
It no longer felt like it was just winter. It was Christmas now.
Kel’s head popped up from behind the couch. “Hey, you’re here!” he greeted as Sunny and Aubrey pulled off their snow attire. The two were both wearing Christmas sweaters underneath their coats, Sunny’s having an image of a cat weaved into the fabric and Aubrey a bunny.
Kel’s arms then went down behind the couch, coming back up with a baby held in them. “Look, Sally! Sunny and Aubrey are here!” he exclaimed, with Sally making some incoherent blubbering noises.
“Hi, Sally!” Aubrey waved at her, a big smile on her face, at least until she saw what was in Sally’s hands. “Is… Is that a fu- fudging Orange Joe plush.”
“Yeah!” Kel confirmed. “It’s my present to her! She loves him!”
“If she knew the various crimes Orange Joe has committed, she would be more hesitant with that love,” Sunny spoke spitefully. “Indoctrinating her into your cult when she is but a mere infant, have you no shame, Kelvin?”
“I don’t think he’s ever felt an ounce of shame in his entire life,” Hero said as he came out of the kitchen. He glanced around the room, confusion appearing on his face. “Did… Basil not come with you two?”
Basil let out a war cry as he charged straight into the massive present, arms out. He practically bounced off of it, falling onto his back whilst the present moved maybe three centimeters.
Basil lifted his head back up, groaning, before rolling his sleeves back with a huff.
I’m going to kill Sunny when I get my hands on him.
“He’ll probably get here soon,” Sunny shrugged off.
Aubrey had emptied her bag of presents, placing them all under the Rodriguez’s family tree. “Well, we can’t start until he gets here.” She looked back up with a competitive glint in her eye. “You still got Mario Kart, Kel?”
“Oh god,” Hero mouthed. “Please no.”
“Oh yeah!” Kel exclaimed. “I actually just got Mario Kart 64 for Christmas! It’s super cool, and 3D, and I think I’m a lot better at it!”
Aubrey laughed boisterously. “Puh-lease! You think some fancy new graphics are gonna magically make you better than me?” she taunted, running up the stairs. “Come on, you’re all gonna lose either way, no point wasting your time trying to plan!”
“Wait, you’re supposed to plan in Mario Kart?!” Kel questioned, running after her.
Hero sighed. “I, er, need to make sure the cookies don’t burn.” He turned to Sunny. “Do you think you could keep them from setting something on fire?”
Sunny stared at Hero blankly. “I think we both know that I am going to cause as much chaos as humanly possible.” He looked down at his wheelchair. “…if I could actually get up the stairs first.”
Aubrey and Kel both came down, Aubrey muttering a quick, “Sorry,” and picking him up onto her back, with Kel taking his wheelchair up.
Hero sweatdropped. I should probably leave the fire extinguisher on standby.