Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had started a few months after Mari’s passing. At first, it was out of a desire to escape himself, but over time, Sunny’s persona became a bit more distinct. Oh, it was still pretty similar to him, after all Omori had been created merely as a vessel for Sunny, a persona he could take on to escape and hide into the dreamy landscapes of Headspace, but after some time, it had kind of… started thinking on its own.

Originally, Sunny had chalked it up to his imagination playing tricks on him, but that small doubt grew larger and larger until he had to confront it. When Omori talked, it wasn’t Sunny talking, when Omori hung out with their friends, Sunny was merely watching from behind his eyes, and eventually, Omori talked to *him*.

It was unsettling to say the least, hearing a character he made up, a character that was supposed to be a stand-in for him, address him from the other side of a mind Sunny thought was entirely his own. Omori talked in a calm, monotonous and assertive voice, nothing like Sunny’s. When Sunny would talk, which admittedly wasn’t often, you could feel a sense of soft shyness, you could hear the hesitation in his voice as he carefully placed his words one after the other, it was endearing to the people who cared enough to pay attention to him. Omori’s voice was empty, not in a way where you couldn’t sense a person behind it, Omori had a presence to him, but in a way that reminded Sunny of how he had felt on a day he had already forgotten most details about.

Those tentative first conversations between the two boys eventually became a common occurrence, and as they grew more comfortable with each other, a deal was made. Omori would protect Sunny from his woes, and Sunny would give him the control he needed to do so. In a way, it was almost perfect, he didn’t have to worry anymore, he didn’t have to remember, he didn’t have to make choices, it would all be handled by Omori. All he had to do was lie back and melt into ignorant bliss as he passively watched over the monochrome boy’s adventures.

There was one problem though : being awake. When awake, Sunny was in his own body, and had to endure the dull pain of reality. Though this wasn’t ideal, Sunny was reticent to the idea of letting Omori control every aspect of his life. Maybe part of him was afraid of disappearing completely, or maybe a strange sense of hope was still shining somewhere deep inside him, wearing the shadow of a young photographer. Regardless, another agreement was reached, Omori could only control Sunny’s body if it was too hard for Sunny to do so himself.

To Sunny, his alter-ego’s presence went from being a strange anomaly that unnerved him, to a source of comfort. Even when awake, he could hear his voice in the back of his mind, making small talk with him as he went about his day, in a similar way that Sunny would sometimes make his thoughts known to Omori while on their adventures into their fantasy land.

Eventually, Sunny realized his dream friends were all seemingly conscious too, though he preferred to keep them in the dark about reality. Having to handle Omori while awake was enough for him. He was content with simply spending time with them in his dreams through Omori.

Then one day, Sunny answered Kel’s knocks, he went outside for the first time in years, reunited with his real world friends, he started to remember what he had worked so hard with Omori to erase. Omori couldn’t understand that, they had a deal! Whatever, he would protect him, he knew better, he knew about all the things Sunny didn’t want to know. But the way Sunny acted angered him, so much so that he lashed out during their final confrontation, and said a lot of things he would later regret.

The truth came out and the two boys’ relationship got pretty rocky, Sunny was done running away, he wanted to remember it all, and after a few long talks, more collected than the one filled with threats and low blows they had had before Sunny came clean to his friends, they fell back in agreement. Omori wouldn’t keep memories away from Sunny anymore, they would work on healing properly together.

About a year had gone by since Sunny had been discharged from Faraway Hospital, and Sunny was working on getting better, just like what Mari would have wanted him to do. He was seeing a therapist, and although he didn’t talk about Omori or the other people in his mind, (He didn’t want to seem *too* crazy.) he had made a lot of progress. He still accompanied Omori and their friends through Headspace as he dreamed, but sometimes he would be there physically by Omori’s side, instead of merely watching from his alter-ego’s perspective.

In the real world, he had started going outside more again, it was hard, he didn’t like how loud and busy the city was, but he didn’t want to fall back into his past shut-in habits, and besides, it made his mom happy, which was a plus. For the first time in years, he participated in school again, well, homeschool at least. His mom had tried to get him to stay on track so that he wouldn’t fall too far behind during those four years, but had given up when Sunny completely refused to cooperate.

Sunny kept in touch with his friends back in Faraway through text messages and phone calls, it wasn’t easy at first, their relationships were a bit uneasy for a while, but just like how he and Omori made up in the end, his friends came to terms with the truth. All in all, things were starting to look okay, he was finally beginning to move on.

One day, during summer break, Kel proposed the idea that Sunny could come visit Faraway again for a week or two, him and Hero would let him stay at their house, and they could all hang out with Basil and Aubrey during the day! Sunny thought about the idea for some time, unsure if he would be ready to come back to his childhood town, but he had ultimately agreed, much to Kel’s excitement.

Right now, Sunny was on the bus headed to Faraway town, looking out the window as he let his mind wander. To be quite honest, he was actually getting kind of excited to see his old friends again, it would be like the good old days, well, minus his sister. That thought made him frown a little.

A familiar voice spoke in his head “Are you sure you're ready to see them in person again? I know your relationship with them has gotten better since then, but that's over the phone, it might be different in person…”

“Well… it can't be that different right? I'm sure it'll be fine.” At least Sunny hoped so. “They said they forgave me, and I have to believe that. Plus, I think I need it, I really miss hanging out with them…” He added. To tell the truth, Sunny hadn't been able to make any new friends in Nearby city, he had never been great at making friends, the only reason he even had a friend group in the first place was because Mari introduced him to Kel and Hero, and they then met Aubrey, who herself introduced them to Basil. He really missed face-to-face interactions.

“You hang out with our other friends every night! Isn't that basically the same?” Omori seemed a little peeved.

Sunny watched as the trees outside of the window went by. “It's not the same, they're not the ones I grew up with, I like them but I think they're more *your* friends than mine, and even now it still gets pretty awkward sometimes, I don't think they're completely used to me yet.”

“Well, I guess that's true but…” Omori sighed. “Give them a little time, I'm sure you’d be a little weirded out too if one of your friends showed up with a near identical version of them and asked you two to become friends.”

“I'm pretty sure twins exist, Omori.” That was snarky.

“Well, twins are usually the same age.” Yeah, Omori was right about that one, Sunny thought.

“Aren't you excited to see *my* friends though?” Sunny asked. Omori wasn't very familiar with the older boy’s friends, he had only seen them during Sunny’s last three days in Faraway, and had obviously never interacted with them. Sure, he *kind of* knew them, his own friends were based off of a younger version of them after all, but from what he’d seen, they’d changed a lot.

“I mean, I guess it would be interesting.” It was hard for Omori to hide the tinge of excitement he felt, what with sharing a mind with the other boy. A slight smirk formed on Sunny's face. “You know, you might put on your emotionless facade in front of everyone else but you're really bad at hiding your true feelings from me.”

“We can literally hear each other's thoughts! It's not fair!” Omori pouted, his voice still strangely monotone as he ‘exclaimed’ this.

Sunny looked at the LED display at the front of the bus, it read ‘Faraway Town: 10 minutes.’ “Looks like we're going to be there soon.” Finally. Sunny was pretty tired of sitting for two hours looking at the countryside landscape. Omori was strangely silent. “Omori?”

After a minute, the monochrome boy spoke again. “Do you think I could like… actually meet them? Like, you could introduce me to them, I don't know…” He was kind of curious to properly meet the people who inspired his friends in Headspace.

Sunny grimaced. “I'm sorry Omori, it's not that I'm completely opposed to the idea, but I don't think they’d believe me, they might think I’ve lost it.” Disappointment could almost be felt in Omori’s voice. “Yeah you're right, but…”

A sigh escaped Sunny's mouth. “I know what you're thinking Omori, you can't switch with me while we're with them.” He didn't like making Omori sad, but he couldn't really do otherwise. The younger boy crossed his arms. “Well we don't have to tell them then! And they probably wouldn't even notice!”

“Even so, I don't wanna risk it.” Sunny looked at the front of the bus again. ‘5 minutes’.

“Fine…” Omori relented, but the older boy could feel mischief brewing inside him. “Omori, don't try anything funny please. I just want to spend a nice two weeks with my friends. You spend time with yours every night.”

“I won't, I won't.” He responded not-so-innocently. Sunny rolled his eyes as he went back to looking out the window, where the fields and forested areas had transitioned to street lamps and rows of houses. A few minutes later, the bus came to a stop. About time.

“Well, we’re here.” Sunny grabbed his suitcase, got off his seat and then off the bus.

There, at the bus stop, his friends were already waiting for him. Sunny barely had time to lay his baggage down on the ground before Kel rushed towards him.

“SUNNY!” Kel’s tackle-hug forced the air out of his dark-haired friend.

“I’m… happy… to see you… too…” Sunny managed to say while his lungs were being crushed. He had missed his bear hugs but they could be a bit hard to endure physically sometimes.

“Kel let Sunny breathe a little. He just got here.” Thank god, Hero came to his rescue. “Sorry haha, I'm just really excited. It's been so long!” Responded his younger brother as he let go of the smaller boy.

Aubrey approached. Sunny noticed that the top of her hair was black again, makes sense, it had been a year after all. “Hey Sunny, it's good to see you again. You gotta come here more often dude, we miss you.” A small wave of relief washed over him from seeing his friends react so positively to his return. Maybe things wouldn't go so bad after all.

Basil was the last one to join. “H-hi Sunny, I’m really glad you came, it gets pretty lonely without you sometimes…” Sunny gave him a short hug in response. “It’s okay Basil, I'm gonna be here for two weeks, we’ll have plenty of time to hang out.”

“A-ah… I guess so…” The blonde boy twiddled with a tuft of his hair.

After a short awkward silence, Aubrey clapped her hands. “Anyway! I hope you're hungry ‘cause we’re going to Gino's!”

As if in response, Sunny’s stomach growled. “Yeah, let's do that… I haven't eaten yet.”

“Not even breakfast?” Basil asked.

Sunny looked at him with a deadpan expression. “I don't eat breakfast.”

“Sunny, you should really eat more, you know! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” Of course Kel would say that, Kel ate like three times his weight in food every day, Sunny thought amusedly. “Yeah he's right, you seem pretty thin.” Added Hero.

“I know, I know, look, we’re gonna go eat now, okay? I just gotta leave my baggage at your house first.”

The group left the bus station and walked through the streets leading to Kel and Hero’s house.

“Okay well, I have to admit, that went better than I thought it would.” Omori’s monotone voice chimed in. “I knew they forgave you and I was there for a few phone calls, but I didn't think they'd be this friendly.”

Sunny looked at his friends in front of him. “Yeah, I'm glad they are…” He distantly thought. His heart felt as warm as the weather outside.

Chapter Text

Sunny was glad to be back in Faraway, it was much calmer than the city. It felt like home. He might have bad memories associated with it (And whose fault was that, he thought bitterly.), but it also held all of his most treasured ones.

After about ten minutes of walking and chatting away, the five friends got to the street at the end of which Sunny could still see his old house. He briefly wondered what the people who moved in after he left were like. Best not to linger on that thought for too long, he was already getting a bit melancholic.

After dropping his suitcase at Kel and Hero's, they made their way to the pizzeria. Faraway plaza still looked the same, it was comforting to Sunny in a way, like a snapshot of his childhood. His alter-ego decided to comment on this thought. “I don't know why you like this place so much, it’s so dull. Headspace is way more interesting.”

“Well, I think the real world has its own charm, I can't live in a fantasy all the time.” Sunny thought to Omori. His double couldn't argue with that, they already went over it during therapy.

The group entered Gino's and sat down at a table in the back while Kel went to order pizzas.

“So Sunny, what have you been up to lately, made any friends?” Hero asked. While they did often talk to each other in a group chat, Sunny was pretty secretive about his life, he just liked hearing about other people more than talking about himself.

“Not really. But I've been like, drawing and stuff, and posting my art online. I don't really get that much attention though.” He had a tinge of disappointment in his voice when he said that.

“Dude people just don't have good taste, your drawings are great. Like the one with Captain Spaceboy fighting the shark in a suit, I thought that one was cool. It’s imaginative.” Aubrey said.

A monochrome thought appeared in Sunny's head. “Well actually, *I* drew that one.” The boy could feel Omori's pride.

“What about the one in the forest with the giant pinwheels I drew last week?” Sunny was curious about his *own* drawings.

Aubrey looked towards the counter, where Kel was making small talk with the server. “That one was good too, but I prefer the action-focused ones.”

A smug voice resonated inside the boy’s head. “Well, it seems I win this one.”

“It's not a contest.” Sunny thought back.

Kel was now coming back with three pizzas, one for him and two for the rest of them. At least that way he wouldn't start eating the others’ slices, hopefully. Gino's pizzas were pretty large. “What did I miss? You guys were talking about Sunny’s drawings?”

“Well, Sunny’s and *mine*.” Thought Omori. It was a bit annoying to have to be ignored like this.

Hero grabbed a slice. “Yeah, Aubrey was telling Sunny about how nice we think his art is.” He paused to think for a moment. “You know, maybe you could make friends that way! Like, maybe if you keep posting your art you’ll find people who like it, and you could start talking with them and stuff!”

“I don't know, I feel like talking to you guys over the phone is enough for me.” Sunny took a bite of his pizza, it tasted really good.

Omori chimed in. “Plus, you have me and our dream friends.”

“Well, if you say so!” Kel said while chewing his meal.

Aubrey grimaced. “Kel that's gross, keep your mouth closed when you speak.”

Kel looked at her weird. “You mean when I'm eating?”

“Yeah, sure, let's go for that, it's a good start.” Huh, seems their relationship improved somewhat if they were back to simply bickering with each other rather than being straight-up hostile. Things like these were harder for Sunny to notice through text or one-on-one phone calls.

Omori chimed in. “To be fair, you're not very good at noticing these things in general usually.” He was starting to annoy Sunny a little with his remarks.

“Ugh, not right now, look I'm just trying to enjoy my time with my friends, you can just sit back and relax.” Sunny said. Omori groaned in response.

An awkward silence filled the air as the teens were focused on eating. Sunny decided to break it. “So what about you guys? Did anything cool happen recently?”

Aubrey had just finished her first slice of pizza. “I mean, not much, just the usual, we went to the beach the other day. Was nice, I found a cool seashell.”

Kel was already halfway through his, still talking with his mouth full. “And *I* found a dead jellyfish! And I think that’s way cooler!” Aubrey sighed in response.

Basil lit up for a moment. “Oh! The new sprouts I planted for us are growing pretty well! It's a shame the old ones died though… except for Kel’s cactus.”

“Heck yeah! Kel for the win! Woo-hoo!” The tall boy grinned. “Oh, and Basil,” he continued, “tell Sunny about your last therapy session! You said you made a lot of progress in that one!” Aubrey looked at him disappointedly over his lack of tact.

Omori made sure to make his thoughts known. “Good, he needs therapy.” Sunny could feel some aggression in his voice, the boy was still a bit angry at him for stabbing Sunny's eye.

The blonde shifted in his seat. “A-ah… I mean, it was pretty nice, recently I’ve been starting to accept that I'm not… a monster for what I did. It was hard.”

“And we’re very proud of you for getting there.” Hero put his hand on his shoulder. Basil had come a long way, at least he wasn't hurting himself anymore.

Basil turned to Sunny. “A-anyway, how about you Sunny? Has therapy been good for you?”

“It's been okay…” Sunny was playing with his fork. “I don't feel like I'm making as much progress as I should though…”

“Maybe you’d make more progress if you stopped hiding half your issues.” Said the monotone voice in his head.

Sunny tried to ignore him. “And I uh, I guess I…”

Omori continued. “I mean how is our therapist supposed to help us when they only know about you?”

Sunny was getting lost in thought. “Um… I uh…” His friends were looking at him expectantly.

“I mean you're gonna have to tell someone *eventually*” Omori was really getting on his nerves right now.

“Oh shut up!” Sunny replied annoyedly. His friends looked surprised. Uh oh, he just said that out loud, now he probably sounded like a crazy person.

“A-are you okay Sunny?” Basil asked. He seemed a bit worried. They all seemed a bit worried.

“Uh, yeah, I uh, um I hear voices.” Sunny blurted out, eyes shifting away. Well he wasn't exactly lying.

“Oh yeah, I think you told us you had hallucinations, do your meds not help with that?” Kel was frowning a little.

“No, they do work, I mean, mostly. But I still get stuff from time to time.” Yet again he wasn't lying, his antipsychotics did help keep most of the scary stuff at bay, even if they didn't work perfectly. This wasn't what this was about though, but he couldn't tell them that.

“I just, you know, my schizophrenia and all haha…” He *had* been diagnosed semi-recently and since then a lot of things had started making sense.

Omori was clearly annoyed. “Hey, I'm not one of your schizophrenia voices! I'm a real boy!”

Aubrey put one of her hands on Sunny's. “Okay well, we’re here for you Sunny, okay?”

Kel perked up. “Yeah! We’ll support you no matter what!”

“Thanks guys, that means a lot…” It was comforting to Sunny that his friends still cared so much about him, even after everything. Deep down, he still wasn't sure if he truly deserved that forgiveness.

Omori mentally crossed his arms behind his head. “Okay to be fair that one’s on you, I'm not the one who said that out loud.” Sunny was exasperated, Omori could be such a brat sometimes.

“Well,” Kel put his cutlery back into his empty plate. “You guys wanna go to Hobbeez? See if they’ve got anything new?”

Aubrey got up from her seat. “Yeah let's do that. Do you have any money on you or are we just gonna look?” The others got out of their seats as well.

“Yeah I've got a few bucks! I thought Sunny might want something so I planned in advance!” Kel reached into his pocket and got two five-dollar bills out.

“Planning? That doesn't sound like you, are we all having a moment here?” Aubrey retorted playfully. They were now getting out of the pizzeria.

“Hey at least I've got *something* for Sunny!” The taller boy was mildly annoyed

She looked at him deadpanned. “Dude I'm broke, what do you want me to get him, some used pencils from the bottom of my drawer?”

As they entered Hobbeez, Sunny heard Omori talk again. “Okay I'm gonna do something really funny right now.”

“Omori, what-” Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly realized he had lost control of his body. “Hey! I didn't give you permission! Give me my body back!”

“*Our* body actually, and I'm gonna use it to hang out with *our* friends.” Sunny really didn't have time for Omori's shenanigans. “Relax,” the monochrome boy said, “it's just for a little bit, I'll give it back later.”

“I'm gonna go check out the comics!” Kel exclaimed, and he was gone.

Aubrey grabbed Basil’s hand. “Alright, I'm gonna go look at some CDs with Basil.” Aubrey went her own way with the boy.

That just left him and Hero. “Sunny, wanna come check out some books with me? I know you used to love reading when we were kids!”

“Sure.” He could do that, he wondered what kinds of books the real world had, while it was true that Sunny *did* used to read, he had kinda stopped doing that during those four years of isolation, and never really picked it up again. Omori and Hero went to the bookshelf near the back of the store.

Hero spent some time looking at book covers to see if he could find anything interesting while Omori grabbed a few books himself to look at the synopses. It was all boring stuff, fantasy but not the fun kind, the lame kind with elves and dragons. Omori much preferred the kind of fantasy you could find in Headspace. He put the books back and decided to just stand there and stare at Hero. “So you're like, a doctor huh?”

“I mean, not yet, I'm studying to be one though.” Hero gave him a weird look.

“Omori, at least don't act too suspiciously, please.” Sunny pleaded.

“You know, being a cook suits you way better.” This real world version of Hero was a bit too adult and boring for him, Headspace Hero was way more fun.

Hero sighed. “Yeah well, you don't always get what you want in life, and I think I want to focus on saving lives now. I don't want people to go through the same thing we did if I can help it.”

“You can save lives with food, you just need a bit of jam.” Sunny cringed at what Omori just told Hero.

Hero seemed incredulous. “Haha, what?” He looked up from the biology book he was looking at.

“Just spread some jam on them, it really works.” The taller boy looked at him like he had four eyes. Before he could say anything in response, Omori spoke again. “I'm gonna go see what Kel’s up to now, bye.”

The young adult barely had time to say “Uh, okay?” and Omori was gone.

On the way to the other side of the store, where Kel sat, Omori noticed some trading card packs. He could recognize some Headspace characters on the cover. “Man you're not very original, are you? Is everything in Headspace just recycled stuff?” He teased Sunny.

“I mean, it was meant to emulate my childhood, of course I picked stuff from what was already there.” The boy responded.

“Yeah, sure, I’m sure you’d be really original if you tried.” The younger kid loved to poke fun at Sunny.

Omori made his way to Kel, who had a Spaceboy comic open in his lap. The quiet boy approached him. “Hey handsome, whatchu reading?”

“OMORI!” Betrayal. The doppelganger could feel Sunny’s embarrassment radiating in his head.

“Handsome!?” Kel was a bit surprised by ‘Sunny’s sudden bluntness. A slight blush formed on his face. “Um, well I'm just checking out the new Spaceboy volume! Wanna see? I don't know if you're still keeping up with the story, it's gotten pretty crazy!”

Sure, why not, maybe that could serve as inspiration for new Headspace stuff. Omori sat down next to Sunny's friend.

They spent a few minutes reading together as Kel snickered at the occasional comedy. Sunny was annoyed. “Okay, you’ve had your fun, now give me my body back.”

Omori simply ignored him, entranced by the comic book. He turned his head to Kel. “Yeah it's pretty nice, but it doesn't beat the real deal.”

“The real deal? What do you mean? Like, the movies?” The tall teen had a puzzled expression on his face.

“Yeah, sure, the movies.”

“Good save, Omori.” Sunny thought. He was so done with him.

After a few more minutes, Omori sat back up. “I'm gonna go check up on Aubrey and Basil now. See ya.” He turned back to Kel. “The comic was nice tho, let's get it.”

“Oh, sure! If you want I can also give you the previous volumes, I have them at home!” Kel had a sparkle of excitement in his eyes.

“Sure.” With that, Omori left Kel and walked towards Sunny’s two other friends.

Aubrey looked up from a CD cover she was holding. “Hey Sunny, find anything you like?”

“Yeah. Spaceboy comics.”

Basil smiled. “Oh, cool! I remember when we read these as kids! Those were good times…”

“I'm not talking to you.” Omori didn't even look at him as he said that.

Basil lowered his head. “Sorry…”

Sunny was mentally pulling at his hair. “Ugh, I know you still hold a grudge against him, but I don't! Don't ruin my relationship with him!” He had worked very hard to get back to a stable friendship with his childhood friend, even now, it was sometimes a bit rocky.

Omori turned to Aubrey. “So why’d you dye your hair pink? It looks way better as purple.”

“Uh, that was Mari’s color, and I've never dyed my hair purple. I dyed it pink in her memory, I'm pretty sure I told you that at some point, did you really forget?” She put down the CD she was holding to grab another.

“Of course not, I'm just messing with you Aubs.” Aubrey was slightly weirded out at ‘Sunny’s strange emotionless tone as he said this.

“ ‘Aubs’? Since when do you call me that?” She asked amusedly.

“Since right now. Whatchu got there?” Omori pointed at the CD Aubrey was holding.

“Oh this? It's garbage, kinda hard to find good stuff with a small selection like this. I bet you can find a lot of good stuff in the city though.”

Omori didn't know much about music genres. “Oh I wouldn't know, Sunn- I mean *I* don't really go to record stores.” He could clearly hear the sound of Sunny's palm hitting his face in his head. Aubrey shot him a weird glance.

“Anyway, gonna pay now. Bye.” Omori left the two to go to the counter, where Kel was making small talk with Shopkeep.

“Are you done embarrassing me?” Sunny asked Omori. “Almost.” The boy responded.

“Ugh I swear after this I'm just gonna replace you with Stranger until the end of my trip.” Sunny groaned.

Omori indignantly scoffed at Sunny’s threat. “Oh come on, at least replace me with someone good, like Aubrey or Kel.”

“You ready to pay Sunny?” Kel placed the comic book on the counter and got his dollar bills out.

“That'll be 7.99$.” Said Shopkeep.

Omori looked at Kel with a deadpan expression. “Kel, I am deeply in love with you.”

“OMORI WHAT THE HELL!?” He chose to ignore the very angry voice in his head.

Kel almost dropped the change Shopkeep gave him. “Y-you what!?” His face flushed a deep red.

Sunny stumbled a little as he suddenly got control of his body back. “Good luck.” Omori said with amusement.

Chapter Text

Sunny couldn’t believe this, how was he even going to get out of this!? He wasn’t ready to confess to Kel yet! He might never be ready!

“I-I mean, just kidding haha!” Sunny scrambled to salvage the situation. Sweat was dripping from his forehead and his ears were turning a deep red.

Kel looked at him for a second before laughing it off, slightly embarrassed. “Haha, well uh, great joke Sunny, you- you really got me there!” He looked away. Sunny could swear that he seemed a little disappointed.

“Omori you're dead to me.”

“What? I know you’ve got a crush on him, you're never gonna get anywhere without a little push.” The younger boy replied nonchalantly. It was hardly a secret between the two, but Sunny never really had the guts to confess to Kel, despite Omori's insistence. Sunny groaned.

Kel called over the rest of their friends. “O-okay, I uh, got Sunny a Spaceboy comic! Let's go somewhere else now, it's awfully hot in here…” He pulled on the hem of his shirt. Sunny was looking anywhere but at Kel, trying to hide the fact he was blushing as well.

“You okay Kel?” Asked Aubrey. “You’re all red.”

“YEP! LET'S GO OUTSIDE!” Kel rushed through the door. Aubrey raised an eyebrow and the four friends followed him.

Hero wasn't blind to his brother's unusual reaction, the way he seemed a little dizzy, like he had just hit his head. Well, he should help his brother out a little, he thought. Hero decided to bring the group’s attention to somewhere else. “So where do you guys wanna go next? We’ve got some pretty good weather, we should enjoy it!”

“We um,” Basil paused as gears started turning in his head and he put two and two together. He glanced at Kel’s clearly bothered face and then back at the others. “We could go to our secret hideout spot!” The blonde boy proposed hesitantly.

“Sounds-good-to-me-let's-go!” Kel blurted out, and he was already gone towards the direction of the park.

“Hey, wait for us dumbass!” Aubrey caught up to him, and they waited for the rest of the group.

Faraway Park was pretty busy today, there were a lot of kids running around, it reminded Sunny of when he and his friends were in their place. Good times. They made their way to the concealed passage between the trees on the right side of the park.

“Okay, so since when exactly can you just lock me out of control like that?” Sunny asked Omori. Usually, Omori would ask permission before taking control, and would only do so if he was allowed to.

“I don't know, I always figured I could do it, just never had a good reason.” His brain gremlin smirked. “I'm not gonna do that other than to fool around though, don't worry. The real world isn't exactly that appealing.”

Yeah, it was true that Sunny’s day-to-day life wasn’t really appealing enough for Omori to *want* to take control most of the time.

“Well if you're gonna do that again, don't do anything weird like at Hobbeez, and don't embarrass me.” Sunny was stern.

“No promises.”

“Ugh, you're the worst.” Sunny grumbled.

The group arrived at their hangout spot, it was much calmer here, and Sunny felt a much welcomed cold breeze on his skin. They all sat on the ground near the lake.

“Man,” Kel laid back on the grass and splayed out his arms. “It's really nice to all be here together again, reminds me of our childhood!”

Aubrey put her arms around her knees. “Yeah, I miss those times.”

Basil pulled out a book and started reading, while Hero looked wistfully at a pinwheel still planted on the ground.

Omori showed up again. “You know, this isn't so bad, I really wish…”

“We went over it already, we’re not going to reveal you to them, too risky.” Sunny thought back.

“What risk? That they might think you're crazy? They probably already do! They're okay with you being a little weird.” Sunny couldn't really deny that. It was true that he wasn't exactly the most normal boy around, even without the mental illnesses. Did his friends really think he was that weird though? Yeah probably actually.

Sunny sighed. “Yeah but this? This is a bit too much, how would we even explain that? ‘Oh hey guys I just have these actual people in my head I talk to and go on adventures with every night! Here's one of them, he’s a younger version of me!’ “

Omori stayed silent, but Sunny could feel his annoyance. He felt a little bad. “We can come out to them one day! Probably! Just give it time!” Sunny wasn't sure if he actually meant this.

Some more silence, then Omori responded. “You know what, I don't even need your approval.” And with that, Sunny couldn't feel his body again.

Omori turned to Sunny's friends. “Hey um, guys…” He said in his monotone voice. The others looked at him, he was getting a little nervous now. “I have to tell you something.”

He saw Hero grimace for a second, okay, bad choice of words.

“Yeah Sunny what's up?” The young adult ran multiple scenarios in his head to guess what Sunny could possibly want to tell them with this serious of a tone. Well, it couldn't be worse than at the hospital at least, maybe he was about to confess to Kel? The two had seemed very close lately in a way that betrayed their love for each other. But then, wouldn't he just talk to Kel directly? Wait, was that why Kel was so flustered earlier? Did he already do that?

Meanwhile, Sunny was trying desperately to figure out how to regain back control, maybe if he really focused on it? “Omori I swear…”

Omori spoke again. “I’m not Sunny.” Well, the cat was out of the bag now. No going back.

There was silence. Basil put down his book. “...What?” He said. They all looked confused.

“My name is Omori, I share a body with Sunny. It’s complicated.” Okay, he hadn’t really thought about how exactly he was going to explain it to them. He’ll have to improvise.

More silence. Sunny braced for impact.

Kel looked like he just figured something out. “Like… Captain Spaceboy?” Oh yeah, Omori thought, it was kind of like Captain Spaceboy, what with Space Boyfriend and all, he hadn’t thought about it that way before. And both him and Sunny wore an eyepatch, it’s funny how the world works.

The others looked at the tall teen incredulously. “Kel, it’s a joke, he’s not serious.” Aubrey deadpanned. Sunny was known to make weird jokes sometimes, even though this one was really weird. This might be harder than Omori thought.

“It’s not a joke. I’m telling the truth, I promise. I… just don't know how to prove it to you.” Omori’s voice was as lifeless as ever but Sunny could feel his anxiety.

“Ugh, I told you, they’re not going to believe us!” Sunny thought to Omori. He was still trying to focus on getting his body back, he could fix this, tell them it’s just a prank like Aubrey thought.

Hero paused to think, he had heard about something like that before, what was it? Oh, now he remembered, a brief class on psychiatry. “Well,” he said. “I learned a little about something like this at college. We didn’t go over it in depth or anything, but maybe it’s some kind of dissociative disorder? Sometimes traumatic events can cause someone’s mind to split into multiple personalities.” He wasn’t sure if Sunny was actually just making a weird joke, but something about that voice, and the fact that Sunny already had a bunch of mental stuff going on, told him that he might be right about this.

“Wait, are we like, for real?” Aubrey asked. That couldn’t be right, right? I mean, Sunny was a bit weird, but to that extent? That seemed a little far, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t want to be wrong if that truly was the case.

“I mean I guess he *has* been acting a little strange lately, like at Hobbeez.” Kel replied. Even if this could be just a weird joke, he was curious about where it would go.

It was good that he and Hero seemed receptive, Omori thought.

Aubrey thought about it for a moment. “I mean, that’s kind of true… he even talked differently.” She turned to Omori. “So like, if this isn't a joke, who are you exactly?” She seemed kind of uneasy.

“I’m Omori, as I said. Sunny created me after Mari’s death, he wanted a way to escape himself, but ended up making me instead. I think it was sort of an accident. There are others as well.” Omori replied. The group was silent, slowly processing what he just said.

“Wait, how many others are there…?” Basil sounded worried. Was his friend's mental health that bad? He felt guilty, though a healthy part of him, one that grew from therapy, told him it wasn't entirely his fault.

“Let’s see, there’s me, Kel, Aubrey, Hero, Basil, Mari… uh… Stranger… maybe others, I’m not sure how conscious Captain Spaceboy or Sweetheart are.” Honestly it was hard sometimes to determine which characters in Sunny's head were actually aware and which weren't. A lot of them only had very basic personalities.

Kel looked overwhelmed, that was quite the bombshell. “Okay I have so many questions right now. First of all, why are we people in Sunny’s head? And who’s Stranger? Also, did you say Captain Spaceboy is there too?”

“And Sweetheart. And a few others.” Omori replied. “Sunny created us as a way to relive his childhood in a perfect fantasy land. It ended up being pretty unhealthy for a while but now it’s gotten better. He doesn’t spend all his time in Headspace anymore.”

“Wait, what’s Headspace?” Aubrey asked. This whole thing was confusing, it was making her head spin.

“Oh, right, it’s a place in Sunny’s mind.” Omori wasn’t sure how to explain something like that to real world people, for who these things just didn’t exist. “It’s where we all hang out. It’s pretty cool, there’s a playground, and a campsite on another planet, and an underwater casino… Me and Sunny also hang out in White Space sometimes. Big empty white room.” He didn’t want to go over Black Space for now, that was best left for later, maybe for their therapist.

“Wait…” Aubrey just figured something out. “Are your drawings based on that Headspace?” Omori nodded.

“Okay, well that's a lot” Hero admitted. “Well… What are we like in Sunny’s mind?” A sudden thought struck him. “...How is Mari?” His voice was a bit lower. Ah, right. Mari. Mari only existed in Sunny’s head now, for everyone else, she was just a memory.

“You’re all younger. Me, Kel, Aubrey and Basil are twelve, and you and Mari are fifteen, just like you guys and Sunny were before uh…” Omori didn’t finish his sentence.

“Oh. Yeah I get it now.” Basil said downcast. “I’m really sorry…” His eyes didn’t meet Omori’s, he was clearly upset by this.

Omori addressed Sunny. “Okay you’re dealing with Basil though, I’m not made for this.” And like magic, Sunny could feel his body again.

“AAAH!” He jolted back into control with a scream. The group flinched. “S-sorry haha, it’s just a prank!” They didn’t look impressed. Sunny looked down. “Okay no, it’s a little too late for that, Omori was telling the truth, I just didn’t want you guys to know. I wasn’t ready yet…” The teen shifted his weight slightly. Omori had made a mistake, this was way too soon. But then again, was he ever going to tell them?

He turned to Basil. “And Basil, it’s not your fault, it’s mostly mine…” No matter how hard he tried, he could never blame Basil for what happened, it was a horrible idea, sure, but Basil wasn't in a good state of mind back then, neither of them were. How could they have been, in such a situation? They did what they did out of desperation.

Hero spoke up. “Well, let’s not go there, I don’t think now is the right time for that.” He didn't want to have this conversation again, both for Sunny and Basil's sake, and for his own. He didn't want to think about it again.

“Yeah, you’re right, sorry…” Basil apologized.

“Don’t apologize Basil!” Kel told the blonde boy.

“Sorry…” Basil apologized again. He had a habit of saying sorry for every minor thing he did. It could be a bit annoying sometimes, but they all understood.

Sunny spoke. “Oh also, Basil, sorry for being mean to you earlier at Hobbeez, Omori just doesn’t really like you, I do though. I don’t want you to think I don’t.”

“Why doesn’t he like me…?” Basil replied. “Is it because…?”

Sunny stopped him. “It’s because of the eye thing.”

“Oh… Sorry for that…” Basil apologized for the third time in a row. Hero sighed.

“Also.” Sunny said. “To answer your question earlier Hero, Mari’s fine, she has picnics with us pretty often. It’s not the *real* her but… It’s comforting. I like her.” The Mari in Headspace couldn't replace the real Mari, and was merely recreated from Sunny's perception of her. He knew everything that she was, because she was everything that he knew about Mari. Still, it was nice having her around.

“I see.” The young adult had a melancholic expression. “Well, it’s kinda comforting that she’s still… there somewhere, in some form. I wish I could visit your world.”

“It’s okay Hero.” Sunny thought about something. “You know, maybe one day I can get her to front, and you can talk to her that way.” Hero hadn't really thought of that, if this “Omori” could take control of Sunny's body, then it would make sense that Mari could too, he didn't understand much about it though.

“I mean, yeah why not…? That would be nice… it’ll be a bit weird though.” Hero laughed awkwardly. He never thought he could get to talk to his dead girlfriend again through a fake copy inhabiting her brother's body. He didn't really know what to think about it.

Kel suddenly lit up. “Oh, my god, can I talk to Captain Spaceboy!?”

“Maybe.” Sunny replied, unsure. “It would probably be a lot harder though, I don’t know exactly how aware he is.” Captain Spaceboy certainly seemed more aware than most characters in Sunny's mind, but would he even be able to understand that he lived in some kid’s mind? Sunny wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell Spaceboy about all this.

“Aw man…” Kel seemed disappointed. “Can I talk to your version of me?”

“I mean, if I can get Mari to front, I can probably get my Kel to front too, but then again, it might not be easy, they’ve never fronted. I don’t think anyone besides Mari, Omori and Stranger even know about fronting.” Sunny said. The dream versions of Sunny's friends were definitely aware on some level that they weren't living in *reality*, but they didn't seem to care, as far as they were concerned, Headspace was their reality.

“Oh, and who’s this “Stranger”?” Aubrey asked. That seemed like a weird name for a person. And it was a name she didn’t recognize. Well, besides Omori.

“Oh.” Sunny said. How was he going to explain this while sounding normal? “He’s uh… Also Basil? Kinda? He’s like, a part of my Basil that broke off from him I guess. He looks like a shadow. He’s helped me a lot. He used to try to guide me towards the truth, but now he kinda just hangs around and acts like a second therapist.”

“The truth?” Aubrey asked. She had a hunch on what it was.

“About Mari’s death. For a long time I just… Forgot about it. I guess my mind was trying to protect me.” Sunny played with the hem of his shirt as he looked away.

“Oh.” That lowered the mood a little.

“Stranger is pretty different from Basil though, he’s well spoken and kinda cryptic in what he says, he never really tells things upfront. Or I guess he does, in a weird way.” Sunny added. Stranger was definitely something, despite being based on Basil, he had a completely different personality, perhaps forged over the years from the fact that he knew the Truth and had access to most of Sunny's more repressed parts of his mind.

“So like…” Basil started again. “There’s two “me”s in your head?”

“Pretty much.” He wasn’t about to explain the deeper details of how many Basils were killed in Black Space, that wouldn’t be great, and the mood was already a bit down.

“Okay.” Omori said to Sunny. “Now that this is dealt with, I’m just going to take control back for a bit.” Omori was still pretty excited to get to talk to Sunny's friends, he wanted to learn more about them, about the real world.

“Sure.” Sunny thought. “At this point you can have this.” He let his grasp fade away as Omori took back control of their body.

“I’m back.” Omori told the group. Sunny’s friends could tell the difference by the way he spoke. “I have a bit more to tell you.” Sunny could feel an air of mischief in his alter's mind.

The rest of them looked at him expectantly.

“Sunny has a crush on Kel.” Omori smirked.

“OH COME ON!” Sunny was so pissed at Omori right now, this was quite possibly one of the worst times to reveal something like this.

“Wait.” Kel bluescreened. Sunny really did like him? “So at Hobbeez, that wasn’t a joke!? He does love me?” He felt his ears burn up a little.

Aubrey chuckled. “God you’re so oblivious sometimes Kel.” Wait, Sunny thought, was he really that bad at hiding it?

“Well, Sunny…” Kel paused. He gathered all his courage. He could do this. “If you’re listening right now, I-I love you too.” He managed to stammer, looking away to hide the embarrassed look on his face.

“Yeah no shit.” Said Aubrey again. “You guys have been all lovey-dovey over messages for like months, I thought you already confessed to each other, I guess not.”

Sunny was speechless. Kel loved him too? This whole conversation was going a lot better than he thought it would.

“Okay well u-um, well, let's talk about this more later Sunny, just me and you.” Kel said embarrassedly. Omori snickered.

“See?” Omori addressed Sunny. “Told you it was gonna be fine, you should listen to me more.”

“Yeah, I guess you're right this time, but you got lucky. It could have been a lot worse.” Sunny responded. He didn't want Omori to get too cocky. “For now though… I guess you did well. Don't hog my friends all to yourself though, I also want to spend time with them.”

“I won't.” said Omori. “Sharing is caring.” He smirked.

Omori turned his focus back to the real world. “So anyway, I think we both have a lot of things to share with each other about our respective worlds.” He was so excited to tell them all about Headspace, and to learn more about the real world.

“Sure!” Said Kel with a large grin. “So, where do we start?”

Sunny felt like this would be a long afternoon.