Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Welcome to WHITE SPACE.

You have not been here in a while.

Sunny opens his eyes. Above him looms a familiar paper white face framed with dark graphite hair. Omori is crouching over him, their arms wrapped around their knees. They’re staring down at him.

The thin rug Sunny lays on is soft. He might have enjoyed it if Omori’s socks were not poking the top of his head. Or if he did not know what it meant to be in WHITE SPACE.

“Why am I here?”

“You forgot something.”

“Something... Is this about Mari?” It had been easier to talk about what had happened to her, but Sunny felt something in his heart ache at the thought that there might be more he had forgotten.

“Not Something, no.”

Sunny sighed in relief, then he sat up and turned to face Omori.

“Are you going to tell me what I forgot?”

“No. You’ll find it.” Despite Omori’s impassive expression, there was a hint of amusement in their voice.

Sunny looks around. White Space is just like he remembers. An endless expanse of white in all directions. No walls, no ceiling. The only thing differentiating the floor from the sky was the little white rug they were both sitting on. On the rug there’s an old computer with a static filled screensaver. To its right there is a sketchbook. Mewo is asleep, curled in a ball at the edge of the rug. Surprisingly, there’s no box of tissues for wiping his sorrows away.

Sunny looks around for anything else that might serve as a clue for what he forgot. His gaze wanders to The Door that leads to Neighbors Room, except there is no door. Instead, there is a refrigerator. He gets to his feet and stands in front of the new addition to White Space. 

Sunny does nothing, staring at the fridge. He looks back to Omori. All they do is slightly tilt their head as if to tell him to continue. 

The refrigerator makes a gentle whirring sound. He opens the door, half expecting to find a room inside or a staircase to somewhere else.

There’s a single bowl of macaroni with plastic wrap on top to keep it fresh.

“Why is this here?” Sunny turns to look at Omori. 

It seems that Omori had walked over to him while he was inspecting the contents of the fridge, as they now stood just a few steps away.

“The rest of Headspace is gone. I replaced the door with something else.”

“Why is there macaroni in the fridge?”

Much to Sunny’s chagrin, he’s met with another non answer. 

“When was the last time you made macaroni?”

“Two days ago. I made enough for leftovers, so I put some in the fridge to have lat- oh.”

“You remembered.” Omori says matter of factly.

“I did.”

“You forgot to eat dinner tonight. You should do that.”

Sunny opens his eyes. Above him lies his bedroom ceiling, unremarkable yet real. It seems that he’s awake now. And a little hungry. 

Chapter Text

Welcome to WHITE SPACE.

You have been here before.

Upon opening his eyes, Sunny is met with the familiar infinite white of White Space. He lays there for a moment, wondering why he’s back in this place. Last time he was here things were slightly different. Looking up, he sees the empty cord where a black light bulb once hung. He’s glad it’s still gone.

A gentle meow off to the side catches Sunny’s attention. Mewo is in her usual corner. Omori is laying on their stomach, legs lightly kicking at the air, as they pet her. They look back at him and nod in greeting before going back to petting Mewo. 

Sunny pauses in the middle of getting up to look at Omori. He can't help but stare. They aren’t dressed in their usual black tank top, striped shorts, and black socks. It looks like something Kel would come up with. As a joke.

“What are you wearing?”

“You don't like it.” Omori pauses their petting of Mewo to sit up. 

“It looks...” Sunny doesn’t even know what to call it. “...creative.”

The colors look garish when compared to the rest of White Space. Omori is wearing a faded red sweater with a Christmas tree on it, swim trunks, and the short white socks that barely go over Sunny’s ankles whenever he wears them. He hates those socks.

“Why are you wearing that?”

“I’m sure you’ll find out why.” 

Omori gets to their feet and stretches their arms over their head. Then they step off the white rug.

“Let's walk.”

“What about the red hands?” Sunny’s brow slightly furrows as he walks after them.

“They arent here anymore.”

They both wander off into the white, unhindered by any hands chasing after them. It hadn’t yet been a minute when Sunny hears Omori grumbling under their breath. 

“Give me a second,” Omori says as they kneel down to pull up the socks that had fallen over their ankles and bunched up around their toes. Sunny can't say he didn’t expect that to happen. 

“There we go.” The too short socks would blend into Omori’s white skin if not for the faint shadow at the top. 

“Will you tell me why I’m here?”

“You’ll figure it out.” Omori’s almost monotone voice holds that same hint of amusement as before. Maybe there’s something he forgot. 

“Alright.”

The two of them go back to walking in silence. Sunny goes over things in his head that he might have forgotten. He ate dinner. He brushed his teeth. He’s pretty sure he brushed his teeth. 

His thoughts are interrupted by Omori sighing and kneeling down again. 

“Why are you wearing those?”

“Why would you wear them?” A slight frown forms on Omori’s face, and they sit down to take the offending socks off completely. They shift to lay down on the ground, a sock in each hand, and sigh in utter defeat. He can’t blame them, though. Sunny never liked wearing them either.

Apparently, all Sunny needed was to use socks to de-feet Omori. He cringes, that one was really bad. Or should he say it socks ? No, that’s also really bad. Almost as bad as the socks.

“I wouldn’t wear them unless I had nothing else to wear.” Sunny stills. “Oh.”

“You remembered.”

“Yeah.”

“Put your clothes in the dryer. If you don’t do it soon, they’ll smell weird.” Omori wrinkles their nose as if imagining it.

Upon opening his eyes, Sunny slides out of bed and goes to the laundry room. He had forgotten to move his clothes from the washer to the dryer, and has to remedy that before he’s forced to wear those awful socks.

Chapter Text

Welcome to WHITE SPACE.

You have been here before.

The moment he opens his eyes, he’s greeted with the increasingly familiar White Space. And Mewo’s face.

“Hello, Mewo.”

The cat laying on his chest meows before licking his nose with her wet sandpaper tongue. Sunny slowly blinks at her, and she slowly blinks back.

Above them, Omori’s graphite dark hair cuts through the sky of White Space. They’re standing just behind Sunny with the same impassive neutrality that always graces their features. Somehow, Sunny knows they’re amused.

“You are legally not allowed to move,” Omori notes.

“I know.” It’s almost too embarrassing to say out loud. Almost. “I’m in-cat-pacitated.”

Mewo meows as if she agrees before resting her cool nose in the crook of his neck. He’s missed this.

“You are.” Omori closes their eyes and sighs. In the same deadpan voice they always have, they continue. “It seems you’ve been rendered… immeowbile.”

They both cringe.

“You won’t tell me what I forgot.” Sunny says plainly.

“No. I won’t. It helps if you find it yourself.” It feels like this will be a recurring theme.

In lieu of a response, Sunny gives them a thumbs up. Then he pets Mewo, thinking about what it might be. He’s pretty sure he ate, and he still has clean laundry. That’s as far as he gets before the weight on his chest is removed.

Omori lifts Mewo into their arms before she climbs up onto their shoulder. “You should look for it,” they say with a soft huff of what might be amusement. Their face is as blank as ever as they extend a hand.

Sunny takes it.

First he checks the fridge. The cool air inside feels comfortable on his face, but the fridge is empty.

Then he boots up his laptop. Sunny opens the journal but doesn't find any clues as to what he’s missing. He logs off and looks back at Omori. There is not a lot of warmth in White Space, but the heat of the laptop feels nice.

Omori tilts their head, and Mewo does the same.

“What’s one spot you haven't checked?” Omori asks.

Sunny turns his head to the sketchbook.

“The old sketches aren’t in there.” They say, as if they knew exactly what was on his mind. They probably do.

He opens the notebook. It’s a birthday card. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” it says with a drawing of Mewo in a party hat right below it. There’s a cartoon cake sketched next to her with candy candles on top.

That’s right. He’s turning seventeen now.

Omori blows a quiet party horn when Sunny turns around, the paper tube uncoiling to hit him in the eye.

“Hey!” Sunny rubs where it hit. It didn’t hurt, but it feels natural to soothe the area regardless.

“It’s not like you need that eye anymore.” Omori says as they shrug.

It’s so unexpected that it gets a soft huff of laughter from Sunny. “Should I say happy birthday to you too?” Now that he thinks about it, does Omori have the same birthday as him?

“If you want.” Omori had put on a party hat while Sunny was looking at the notebook. The black and white stripes match their pants. Mewo has one too.

“Okay. Happy birthday.” Sunny nods his head. It’s then that he realizes he’s wearing a party hat too. Anything is possible in dreams, even magically appearing party hats.

He puts the notebook back down in its place.

“Can I stay here for a while?”

The spot between Omori’s eyes furrows slightly.

“Not… not like before. Just until it’s time to wake up.”

Omori’s brow softens and then they nod. “Sure.”

Sunny almost moves to sit down, but a thought comes to him.

“Do you have a pen?”

Omori hands him one that came from nowhere. It’s a plain black pen.

Sunny picks the notebook back up and begins to draw.

The two of them spend the rest of the night in calm silence. Omori lays on the carpet looking up at the endless expanse of White Space, and Sunny scribbles away at something in the notebook.

The moment he opens his eyes, a gentle smile befalls his face. Today is his birthday.