Work Text:
TWO VOICEMAIL MESSAGES
BEEP!
“Heya! Kel here! I hope you’re doing okay and stuff! I’m really sorry that the sleepover thing didn’t work out like it should’ve. I hope the ride with Hero wasn’t too bad. He said you were coughing a lot, and that we’d probably need to put the hangout aside for a bit. But don’t worry! You have plenty of time over winter break to visit! We can even carpool you back to college if you’d like! I hope I wasn’t the one to make you sick, heh.
“Cya around! By the way, I think we accidentally swapped shirts when we unpacked yesterday. Let me know which ones you took!”
BEEP!
“Hey Sunny, it’s mommy. Is everything alright? I’m sorry I haven’t been home in a while, work abroad has been so busy lately, and I only heard your voicemail earlier. I should’ve left some food in the fridge for you. Don’t worry, it’s in date; I won’t make that mistake again! Just read the instructions for everything and you should be good to go! There’s also some medicine and herbal tea in one of the kitchen drawers too. That should help you for a while. I should be home by next week. I hope you feel better soon!
“Okay, that’s it for now! Mommy loves you! Bye honey!”
BEEP!
After listening to all the messages, he turned off his phone and left it on the nightstand beside his bed. With nothing but the city traffic outside to keep him company, Sunny lied in his bed and stared at the ceiling. He knew the aids wouldn’t work immediately, but that still didn’t help his piercing headaches and dry coughs.
Afternoon sunlight shined through his window, indicating that it’d be a while before his dreadful day could end. It was the first time in a while that he actually wanted to go out and do something, rather than just stay at home all day. Every step he took to the bathroom felt like it could be his last before his muscles gave way. Even his back hurt when he stood too long to practice playing violin.
Nothing interesting to play on the computer, no one he felt like talking to online or text on his phone. He might as well just try to sleep now and wake up when everything felt better.
He turned away from the window and closed his eyes, trying to relax as much as possible even through the pain. Slowly, he felt his mind drifting off and his body going numb…
Knock knock!
Sunny groaned. He doesn’t recall calling anyone to come to his place, nor ordering any pizza or take out from the restaurants down at the streets. Curious, he opened his eyes, slowly got out of his bed, and put on some slippers as he slowly walked out of his room.
He walked past the living room and saw the open DVD case to some rom-com movie on the coffee table, its disc still in the player. Earlier, he thought he could pass the time by watching a movie, but it ended up being nearly as dry as his throat. He also passed by the kitchen; a cardboard tray that originally held microwaved chicken tikka masala lay on the dining table, as well as a cup that he drank his tea out of.
Walking to the front door of his apartment was probably the hardest thing he had to do that day, but he managed to do it nonetheless. With a thud, he leaned his body on the door to see through the peephole. Shocked at first, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t too sleep deprived to see visions. Yet, the boy outside was still there.
He slowly opened the door and coughed. “H…hey Basil…” he managed to say.
Basil waved back at him with a glove on his hand, holding a bouquet of purple flowers and a paper bag around his occupied arm. “Hey! Aubrey and I tried to see you yesterday, but Kel said that Hero took you back home, saying you were sick… is everything okay?” His words were partially muffled by the blue mask over his face.
Sunny weakly shrugged. “I…could be doing better.”
“Oh Sunny…” Basil sighed. “I assumed you probably still felt sick. Though, I hope my gifts can help you feel kinda better!”
“You didn’t have to come all the way out here…”
“Well, I still did, didn’t I? Train ride wasn’t that bad! Mind if I come into your apartment?”
“Uh…sure.” He slowly walked back to where he came from, stopping at the dining table. After placing all his items down, Basil helped him clean up by throwing away the cardboard tray and giving Sunny’s mug a rinse before setting it on the counter.
He took what seemed to be dried yellow flowers from his paper bag and dropped it into the mug while he heated up water in an electric kettle. Once the water started boiling, he poured the water into the cup, added some honey into the mug, and mixed everything together for a while. Once finished, he brought the mug to Sunny and sat down in front of him.
He tilted his head out of curiosity at the mug. “Basil…what did you make me?”
“Chrysanthemum tea!” he said cheerfully. “Whenever I got sick, I picked out some of those flowers from my garden to make it! Just dry them in the oven for two-ish hours and let it sit with hot water for a while! It’s really helped me whenever I come down with something.”
“Hm.” He picked up the mug, barely able to hold it still. After one small sip, Sunny rapidly pushed the cup from his lips. “Ah! It’s hot…”
Basil chuckled. “Yeah…you’re supposed to drink it slowly.” He watched as the raven-haired boy continued to take small sips out of the cup. After a few quick sips, Sunny started to drink more and more as the mixture began to cool down.
Finally, once he emptied the cup, he put it down on the table and wiped his mouth with his sweater. “It…tasted good…”
“Yep! I always add some honey to make it taste a little less bitter sometimes.” Basil took the cup away from Sunny and put it in the sink. “Really simple to make too! I’ll leave some dried flowers for you whenever you want some more. Probably best to drink it before you sleep!”
Sunny nodded. He turned to the flowers sitting idly in front of him. “And…what flowers are these?”
“Oh, these?” The blonde picked up the bouquet after returning to the table. “These are some lavenders I grew in my garden! They smell good, don’t they? I was hoping they’d help brighten up the place while you’re staying in!”
He took the flowers from Basil and brought the flowers to his face, giving it a small sniff. “Hm…they do smell nice.”
“Yeah! They’re also supposed to represent healing and good health, so I hope having them around will make you feel better too!”
“Yeah…” Suddenly, Sunny got up from his seat and went towards the kitchen cabinets. He groaned from back pain while trying to reach the bottom compartments.
“S-Sunny?” Basil nervously said. “Do you need help? What are you trying to do?”
“I’m…trying to get a vase for the flowers.”
“O-oh…it’s okay! I can help you get it!” He quickly went to his side and opened the cabinet door, noticing two dusty glass vases. “Oh, nice! We can have some in the kitchen and some in your room!”
Sunny nodded. “Yeah…that would be nice…”
Basil took the two large glasses and used tissue paper to wipe the gray coating off of them. He filled both of them with water and placed the lavenders inside before setting one on the dining table they sat at not too long ago. Afterward, he brought the other vase to Sunny’s room, with the sick boy following him close behind. He set the flowers on the nightstand that held his phone, accidentally spilling some water before swiftly wiping it up.
“Really adds a nice touch to everything, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah…it sure does.” They stood beside each other in silence, enamored by the flowers glistening in the window’s sunbeam.
“Oh, I nearly forgot!” Basil rushed back to the kitchen and searched through his paper bag for an envelope. He held it out to Sunny once he got to where he was. “A letter from Aubrey! She was kind of busy today planning out things, so she couldn’t come with me. But, she still wrote something for you! I…made sure it was nice and stuff before taking it with me.”
He took the yellow letter, still in its envelope, and put it in his right pocket. “I’ll look at it later.”
“Alright!” He leaned against the counter. “So…if that’s all you need, I’m going to get going now, okay?”
“Mm…how long until your train arrives?”
“Oh! Well, I could really go anytime since I have the local transit card. I was planning on maybe checking out downtown, since I haven’t been around this area much…”
Sunny paused. “If it doesn’t bother you, can you keep me company for a little bit?” he nervously asked. “It’s…kinda lonely. And…you should be fine…if you keep your distance.”
“I mean, I’d love to! Is there anything you want to do in particular? Board games? Watch whatever’s on TV?”
“Mm…can we watch a…movie together?”
“Sure! Of course!” The two boys walked to the living room, where Sunny sat down on the cheap-feeling couch. Basil stared at his movie collection. “What would you like to watch?”
“Uh…I actually have a movie inside the player already…it’s probably better watching it with someone else…”
“What kind of movie?”
“A cheesy one…”
Even though he had his mask on, the flower boy could still make out a smile. “My favorite kind of movie!” He grabbed the TV remote on the coffee table and promptly sat down on the couch. After turning it on, he noticed that Sunny had gone around twenty minutes into the film. “Do you want to watch it from the beginning?”
“Yeah…”
With the press of a button, the movie chopply went backwards before arriving at a black screen. Basil pressed play, causing the production company’s logos to appear on screen. When the opening credits began to roll, he felt light tapping on the right of him. He turned his head to see Sunny’s arm stretched out to him, his palm open.
“I know we can’t hug…but would it be okay to hold hands instead?”
With little hesitation, Basil accepted his request, and he placed his gloved hand atop of the sick boy’s. Their fingers wrapped around each other snuggly as they laughed and insulted the movie’s quality.
Despite being weak, Sunny smiled for the first time since he got ill. Even through all the pain, he still found some joy in his day.