Work Text:
*BREE–* *Click*
With the reflexes of a candy crazed kid, Kim turned off her alarm clock, threw the blankets off, and ran towards her closet–
“Alright, what are you doing so early in the morning?” Which annoyed Vance who wanted to enjoy his Saturday in bed.
“Sunny promised me he would make it up to me, so now I’m going to go to his house and make him.” It was perfect, she imagined all the sweets she could eat with him.
…
…
‘Wait. With him?’ The reality of her plan was sinking in, she was planning to spend the whole day with Sunny.
Vance took notice and decided to stroke the fire a bit, “Well have fun with your little boooooyfriend!” Did I say ‘stroke the fire’? I meant throw a whole jerry cans worth of gasoline onto it by saying the dreaded ‘B-Word’
“HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!!”
Oooh big mistake…
*SLAM*
“Kimberly Johnson. Why are you awake so early?!” Because now Mama Johnson is here and super annoyed at being awakened.
Now, in any other case Kim would wither under her mother’s piercing glare, “I’m going to Sunny’s, he promised to make it up to me after not giving me sweets.” But she also remembered her end goal, that sweet sweet Sugar Rush™. Yup. That was 100% her pure unadulterated goal. She just wanted sweets and was not at all liking the idea of spending time with Sunny because she thought it would be fun to go on an adventure with him.
…
…
So naturally her mother saw through that load of bologna and just smiled warmly, “Oh kids…” Naturally Kim didn’t like her fantabulous plan being dismissed like that, so she decided she was going to leave– “You’re not going outside with your friend without changing first, young lady.”
“... Fiiiiiine.” Right after she changed.
“Need me to help you change–”
“Mom, I'm not a baby anymore!!”
“Oh really? So was it not you who tried to dress yourself a few days ago only to have your pants on your head and your shirt on your legs?”
“Pfft.” Vance let out a laugh, but Mama Johnson didn’t take too kindly to that.
“Don’t think you were any better Vance. When you were five you tried putting on clothes all by yourself, only to give up and tried to walk out of the house in your underwear.” Realizing he’s not winning this argument, Vance opted to pull a tactical retreat by hiding under his covers and snoring. “Anyway, if you don’t need me to change you, then let me brush your hair.”
…
…
“Fiiiine. *Grumble* *Grumble*.”
…
One unfairly long (in Kim’s opinion) hair brushing later, Kim is out of her house and heading towards Sunny’s. Determined to get her owed sweets one way or another. So with renewed vigor, she marched up to the door and with the strength of 1000 suns, kno–
*Creak*
Nevermind the door is opening, fall back! FALL BACK!!
“Kim?” Sunny asked, wearing a black sweater with cat ears on the hood.
…
…
She wanted one… but a dinosaur version. Maybe Santa will give her one for Christmas.
“What are you doing here?” Oh right, Kim was on a mission.
“You promised me candy. So give them here!”
Hearing her request made Sunny pause for a second. “Sorry Kel ate them all.”
Well that’s… both correct and incorrect at the same time. See, if we broke down the percentages of who ate the most candy and pastries it would be Kel at 20%, Mari at 19%, Aubrey at 15%, Sarah at 12%, Bebe at 11%, Brandi at 10%, Hero at 7%, Basil at 5%, and Sunny caps us out at 1%. So Kel did in fact eat the most sweets, but Mari was right on his tail.
Oh, and Sunny barely ate any. Which was partially (mostly) because Mari was on Sugar High Mode™ wanted some more and he couldn’t say no to her. Her love of sugar clouded her mind.
“WHAT?!?!” Oh right Kim was here, dismayed and rather disappointed.
“Sorry.”
“W-Well what am I supposed to do now?!” And now we’ve reached quite the dilemma.
“Hmm…” Sunny pondered for a moment, until an idea struck, “Want to work at Sweet Hearts with me?”
Hearing the name of that dreaded candy shop made Kim pause, “I… uhh…” Yeah she was not too thrilled about the idea of going to work at the location where her few petty theft charges were located. “I don’t think– H-Hey!” But Sunny took the initiative by grabbing Kim’s hand.
“Come on.”
“B-But… oh fine, *grumble* *grumble*.” Kim had no other option but to let Sunny drag her along.
‘At least his hands are warm.’
*Buh dududududududu* *Babadada dadada daaaaaaa*
*Kim (Reluctantly) Joins the Party!*
…
Meanwhile… in a nice 7.8/10 bed, two doors down in the Waters Household. A pair of girls were slumbering peacefully togethe–
*Plap*
… At least, Mincy WAS slumbering peacefully until Cris decided to ‘Plap’ her arm right on her face and wake her up. After gingerly prying the rogue arm off of her forehead she sat up and glanced at her slumbering friend.
The first thing she noticed was how sprawled on the bed she is. Her left arm and leg were hanging off of the side, her bangs were covering her eyes, and her mouth was hanging open. Honestly, the way she’s sleeping reminds her of her mother after a long day’s work.
Anyway, the second thing she noticed was a dried chocolate stain on her lips. Now, Mincy isn’t a mathematician, but being told no more candy after 9:00 PM by Mrs. Waters, plus being told to wash their faces and brush their teeth thoroughly before bed, does not equate to chocolate stains on her lips. Ooooh there’s some bamboozling going on here, and Mincy wasn’t going to stand for it.
“Oi. Wake up.” Mincy grabbed her pillow and bonked Cris on the head with it.
“Muh?! Whazzat? Huh?” On high alert, Cris shot out of bed and looked around frantically, “Who did– Oh hi Mincy.”
“Hi Cris.” Mincy replied, pillow armed and at the ready for another thwack, “Did you eat Chocolate last night?”
…
…
“Noooooo?” Yup. Mincy was aboutta give Cris a world of Pillow Pain. “Waiwaiwait!”
But she paused, willing to let Cris have her final words, “Yes?”
“... I’ll buy you donuts at the Bakery?”
…
…
Mincy lowered her fluffy weapon.
“Deal.”
…
*Dingling*
“Good morning, Sunny.” Back with our intrepid duo, they entered Sweet Hearts for their hard day of labor, “I take it you’re here for– why is Kim here?”
“She’s helping too.”
“... Works for me. Come on, let's get started.”
“That’s it?!”
“I’m not one to turn away another worker. Besides, you did choose to come here.”
“N-No I didn’t!”
“Oh really? So that’s not your hand holding Sunny’s?” For the first time in Kim’s life, she found a situation where candy was not worth the extreme feeling of shyness and embarrassment.
“Come on Kim.” Sunny said, hoping to convince Kim to stay. But Kim wasn’t going to fall for it, she wasn’t going to fall for his tricks!
She wasn’t going to look at his brown eyes that were so dark they looked almost black, she wasn’t going to look at his straight black hair with those two little tufts sticking out that she was half tempted to play with, she wasn’t going to look at his cheeks that she was even more than half tempted to squimsh, and above ALL ELSE… she wasn’t acknowledging that he was still holding her hand!
…
…
“Fiiiiiine!” Well to her credit, she lasted about 8 seconds. And now she has to add that small yet beaming smile he gave to the list of things she liked about him.
… Wait, liked–
“Well in that case, come along kiddos. It’s Saturday, so you know what that means?”
Kim’s eyes shot open, she knew exactly what Saturdays meant.
“Come on Sunny! Brownies!!” Forget the sentimentality about her friend, brownies wait for no one!!
Main Quest: For the Brownies!
START!!
…
…
…
“Mmmph.” Meanwhile in another house, one Mari Suzuki was waking up from her Sugar Crash Slumber™. “Mmm… Good Morning Sunny.”
…
…
“Sunny it’s not nice to ignore me.” Mari muttered glancing to her right to see–
*Blink* *Blink* *Blink*
An empty bed that once held Sunny.
“... Not again.”
“Mmm… Morning Mari.” Henry said, stretching his sleepy limbs to get some life back in them, “What’s wro–” Then he also noticed the empty bed and sighed, “Again?”
“Yup.” Welp, the second verse is the same as the first. “Come on Henry, we gotta tell Mom.”
“Right.”
*Rustle* *Fwump*
“No… sleep.” Oh right, Henry had a portable Koala I.E Kel latched onto his side.
“Kel, I have to get up.”
“No.” Oh and he’s hugging tighter. Welp, guess Henry’s out of commission.
“Sorry Mari.” Mari would be annoyed, buuuuut she knows how it feels to have a Baby Brother Koala latched to her side. So much so that Mari’s pretty sure that one day, Sunny’s gonna Koala so bad that she’s gonna have to take him to school with her.
…
…
‘Actually that sounds kinda fun.’ But she filed that crazy idea into the back of her head, she had a missing brother she had to track down. With or without Henry… whoooo was already back asleep, you can’t find good help these days. Mari had half a mind to draw doodles on his cute sleeping face.
‘... Wait, cute?’ Mari felt her face combust into an intense red, a sensation she familiarized with the times her Mom told embarrassing stories about her and Sunny. A feeling she once thought was uncomfortable and confining… but now it’s… nice?
…
…
Mari shook that feeling out of her head, she has a mission to do.
…
Carefully descending down the stairs–
“Arf.”
… And giving Onion her daily scritches, Mari entered the kitchen. “Mom?”
“Lemme guess.” Halley said, tending to a pan of scrambled eggs, “Sunny isn’t in his bed again?”
“Yup.”
“Well you’re in luck. He told me that he’s going to work at Sweet Hearts.”
… Well that took all the wind out of Mari’s sails. “Oh.”
“Well breakfast is almost done.”
*BaBump*
Mari felt… a disturbance in the breakfast force.
*CREAK* *SLAM* *STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP*
“FOOD!!” The sudden appearance of one Kelsey Rodriguez caught Mari off guard.
“Good morning Kel.” Halley meanwhile did not give a single care in the world.
“Kel…” She also didn’t give a single care at the fact that Henry was basically dragged out of bed by his food crazed little brother.
“And good morning to you too Henry.” She quickly transitioned the eggs from the pan onto a large plate before shoving it into the sink, “That’s for future me to deal with. Alright you three, go wake up the others and wash up, or else no food for anyone.”
…
…
“... Okaaaay.”
…
“Alright workers, are you ready for your first task?”
“Yeah.” The duo said in a flat tone for vastly different reasons.
“Good. So your first task… is to eat breakfast.”
…
…
“Huh?” Kim asked, she didn’t know eating was a part of a job.
“Considering it’s 6:30 AM I can guess you two haven’t eaten anything this morning.” Before either of them could respond.
*Grrrrr*
Both of their traitorous stomachs growled. “Thought so. Here.” Ms. Hart placed a 10 dollar bill on the counter, “That should be enough to get each of you a pastry from the Bakery and a bottle of juice. Think of it as… a signing bonus.” Before Sunny could politely decline–
*Crinkle*
“Come on Sunny! Donuts!” Kim (unsurprisingly) took the initiative, grabbing the money and his hand before dragging him away. Ms. Hart simply smiled and shook her head at their actions.
“Kids…”
…
“Come on Mincy! Donuts!” Speaking of donuts and kids, the Paperboat Duo™ are pulling up for their share–
“Slow down…” Or rather, Cris is pulling Mincy up for their share of delectable fried pastries.
“But if we slow down then they won’t be fre– Sunny?”
The meet up we’ve all been waiting for. “Huh? Oh, Cris and Mincy. Good morning.” Sunny greeted, nabbing his bottle of Appy– I mean Apple Juice while Kim got her Orange Juice.
“Good morning Sunny!” And Cris, ever the aloof ball of sunshine didn’t bat an eye at the other aloof ball of sunshine being here so early in the morning.
“What are you doing here?” Mincy on the other hand, batted a few eyes at that fact.
“I’m in debt. Working at Sweet Hearts for today.” Somehow, hearing that both answered Mincy’s question… yet gave her 0 information. “We’re just getting some donuts for breakfast.”
But before Mincy could press further– “You’re getting donuts too?!” Cris shot herself back into the conversation, “We should get them together!” Where does she get her energy from?
“Okay.” Well regardless Sunny was more than happy to let them join the crew, even if his face and tone of voice didn’t reflect that.
“Hooray! Come on Mincy!” Cris exclaimed, latching her hands onto Mincy’s right and Sunny’s left hands.
“Wha–?! W-Wait a minute!”
*Buh dududududududu* *Babadada dadada daaaaaa*
*Mincy and Cris Join the Party!*
…
“Why am I not surprised?” Sure, Mrs. Baker was used to people coming in early mornings. Pastries do go great with morning coffee, and she has quite the monopoly on that market here at Faraway.
But she was used to seeing… you know; young adults in college with a hopeless look in their eyes as they drown their sorrows in coffee and sugar, adults in their mid 20’s who want a quick pick-me-up to start their day, or elderly folks who are enjoying their retirements and want sweet donuts. Not four young children no older than five years old.
“Good morning Mrs. Baker.” And yet, here’s the main culprit. Sunny Suzuki.
“Good morning Sunny, Kim, Cris, and Mincy. What can I get for you four–”
“Donuts!” Cris exclaimed, too excited to eat those circular gifts from God that she didn’t realize how rude it was to interrupt Mrs. Baker.
“Oh kids…” But she waved it off, you can only be young for so long. Speaking off… “Daphne! Are you ready back there?”
Hearing that name made Sunny perk up, “Yes mother…” And out trudged Daphne, who clearly was not super awake this early in the morning, “What is– Sunny!” Nevermind, she’s full of energy again.
“Nice to see you finally woke up.” Aaaand now she’s blushing for being publicly called out. “These four want donuts, hop to it.”
“Yes Mother…”
Daphne sulked away, which left Mrs. Baker who smiled warmly at the group. “It will take no longer than 10 minutes.”
“But wait we haven’t–”
“Oh please, you think Ms. Hart is the only one who can know what their customers like? It won’t take longer than 10 minutes.”
…
…
Well color Sunny intrigued.
…
Back at the Suzuki household, breakfast has been devoured and now Mari and Co are determined to go through with their plan. Operation: Find Sunny–
“Seriously, that’s the best name you can think of, Kel?”
“What? It’s perfect!”
“No it’s not–”
“Can we get on with this already?” Sarah muttered, as much as she loved petting Onion, she did not want to spend… who knows how long listening to those two bicker about literally nothing.
“Fine. Our job is simple, we need to find Sunny… So where is he?”
“Seriously? You came up with the pla–”
“Arf!” Before Sarah could continue her justified tirade, Onion hopped off of her and trotted towards the door, “Arf!” She then nudged her little puppy head towards the door.
“... I think she wants us to follow her.” Bebe said, starting to stand up–
“Hey hey hey don’t move.” But Brandi brought her back down, “How am I supposed to get through these curls if you’re moving?”
“But… mph.”
It’s been a while since Bebe asked Brandi to brush her hair for her, she wondered what… or who made her want to look her best.
…
…
It took every fiber of her being to not make a teasing remark.
…
“Aah welcome ba– why are there two more kids?” Ms. Hart asked, confused yet somehow not surprised Sunny managed to recruit two more kids into his platoon.
“Donuts.” Sunny replied, taking a bite of his glazed donut with cat shaped sprinkles with his free hand… since his other hand is currently being held hostage by Cris’s hand. Mincy seems to be content with being free from Cris’s crushing hand grip (for now) and Kim, now that she’s done with her donut, kinda misses her hand being held.
…
…
I mean uhh… she doesn’t. Nope, not at all. Not one bit.
“Of course, well are you two going to help or did Sunny drag you two here?”
“Yes.” Cris said, and Ms. Hart was honestly not sure which question that ‘Yes’ was for… or maybe it was for both.
“Well in that case throw on some aprons.” But she didn’t care, unpaid child labor is unpaid child labor.
…
…
Wait–
“So when do we get the brownies?!” Thank you Kim for stealing the spotlight away from… whatever that was.
“Well we’re obviously not going to reveal the secret family recipe, no what you four are gonna do is become delivery kids.” Ms. Hart then laid out a nice pink box, and judging by the heavenly smell, it’s chock full of brownies. “See, after hearing the complaints from my one staff member, I decided to try out a reservation-only thing for the brownies. A test run if you will.”
“So why delivery?” Sunny asked, getting right down to business as usual.
“It’s to trick Candice to get some actual exercise.” After hearing that airtight argument, Sunny understood. “Now, let’s start off simple. This is for the Bakers. Daphne and her mother to be exact.”
“Alright. Sunny, Kim, and Mincy, let’s go!” Cris was excited to get this mission underway, dragging the other three and the box of brownies away in a flash.
While Ms. Hart wasn’t sure how this delivery change would fly with Candice, it’s sure working well with these four.
…
“Aaaand… done.” Brandi said, getting the last strand of Bebe’s floofy hair into the proper amount of floofiness.
“Finally.” And Bebe, having 0 amount of patience, got off of the couch. “Now we can find Sunny.”
“Arf!” Hearing her cue, Onion got into her ‘Search Mode’, her objective. Find Sunny and bring him back home because he owes her some scritches behind the ears!
“Alright, let’s go then–”
“Hold it.” What’s with everyone and interrupting the ebb and flow today?
…
…
Sorry, that was out of pocket. Anyway Halley needed something. “Yeah, Mom?”
“Need you lot to pick up some things.” Halley handed Mari a list and a crisp 100 dollar bill. “Only pick up the things on the list, got it? Don’t blow it on stupid stuff.” Halley knew she was talking to a brick wall, the minute Mari saw that 100 dollar bill she was gone.
“Sure Mom… got it.
‘She and Sunny are like two peas in a pod, I swear.’ “Alright, stay safe then.”
Mari was sooooo going to blow this 100 bucks on stupid stuff.
…
“Now pop that dough in the oven–”
“Delivery!/Delivery./Delivery…/Can we go home now?” The working quartet pulled up to their delivery location, all of whom had varying emotions and desires to keep working.
“Oh isn’t this just precious.” Mrs. Baker cooed as she looked behind her, “Daphne, you’ve earned yourself a break.”
“Really?!”
“Okay don’t sound too excited to get away from work there.” Her mother teased, fishing out the prerequisite 15 dollars for the box of brownies, “Here you are, be sure to get that back to Ms. Hart ya hear?”
“Sure enough, Mrs. Baker. Let’s go guys!” Cris exclaimed.
…
…
But Sunny didn’t budge, “Sunny?”
“What, no tip?” Sunny asked, to the confusion of Mincy, Cris, and Kim.
…
…
“Pfft.” But Mrs. Baker stifled a laugh, “I was honestly banking on you not knowing what a ‘Tip’ was. Alright fine you little crook.” She handed Sunny an extra five bucks. “Be sure to split that with the rest of them though.”
“I know, thanks Mrs. Baker.” Sunny gave her a bow before looking at Cris, “Alright, now we can go.”
“W-What just happened?” The interaction that happened before Cris’s eyes blew her entire world view. Sunny just got… more money?! For doing nothing?! What has the world come to?!?!
“My Grandma taught me this. If you do a good job and look cute then people will give you extra money.” Sunny bluntly explained, which took all of the willpower in Mrs. Baker’s being to not burst out laughing.
“Ooooh…” Cris was beginning to understand the inner workings of the world. “Well you got tips, so are we cute enough for tips too?”
…
…
“H-Huh?!” Mincy was not at all prepared for this line of questioning… but was admittedly curious about Sunny’s answer. Unlike Kim, who was absolutely not at all– Bah you get it by now.
Realizing the potentially catastrophic outcomes depending on his answer, Sunny (with a faint blush) nodded with a small smile, “Yeah, of course you three are.” Haha! Atta boy Sunny!
“Really?!” This time the three girls shared an equal amount of excitement from the answer, but for differing reasons.
“Alright you four, time for you to get a move on with your jobs.” As entertaining as this was for Mrs. Baker, thanks to being right next door she knows how fussy she gets when her workers are slacking on the job.
“Kay, come on Cris and you too Mincy.” Sunny took both of their hands and began leading them back to the Candy Store, Kim followed close behind with a small pout.
“It’s always the quiet ones.” Mrs. Baker commented, before patting Daphne on the head, “Don’t sulk dear, take a break and eat a brownie. A. As in one.”
“Yes Mom…”
…
“Good work, now that you four got the hang of it, let’s give you a delivery with more distance.” Ms. Hart placed another box on the counter, “Take this one next door, manager of Fix It.”
Hearing Fix It made Sunny perk up. “Got it–”
“And telling you to not help him fix his shelves is a losing battle, so I’m asking you instead to be quick about it Sunny.” Aaaand Sunny got called out on his side hustle, he couldn’t believe this blatant disrespect.
“Fine…”
So all he could do is pout. Pout and seethe.
…
*SLAM*
“Howdy Mr. Pedro Sr.!”
“Hey Mari, kids. Don’t wreck my store again, please?”
“I-I did no such thing!” She in fact did do such thing. Mari tried to prove to Henry that she was tall enough to reach the comics on the top shelf… only to knock it backwards right into the other one. Which is why the second comic shelf was moved a good four feet back.
“Uh-huh. Well at least that was the most exciting thing that has happened that day, so I’ll let it slide.” Pedro Sr. was too busy wiping down his counter to bother with the kids. “But it’s gonna be a heck of a time explaining to my son why there are dents on the floor when he inherits the store.”
“But–”
“Mari look! The next issue of Captain Spaceboy is out!” Nevermind, that’s more important to Mari’s life. Much to Pedro Sr’s chagrin.
“Just don’t wrinkle the merchandise!”
…
Meanwhile… Three Doors Down.
“If I go crazy then, will you still call me Superman?”
Fitting song that’s playing in Fix-It. Anyway, our intrepid heroes managed to deliver the shipment of brownies to the manager.
“This one goes here.” Aaaaand like how Ms. Hart predicted, they’re organizing shelves. Well… Sunny and Cris are organizing shelves, Kim said ‘Been there done that’ while Mincy was looking at the different colors of paints available. But to their credit, they did organize one shelf each before completely abandoning the job.
“Sunny, can you hand me the hammer?”
“Yeah, here.” But with Cris and Sunny’s ironclad teamwork, they managed to fix the shelves in record time. Even with just the two of them. I mean sure the shovels were already organized, but they still did it pretty dang fast.
“Good work kids. Here you are.” The clerk laid out four five dollar bills, one for each. “One day that lazy oaf will actually do his job properly. Buuuut until then I get to keep garnishing his wages.” Sunny wasn’t sure if this was in any way legal… buuuut he’s getting paid so he doesn’t care.
So after nabbing their hard earned tip, the quartet exited Fix-It. “Look at all the money we’re getting!” Kim cheered, even though all they’ve gained is five bucks each (Sunny has 10 but we’re ignoring that fact). “What are we gonna buy with all of this?”
The thought of blowing this money has crossed Sunny’s mind… but he also liked the idea of saving up to get his friends stuff for Christmas. “Why don’t we go to Hobbeez? We can spend all of our money there.”
“After we finish working for Ms. Hart.” Sunny said, recalling his contractual obligations, even if saying that completely killed Kim’s good vibes. “And if we do, we might get more money.” Nevermind, after the mention of more mola Kim’s spirits perked right up.
“Then let’s go!”
…
“Welcome back, honestly I was expecting you four to turn tail and run.” Ms. Hart pushed the next box in front of the crew. “This one is a bit of a ways. You three live on that big intersection around the block right?”
“Yeah.” Kim, Cris, and Sunny confirmed while Mincy pouted. She wishes she could live closer, but she has to live with her Mom and Brother in their apartment a short distance from Faraway.
“Then go there and take a left, this goes to the first house. Green roof, purple mailbox, bunch of bushes.” Descriptions and directions, that’s all Sunny needs.
“Alright, let’s go.” Sunny’s desire for the bag is keeping him strong.
“Oh and make it quick, this is uhh… a priority order.”
“... What does ‘priority’ mean?” Cris asked
“It means we gotta do it fast.” Sunny grabbed the box whilst answering Cris’ question.
“Oooh… wait, why do we gotta deliver it fast?”
“I don’t know, but that’s not our business. Our business is delivering.”
“Exactly, now hop to it.”
“Okay…” Cris clearly wasn’t satisfied with the lack of context, but decided to roll with it.
“Stay safe!” Ms. Hart exclaimed while the four kids exited the store.
…
…
‘While I know he’s going to be home too, I hope she doesn’t tear those little goobers apart.’
…
“So… hold on lemme get this straight.” Back at Hobbeez, Sarah was trying to process what she just witnessed as she rubbed her right temple, “So… Spaceboy’s Dad–”
“Pinkbeard.”
“Right. He gets into debt at this Intergalactic Casino because he sucks at poker. So the Casino steals his spaceship that wasn’t really his, it was Spaceboy’s.”
“Yup.”
“So Spaceboy storms the Casino to steal it back, and after fighting for a whole chapter, he gets it back and ends with him saying ‘Don’t gamble kids, you don’t want to end up like my Dad’.”
“That’s basically it.”
…
…
“So is your Manga any better?”
“Hey!!” Aubrey, Mari, and Kel exclaimed. Taking the young girl’s insults to their hero personally.
“We didn’t need that last sentence to know that Gambling is bad. We saw what happened first hand–”
“I don’t mean to interrupt this… book circle, but we’ve been here for over an hour and we haven’t gotten a single thing from Ms. Suzuki’s list.”
Typical killjoy, reminding everyone of the task at hand. “Uuuuuugh, fiiiine.”
The group quickly put the comics back where they belonged. “We’re going now Mr. Pedro.”
“Hopefully next time you will buy something!” He waved in a (mostly) joking manner.
One day Pedro Sr. One day…
…
“... Today’s not going the way you imagined it?” Brandi asked Bebe, who decided she was not going to help with the grocery shopping at all.
“... No.”
“Well, I’m sure Sunny would be more than happy to hang out with you some other time, if you asked.”
“Really?”
“Of course, he’s the type of boy to never be able to say no. Must be nice…”
“What do you mean?”
“Because you have a boy like Sunny and I don’t. Like I have Vance whose… no, Bowen has like two emotions, and Henry… well.” She watched both him and Mari joking around with each other in the freezer section, “I never had a chance.”
“Brandi?”
…
…
Brandi just smiled, “You’ll understand someday. You’ll understand how to appreciate…” She leaned in to whisper into Bebe’s ear, “Your future booooyfriend.”
Bebe’s face erupted into a bright and deep crimson before shoving her sister away, “I-I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU SAID THE B-WORD!!” Now… to literally every other patron in the store (including the rest of the group), this is a frightening and rather concerning occurrence. To Brandi however…
“BAHAHAHAHAHA!!” It’s the most hilarious thing, seeing her sister scramble away in embarrassment. “Oh man I’m good.”
…
…
‘Be happy Bebe, that’s my job as your older sister.’
…
*Dingdong*
…
…
*Click* *Creeeeeak*
“Deliv– Oh Mr. Reed. This is your house?”
“Sunny? Oh and Cris, Kim, and Mincy. I honestly didn’t expect… any one of you to be handling the delivery–”
“Lawrence! What’s taking so long?!”
“Nothing de– and you’re making your way over here.” Mr. Reed only sighed as he smiled warmly at the kids, “Well Sunny, I was hoping you would meet her under better circumstances–”
“Lawrence I– Whose this?”
“Monica, this is the boy that moved in a few months ago. He’s also the little brother of the girl who is friends with Henry.”
“Mari? Oh then you must be Sunny.” Well her mood switched on a dime, “It’s nice to finally meet you. My husband told me about how you would help him in the Pharmacy.”
“Yeah, he pays me when I do.”
“Well that’s good. Hard workers deserve to be rewarded as such.”
“Speaking of,” Sunny held out the brownie parcel, “Here is your order.”
“Oh thank–”
“So… tips?”
“Cris, we’ve been over this. You can’t just ask people for tips.”
“But you did–”
“Do as I say, not as I do.”
“But–”
“A tip, huh?” Mrs. Reed pondered, “Well… how about this. I’m having a baby.”
“Monica–”
“And it seems my dear husband and I can’t seem to figure out a name. So we thought you four would like to help us out.” Mr. Reed was hesitant… but accepted this outcome, some suggestions might help the two future parents come to a conclusion.
“Oh! Is it a boy or a girl?”
“We don’t know yet. So give us names for a boy or a girl–”
“It’s a boy.”
…
…
“How did you know that Sunny?” Mrs. Reed asked as Sunny stared at her baby bump intently.
“It feels like a boy.” Sunny said, “And… his name is Brent.”
“That’s–”
“Hmm… I like it!” Cris exclaimed.
“It’s alright.” Mincy meanwhile just accepted his name choice. She couldn’t really think of a name when put on the spot like this.
“But what if they’re a girl–”
“Nah, Sunny’s super smart, Mrs. Reed.” Kim explained, “This one time, he saw two big kids were having trouble, and he knew exactly what to get them. If he says it’s a boy, then it’s a boy.”
…
…
“Can’t argue with that logic.” Mr. Reed said, “Not to mention I do like the name Brent.”
“... Fine. Brent it is.” Something told Mrs. Reed that when these kids start attending her school in the coming years, it will be the most interesting… yet the most headache inducing period of her career.
And Lord help her, for she doesn’t know how right she truly is.
…
“Okay that should be everything on Mrs. Suzuki’s list.” Henry said, pushing the cart along to the Checkout Line. After a painfully long checkout process, the children exited the grocery store bags of groceries in cart. “Luckily they let us take the carts out.”
“But we have to take it back right?” Mari asked, gingerly walking right beside him.
“Uhh…”
“Henry?”
“Well… usually you have to, but sometimes people forget. Yet every morning all the carts are back, even if some people haven’t brought them back.”
“... Weird.”
“Yea–”
“Arf! Arf arf!” Before Henry could finish his response, Onion leapt out of Sarah’s arms and started bolting.
“Hey where are you going–”
“Oh Onion.” A familiar voice caused everyone to snap their heads near instantaneously, as the sight of a black haired boy getting bombarded by puppy kisses was right in front of them, “Nice to see you’re out and abou–”
“SUNNY!” Kel exclaimed, as he and Aubrey started sprinting towards him, “We found you!”
“Where have you been?!” Aubrey asked, “We’ve been looking for you forever!” Not the total truth, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“Working.” Sunny gestured to his apron, “Just got back from a delivery.”
“Ohh…” Kel immediately understood, “Well are you done? I wanna do stuff?”
“Dunno. Gotta go back to Ms. Hart and see.”
“Well that make– wait, why is Kim, Mincy, and Cris with you?” Kel asked, having just noticed the three girls behind Sunny.
“Well Kim showed up at my house this morning. She wanted the sweets I promised her last night, but someone ate them all.” Kel and Mari winced at that not so subtle call out, “Mincy and Cris were getting donuts and decided to tag along.”
“He owes me a lot of candy.”
“Yeah. So I can’t come home yet.”
“Aww really?”
“Yes, but I don’t think it’ll take that much longer. After I’m done I’ll come back and, while it might not be super interesting, I’ll tell you all the things I did.”
Hearing about the possibility of a Sunny Storytime made all the disappointment in Kel’s mind evaporate, “Okay!” and was replaced with excitement. “Come on Henry, let’s go back to Sunny’s house!”
Henry rolled his eyes at his brother’s excitement, “Alright Kel, just slow down a bit. I can’t exactly match your speed with this cart.”
“Slowpoke.”
“Wha–”
“Nah I gotta give it to him Henry, you’re pretty slow.”
“You too Mari?!”
“Slower than a turtle.” Kel muttered.
“Nah more like a snail.” Mari replied.
Henry didn’t know when this Kel and Mari Alliance started, but he didn’t like where it was going.
…
“Welcome back you four, and lucky day since this is your last delivery for today until Sunny’s debt is officially cleared.” Ms. Hart placed the last box on the counter, “It’s not even that far, two doors down to Hobbeez for one Pedro Sr. Once you make the delivery come back to drop off your aprons, then you’re free.”
“Alright let’s go.” Kim said, grabbing the box so she could take charge of this run. “The quicker we finish this the quicker we can go to Sunny’s house.”
…
…
‘Wait… Sunny’s House?’ And here we go again…
“Well you heard the lady, hop to it.”
For the first time in her life, Kim was thankful to Ms. Hart for bailing out of that emotional episode of internalized embarrassment.
…
*Dingling*
“Deli–”
“WAAAH!!” The sound of a loud crying baby snapped the four delivery kids from their announcement.
“Calm down Angel, it’s okay.” The familiar name paired with the familiar voice made Sunny turn his attention towards the commotion. “We’ll go home soon–”
“Hi Angelica.”
“Huh?” Hearing her name caused the young artist to do a complete 180, “Oh Sunny… and friends.”
“We have names you know–”
“Thank God for you, please hold Angel while I buy the things I need for Katie. Her Birthday is tomorrow and I kinda waited till the last minute.” Ignoring Kim’s retort about Angelica not giving the three girls any sort of acknowledgement, she shoved Angel’s baby carrier into Sunny’s hands.
“Oh.” Sunny accepted the now quiet baby into his hands. Angel’s amber eyes were busy scanning Sunny’s face. “Uhh…?”
“Well you made him stop crying, that’s a start. Just keep him entertained while I figure something out.”
“W-Wait–”
“Now… is there anything involving roses around here?” Sunny couldn’t believe this, his first job as Honorary Older Brother™ is babysitting. Babysitting with no help whatsoever.
“Buh?” But like Angelica said, Angel has stopped crying. All he’s doing is staring at the black haired boy with immense curiosity.
“Ahem. I assume you four are here with my order?” Luckily Pedro Sr. was here to guide the stunned children along.
“Right, here you are Mr. Pedro.” Kim said, handing the box of brownies to their rightful owner.
“Aww, thanks a bunch.” He gratefully took the parcel and put it on the counter behind him. “When Lotta said she was trying out a local delivery service I thought she was crazy, but I’m glad I was wrong.”
“Who’s ‘Lotta’?” Cris asked.
“Oh that’s Ms. Hart’s name.” Pedro explained, a small chuckle escaping his lips, “She’s not really fond of it.”
Mincy was confused by that statement, “Really? What’s wrong with it?”
“She hates it because she got made fun of at school for it. Lotta Hart sounds like Lot of Heart, and kids would make fun of you for anything.”
…
…
“So she was angry that she got made fun of for being named ‘Lotta Hart’ so she decided to name her daughter ‘Candice Hart?’.”
“Well that’s not really her call to make. Her whole family tree is made up of names like that. Starting at the top of the tree with ‘Sweet Hart’, down to Candice, Her, and her Grandmother ‘Brave Hart’.”
“Woah…” Hearing all this information on Ms. Hart’s family tree made Sunny curious about his own. He remembered his Grandma talking about his Great Grandpa serving in World War II during one of his shifts at Seventh Heaven. Maybe he should ask for more info when he remembers.
“Anyway if I share more then Lotta will ban me from buying more brownies for the rest of the year, so let’s get down to business.” Pedro Sr. pointed to the lump of baby chilling in the carrier Sunny’s holding, “That baby has been crying for the past 4 minutes now.”
“Sorry…” Angelica muttered, not taking her eyes off of the shelf.
“It’s not your fault, babies have a tendency to cry at any inconvenience. Take that from an actual Dad.” Hearing that reassured Angelica a little bit, “Now back to what I was saying, see I can handle a baby’s cries, but any potential customer that strolls in might be put off by him. So if you can keep him from crying until the lady finishes finding what she needs… I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Is that a tip?” Cris asked, her brain on ‘Make More Money’ mode.
“Calling it that will not get me in trouble, so yes.” Pedro Sr. gestured around the store, “Use anything you need to keep the baby entertained. Just don’t damage anything.”
Entertaining a baby to get a tip? Sounds like the easiest job in the world for Sunny.
…
…
In fact he found just what he needed.
Surprise Quest: Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, Yeaaaaaaaaaaah!
START!!
…
“Karen do you really think here is where we’ll find–”
“Yes, I got a good feeling about this place Sean.”
“... Alright I trust you.” Relenting on his point, Sean opened the door, “But I don’t think–”
“So… wait a minute. You’re telling me you know how to play Piano?”
“Kind of.” Sunny said, playing a simple yet all too familiar song on an electronic keyboard, “My Grand Aunt is teaching me, but she said until I learn to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star straight through then she’ll give me actual lessons.”
“... But that doesn’t seem that hard.”
“It wouldn’t be, if there wasn’t more to it.”
“There’s more to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?” Cris asked, “How?”
“There’s actually 11 more versions to it.”
“11?!” Cris, Mincy, and Kim exclaimed… before realizing that Little Angel is right beside them and winced.
“Hehe!” But he seemed entertained by their outburst. Their tip lives another day.
“Phew…”
“Anyway, yes there are 11 more versions. Each one adding more and more than the last. For example, you know the 1st version.”
Sunny started off his performance by playing the variation everyone knows. The ole reliable when it comes to putting rowdy kids to sleep. “Well this is good and all Sunny–”
“Now… the 2nd version.” Kim didn’t even get halfway through her sentence before Sunny completely destroyed anything and everything her four year old mind knew about the world. Not only was this variation’s tempo damn near twice as fast, but it was layered with more and more notes and keys.
“W-Wha?”
“Now the 3rd version.” And so Sunny played, from the 3rd variation to the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, all the way to the 11th. The girls, Angelica, Pedro Sr., Sean, and Karen were shocked by his display of Piano skill from just a few short months of practice and learning the fundamentals.
“Hehehe!” While Angel was super excited having a front row seat to this performance, clapping along with the music.
“And that’s it.” Sunny said, wrapping up the 11th variation. “Haven’t memorized the 12th one yet.”
“T-That was… what?!”
“Learning how to play Piano is fun and all… but I was hoping to learn how to make my own songs.” Sunny cracked his knuckles after his performance was finished, “But my Grand Aunt said ‘you have to learn how to actually play before you can write’. So I’m just going through the motions for right no–”
“AHA! Perfect!” Angelica pulled out a book from the back of the shelf, ‘101 Ways to Take Care of Roses’.
“Ahh you finally found what you were looking for, Angelica?”
“Yes Mr. Pedro.”
“Well bring it up here so I can ring you up, while you nab your brother.”
“Kay.” Angelica plopped the book onto the counter before going to pick up Angel, “Alright little bro, we gotta go. Wave bye to Sunny.” And to Sunny’s surprise, Angel actually waved bye.
“That’ll run ya $9.45.” One transaction and one book in hand later, Angelica started heading towards the door.
“Great, see you sometime soon Sunny!"
"Tell Katie I said Happy Birthday."
"Will do! Excuse me." Angelica pushed past Sean and Karen, who Sunny just now noticed were here.
“Oh, hi Karen.” Sunny greeted, “Didn’t know you were here.”
“You were too busy playing the piano, I get it.” Karen waltzed over to ruffle Sunny’s hair, “But I didn’t expect you to be this good.”
“Sorry for not telling you, Grand Auntie Mel told me not to show anyone.”
“What? Why?!” Cris exclaimed, “You were so good!”
“I dunno, she just told me not to. Something about not letting people know I’m super good at something when I’m four years old.”
Cris didn’t understand, and she hates not being able to understand. But she feels better knowing that Sunny doesn’t understand either.
“Well anyway, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to… but I wouldn’t mind hearing you play Piano someday. Though knowing you, you’ll probably try and learn so many others.”
Hearing Karen say that made the image of all of his friends cheering for Sunny after a live performance pop right back into his head. It made him smile.
“Alright if you all are done I’d appreciate it if you put that piano right back where you got it so you can get your reward.” Pedro Sr. said before glancing at the young couple, “Now what can I do for you two?”
“We were looking for something to get for a kid who we babysit. His birthday is less than two weeks from now.”
“Less than two weeks huh? Hmm… sounds like young Kelsey. Sorry, Kel.”
“Wait, Kel’s Birthday is soon?” Sunny asked, ashamed at himself for not learning about this information sooner.
“You didn’t know?” Kim asked, “He kept saying how his Birthday is on November 11th all the time at Daycare.”
“I don’t go to Daycare.”
“What?!” Kim exclaimed before pouting, “Lucky…”
“Mom didn’t put me in Daycare and said I could do much more at home. Which I do.” But Sunny’s mind wasn’t on that, no he’s more focused on what to get Kel for his Birthday.
“Well you two are free to look around, in the meantime, you four come up to get your reward.”
Ehh that’s for future him to decide, right now it’s reward time!
Surprise Quest: Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, Yeaaaaaaaaaaah!
COMPLETE!!
…
“I’m impressed, you’ve completed all of the current orders and it’s not even Noon.” Ms. Hart praised, placing four pink parcels on the counter, “Now it’s illegal for me to not pay you in some way shape or form. So here, one for each of you.”
Kim’s eyes widened, “A-Are those…?”
“Yup, brownies.”
“YES!!” Her patience and hardwork (kinda) has been rewarded! The sweets she’s been promised are hers!
“I can’t wait to eat all of these!” Cris exclaimed, taking her share of the loot.
“There is no way your Mom is going to let you eat all of these.” Mincy muttered, not able to even fathom the thought of eating all of these brownies all by herself. They’re super delicious but this is just waaaaay too much chocolate for one mortal to stomach alone.
“Thank you Ms. Hart.”
“No problem, but if you’re ever interested in doing this again my door is always open on Saturdays. I’ll actually pay you for your work this time.”
Another money making venture? Well color Sunny interested.
Main Quest: For the Brownies!
COMPLETE!!
…
*Creak*
“Oh they’re back!” Kel exclaimed, as the four hard workers returned to their… well Sunny’s home. “How did it go?”
“We finished the deliveries. Got brownies.”
“Really?! Can I have some?”
“Kel those are Sunny’s–”
“Sure.” Sunny handed the parcel to Kel.
“Woah–”
“But don’t forget to share, like really share.”
“... Okay.” While disappointed he couldn’t devour all the brownies like a freak of nature, he was still content with sharing. “What about you?”
“I need to get something from Hobbeez. Be right back.” Sunny climbed up the stairs to his and Mari’s shared room, hearing a ‘Come on Kel, give me one!’ from a voice he knows belonged to Mari as he closed the door behind him.
With complete privacy, Sunny dug into his secret stash of money he’s earned from working at Seventh Heaven along with the various oddjobs he does around town. His fortune lies in the safest place he could muster… an old shoe.
“... This should be enough.”
With money in hand, Sunny began his trek back to Hobbeez.
…
*Dingling*
“Ahh Sunny, you’re back.”
“I’m here to use my reward.” Sunny placed his reward on the counter. A 50% off Coupon.
“Finally, one of you kids is buying something from my store. Well what is it you want?”
…
…
“... I want that.”
…
“Mmm these are so good…”
“Be sure to save some for Sunny.”
“Huh?” Mari asked, eating the last brownie in the box.
“... Why do I even bother?” Henry asked, unaware that Bebe saved one of her brownies for Sunny in secret.
*Click* *Creeeeak*
“Hi–”
“Sunny you’re back again!” Kel greeted, before noticing the box in his hands, “What’s that?”
“... Something I saw a few times at Hobbeez.” He walked to the middle of the living room and placed the box on the coffee table, “It’s a Record Player.”
“Woah… what does it do?”
“Seriously Kel? It plays records.”
“Well alright then smarty pants, what’s a record?”
“That’s not the question you asked Kelsey.”
“It’s Kel!”
“Seriously? Again?” Henry asked, feeling another storm brewing between those two.
“A record is a giant disk that plays music.” A gruff voice entered the room, “Also I thought we agreed not to leave the door open. It’ll let flies in here.”
“Hi Dad.” Sunny greeted, opening the box and placing the record player on the table.
“That’s a nice looking record player. A lot smaller than the one I own.”
“Dad, you have one of these?”
“Yeah, I was big into collecting records when I was younger. There’s a big record player in your mother and I’s room.” Yamaha noticed something else beside the box that once held the record player, “Seems like you have a record too.”
“Yeah, Mr. Pedro gave it to me. He said ‘all collections gotta start somewhere’.” Sunny picked up the record. “I picked this one because I heard it on the radio once. Jamming and Punky Reggae Party by Bob Marley and the Wailers.”
“Ooh that’s a nice one. Well, do you know how to put it in?”
“No.”
Yamaha let out a snort, “Well it’s simple. The side that’s facing up is the song that will play, take it out of the sleeve gently or else you might damage it, then gently place it on the turntable, make sure that little spike in the middle is through the small hole on the center of the record and that it’s completely flat.”
“Okay… got it.”
“Good, now you see that dial that says ‘RPM’?”
“Yeah?”
“Every record has a specific RPM it needs to be at to play properly. It says so on the sleeve.”
…
…
“It says 45 RPM.”
“Then set it to 45.” Sunny quickly adjusted the dial to be at 45 RPM, “Now the important part, see that stick thing with the square at the end?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s called the ‘tonearm’ that’s how the music will actually play. See how there’s a bumpy line going around the record?”
“Yeah?”
“You need to gently lower the tonearm and put the square thing at the beginning of that line. On the outer edge.”
Sunny gently lowered the tonearm to the outer end of the grooves as instructed, “Okay… I think I did it.”
“Now comes the fun part. Press play.”
Sunny nodded and pressed play. He watched as the record slowly spun in circles, as the sound of bongos and piano were heard from the small speakers.
“We’re jammin’, I wanna jam it with you.”
A small serene smile formed on Sunny’s lips as he just sat and listened. Soon rocking his head side to side.
“You know, Reggae is one of your mother’s favorite music genres.”
“It sounds nice.”
“I know right?” A feminine voice joined the fray, as Halley Suzuki exited from the Dining Room. “Though I’m not sure how I feel about this whole family bonding exercise that’s going on without me.”
“Hi Mom.” Sunny greeted, still keeping his attention on the music.
“No bullet can stop us now. We neither beg, nor we won’t bow.”
“Neither can be bought nor sold…”
“Yup, he’s in a trance. Reggae does have that effect on people.” Halley smiled while watching her son bob to the music. “Anyway Yamaha don’t you have a whole box of–”
“Way ahead of you.” Yamaha said, placing a box that says ‘Rock Records A-D’. “We thinking AC/DC or Boston?”
“Oh Boston, all the way.”
And so that’s how the rest of the day went. A tour of his father’s rather extensive record collection, hanging out and listening to music with his friends, and yes… Bebe did give him that brownie. The smile he gave her is something she will keep with her for all of her days.
Nothing could possibly make this day better.
“I made Grilled Cheeses.”
Nevermind, Henry made Grilled Cheeses. This day just got better.