Chapter 1: Mostly Cloudy
Chapter Text
___
All day and all night
We lay about and wonder what we're gonna do
We speak to ourselves
Havin' a conversation and wonderin' who we're talking to
___
The only thing worse than being the new kid in school was being a disabled new kid in school, Sunny thought as his first period teacher introduced him to the class. He felt a little stupid for having his whiteboard hanging around his neck like huge necklace, the word "Sunny" written on it in big letters. But it had been his condition on entering public school again that he wanted to be as independent as possible, and that meant no sign-language interpreter so he was forced to use his whiteboard to communicate. The official disability papers were folded and tucked into a pocket on the back of it for easy access.
"This is Sunny," his teacher introduced him. "He's mute and knows sign language but wants to communicate with a whiteboard rather than having a translator, so please be patient with him."
Sunny showed no emotion as the class stared at him in silence. That was fine. He was used to being alone. It was just easier that way. He went and sat at an empty desk three rows back, taking his whiteboard off from around his neck and setting it in front of him. It took up the majority of the desk, which was a little frustrating. He was used to his table at home where he could have several books open at once spread out on the table. He'd just have to make due, he decided, as he took out a notebook from his bookbag and turned to a fresh, clean page, ready to take notes on whatever subject matter was going to be taught today.
It turned out his first class of the day was History. That was an easy subject for Sunny; All he had to do was listen and take notes. The teacher would call on someone once in a while to read a passage of their text book. Sunny knew his name would never be called and he was fine with that.
His next class was upstairs on the second floor of the school. Sunny knew it would take him a while to get used to having to navigate the stairways. After all, he'd been homeschooled the past four years and in his previous public school experience they didn't even change rooms. He was very aware how out of shape he was when he had to catch his breath at the top of the stairs. He tried to pretend he couldn't hear other kids sneering and laughing at him. The bell rang before he could find his next class room since he had to rest after climbing the stairs. Luckily his teacher didn't mind, and he was introduced the same way as he was his previous class.
His second class of the day turned out to be a math class. He was fairly decent at math. It didn't involve a lot of communication, just learning how the teacher did the problem and applying it to the problems in the textbook. He got called on once to do a problem on the whiteboard in front of the class. He ignored the feeling of all the eyes on him as he finished the problem the teacher had written. When he was done, he promptly went back to his desk, barely hearing his teacher praising him for showing his work and getting the answer correct. Somewhere he heard a voice snort, "nerd." He'd been called a lot worse and it didn't bother him.
His third class of the day was only down the hall, and he was glad he had lunch right after it because he was starting to become hungry. He was also tired of carrying around three heavy textbooks and knew he'd have time to stash them in his locker on his way to lunch, considering his lunch was in his locker and he'd have to visit it anyway.
Just like his previous two classes, he was once again introduced as Sunny the Mute who had a whiteboard for communication. He was starting to feel annoyed at having this constantly repeated but it was his first day, after all. Tomorrow there would be no need for introductions. Again, he found an empty seat and took out his textbook and notebook. He also had a composition notebook already set up and ready for labs since this was his science class and he had already been informed what was expected of him during lab days.
The first half of class was a lecture and Sunny dutifully took notes. The second half was a lab, and Sunny became anxious when his teacher announced for everyone to head to the back of the class where the lab tables were with their lab partner.
Sunny didn't have a lab partner. He knew no one. Surely his teacher knew that since he was just introduced as a new student. No one would want to be lab partners with someone who couldn't talk.
He froze in his seat. Maybe he could just do the lab by himself. He didn't need a partner. He tried to stay calm as he stood up from his desk, his whiteboard and notebooks clutched to his chest. He quickly glanced back at all the lab tables. Everyone had already partnered up.
Everyone except a lone boy with messy blond hair who was already setting up his station.
Sunny sighed through his nose and tried to keep his composure as he made his way to the back and put his belongings on the empty side of the lab table. The other boy didn't even look at him. Sunny quickly erased his name in big letters on his whiteboard and took out his dry-erase marker.
[Hi, I'm Sunny. Can I be your lab partner?] Sunny wrote hurriedly. The blond boy looked at the whiteboard and then at Sunny with narrowed eyes. He grabbed the board, wiped away the marker with his sleeve, yanked the marker from Sunny's hand and scribbled [I don't need a lab partner] before throwing down both objects and turning to retrieve something from the back. Sunny stared at whiteboard and tried not to feel too put out. He couldn't exactly be surprised. Why would anyone want to be his lab partner? He picked up his whiteboard and erased the words. He took his marker and was about to write an apology when he felt something press against his shoulder. He looked and saw the boy pressing a pair of plastic safety goggles against him. Sunny took the goggles with confusion, watching the boy set up the lab station as he put them on. The boy didn't speak and didn't look back at him, just kept setting up the station as though Sunny was just an observer. It was true Sunny had never done a lab like this before but he sure wasn't useless! He set his whiteboard and marker aside and pulled up his notes.
Chemical mixing. He could do that. He looked around at his partner but he had already gotten out all the chemical bottles and was beginning to pour one of the bottles into a glass vial. Sunny scrambled for his whiteboard and scribbled [Which chemical? Vials need labels!] with his dry-erase marker and prodded his partner with the board. The blond looked at the board and then pushed it away. He pointed to a roll of masking tape and a sharpie already in front of him. Sunny put his whiteboard down and reached for the masking tape and sharpie. His partner paused, and for a second Sunny thought he was about to have the items snatched from him, but instead the boy put the bottle that he had just used in front of Sunny. Sunny ripped off a piece of tape and scribbled the periodic table abbreviation for the chemical on the tape. Almost before he finished his partner ripped it from him and stuck it on the vial. Another bottle was pushed in front of him and another vial was already being filled. Sunny hurried so he wouldn't fall behind, or else his partner really would insist on doing the lab alone.
Sunny could hear his classmates happily chatting with each other as they did their work. He didn't even know the name of his reluctant partner. In fact, he wasn't speaking at all. Or looking at him. He just kept pouring chemicals and snatching the tape Sunny barely got done writing. It was almost as if he was used to working alone. Maybe he was just stating a fact when he had written on Sunny's whiteboard that he didn't need a lab partner. Although he was being rather fast and not really interacting with Sunny at all, he didn't look like he minded. In fact, he looked kind of nervous. Sunny noticed the boy's hand shaking slightly as he poured the last chemical and that his ears were turning pink.
Sunny wanted to tell him not to be nervous, but he wasn't sure what good that would do. He was only assuming that it was his presence as the new kid that was making the boy nervous, but he didn't know anything about him. Maybe he was just having a bad day. Maybe he was annoyed his usual partner wasn't here, if he had one. Maybe he was embarrassed at having to be partners with the disabled kid. Whatever problem or problems this boy had, Sunny had no way of knowing what was causing his anxiety.
"Calm down! It's not as scary as you think!"
Sunny's big sister's words rang in his head, the words she had said to him after she and their mother had confronted him with going back to public school. He had been terrified; after all, he hadn't been to a public school in four years. Not since-
No. Don't think about that.
Sunny shook his mind back to the present where his lab partner was now pouring droplets of chemicals from the labeled vials into a beaker and then scribbling down the color change. Sunny hurriedly did the same, not wanting to fall behind.
Somehow, the class felt like twice the normal length of a class period. Without much interaction from his partner, Sunny had been forced to keep up with his fast pace, as if the other boy couldn't wait to get the lab over with and ditch Sunny forever. He wondered if all his future labs would be like this.
"Make sure both your name and your lab partner's name are at the beginning of your lab section in your notebook!" their teacher reminded the class when there were about ten minutes left in class. Sunny began to panic. He didn't know a single person's name, let alone his lab partner's! He hurriedly grabbed his whiteboard to write the question to his partner but the moment he had set he lab book down, his partner had grabbed it, flipped back a page, and wrote at the top next to Sunny's name, "Basil."
Basil?
Must be a nickname, Sunny thought as he put his whiteboard down and inspected his lab book. He looked at his partner who had started cleaning up their station. His ears had gone pink again and he was concentrating hard on cleaning up. Sunny noticed Basil's lab notebook was already closed. It was a light green camo color and in the middle where it asked for a name was the word "Basil" written on it. Well, at least he hadn't given Sunny a fake name or something. That would have been quite a laugh. Although, their teacher had seen them working together so probably Basil would've gotten in trouble if he had tried to pull a stunt like that. Something else caught Sunny's eyes; on the bottom right of the notebook was a sticker of a sunflower.
Basil must've noticed Sunny staring at his notebook because before he had put the bottles of chemicals away, he snatched the notebook away from prying eyes and brought it up to the teacher's desk, where other classmates were doing the same. Sunny quickly shut his notebook and scrambled to do the same. By the time he got back to his lab station, it was already clean and Basil was already back at his normal desk, his messenger bag sitting on his desk with the strap already around his body. His eyes were fixated on the door. It was clear Basil had no intention of becoming friends. That was fine, Sunny expected nothing less. But the memory of the sunflower sticker kept coming back to the front of Sunny's mind as he packed up and put his whiteboard around his neck (he had to rewrite his name in big letters again).
[Sunny~ Sunny~
My quiet little sunflower~]
The bell rang and Basil was first out the door.
Luckily next period was lunch, and Sunny could take his time finding his locker, putting in the combination, and switching out his textbooks and notebooks. He had a study hall after lunch since he was exempt from having to take a foreign language due to knowing sign language. He wasn't really sure what he was going to use that time for. He didn't really have any homework yet. Maybe he would just draw in his sketchbook or write some poems or read a book. But first, he was very aware of how hungry he was as grabbed his lunchbox from the top shelf of his locker.
The cafeteria was easy to find but as soon as he entered, he felt a slow panic start to creep up inside him.
He had no place to sit.
He stood frozen in the doorway, and it wasn't until the fourth of fifth shove of other students passing him that he hurriedly slid to the side out of the way.
He could... he could just eat here, right?
He didn't have to sit at a table, right?
Maybe he didn't have to eat lunch, right?
But his stomach growled at that last thought. No, he definitely had to eat lunch, and he couldn't do it standing against the wall. He desperately looked around for an empty table (why were the tables round? He could've just sat at the very end of a table and been fine, but these tables were round!).
And then he spotted him.
Basil.
He was sitting alone at a table all the way in the back of the cafeteria. The tables were in perfect rows except for his, which seemed to have been purposely pushed into the back corner, isolated from everyone and everything else. People had stolen most of the chairs, too. There were only two empty ones opposite where Basil was huddled, looking down at his own lunch and a book he had spread beside it.
It was his only option.
Sunny tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible, using the wall to help himself stay out of anyone's way. He did get a "watch it, nerd!" from a girl with long pink hair whose bag he accidentally stepped on. Sunny felt like it was taking the whole class period to get to Basil's table, but realistically it was probably only a minute. Sunny nervously pulled out one of the free chairs and sat down as quietly as he could. Basil didn't even look up. After a full minute of being ignored, Sunny relaxed enough to gently set his lunchbox on the table and drop his bag on the floor. He took off the whiteboard around his neck and erased his name, replacing it with a quick message.
[Hi. It's Sunny, from last period. You're Basil, right?]
He didn't really know why he felt the need to reach out to this boy who had very clearly shown him during their last class that he wanted nothing to do with him, but the image of the sunflower sticker stuck in Sunny's mind. Plus, why was Basil sitting so isolated from everyone else? Maybe they could commiserate being outcasts together.
Sunny gently nudged his whiteboard in Basil's direction, the marker secured on top. As soon as it touched Basil's book, the boy jolted as if he had just touched a scalding hot oven burner. His wide, scared eyes locked onto Sunny, reminding Sunny of the times when a deer would jump out in front of his mom's car at night and just stare directly into the high beams.
'Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you,' Sunny signed, momentarily forgetting that Basil probably didn't know sign language. Basil looked down at the board and then back at Sunny who was lowering his hands, feeling awkward about hand signing to someone who couldn't understand him. And then Basil turned as pale as a ghost, his eyes focused on something behind Sunny. Before Sunny could turn around, he heard a loud snort of derisive laughter and bright pink hair clouded his face as the girl whose bag he had accidentally trotted on leaned over and snatched up his white board. Sunny turned to see the girl read the message with an amused grin.
"Sunny?" she sneered at his name as though it was the most unheard of thing in the world.
"A-A-Aub-b-brey...!" Sunny's ears perked at the raspy voice that could only belong to Basil.
"A-A-Aub-b-brey...!" the girl mocked him, setting the whiteboard down on the table. She turned her head to Sunny.
"So, you're that new mute kid," she stated, and before Sunny could do anything, she started talking again. "Let me give you a small life lesson about this school, free of charge." She sounded as though she was being generous. "You'd better be careful if you start hanging around B-B-Basil." Her eyes narrowed as she shot a dirty look in the shaking boy's direction. "He'll take creepy photos of you when you aren't looking and tape them to a book to look at later like the perverted freak he is." She stood up straight, looking pleased as Basil's pale face turned bright red.
"I-I-It w-w-was-sn't l-l-lik-k-ke t-t-tha-!" Basil tried to say, but Aubrey interrupted him.
"Oh, so I didn't find a secret book you were hiding in the garden shed with a bunch of creepy photos of me and my friends taped in it?" Basil looked down, his face even redder.
"I-I-It w-w-was-!"
"I-I-It w-w-was-!" Aubrey mocked him again. "Use your WORDS, Basil. Well, I guess you won't have to with Silent Sunny around." She turned her back and laughed with her friends who had gathered behind her as they made their way back to their table.
Sunny had no idea what to take from the scene that had just happened. That had been a lot of information all at once to process. He turned to Basil to see him hurriedly stuffing his book back into his bag. Sunny could see his eyes glistening. It was apparent that whatever that girl had said meant something to him and he wasn't taking it well. Sunny quickly grabbed his white board and was about to scribble down a question but he wasn't fast enough. Basil was gone, as if he had turned himself invisible. Sunny looked around in confusion but couldn't find a trace of him. Learning to run away that fast must have been a talent groomed by years of harassment. When Sunny looked back at the table, he noticed that Basil had abandoned his lunch, as well as his lunchbox. He looked back at the table the pink haired girl had settled at and saw no one was paying him any attention. He leaned over and grabbed the lunchbox with a half eating peanut butter and jelly sandwich in it, along with a baggie of apple slices and a thermos. The thermos had sunflowers on it, and when Sunny zipped it up, so did the lunchbox.
[/Sunny~ Sunny~
My quiet little sunflower~
Take a bite,
Increase your height
And over me you'll tower~/]
He was no longer hungry. He put Basil's lunchbox into his bookbag. He'd find out where he was during his study hall and return it to him. For the third time that day, he erased his whiteboard and wrote his name in big letters. He put it around his neck and left for the library even though the period wasn't even half over. It was his study hall next, so surely the library staff wouldn't mind if he was early.
The library was big, quiet, and empty except for a teacher behind a desk working on a computer. She didn't even notice Sunny come in, and Sunny was rather grateful for that. He silently made his way to the back where he could have a whole table to himself and not be in the eyesight of anyone coming in. As he grew closer to his coveted spot, his ears perked at a strange sound. A book rustling?
No, a small sob. Sunny knew all too well what that sounded like. His mom tried to hide it, but ever since-
No. Don't think about that.
As quietly as possible, Sunny went to investigate who was crying in the library. Had this been where Basil ran off to?
Sure enough, in the very back row, Sunny saw that now too familiar messy blond hair sticking up from a curled up figure trying to hide himself from the world. His messenger bag had a large sunflower sewn into it. It seemed like their paths were destined to cross.
At the very least he could give Basil back his lunchbox. He set his bookbag on the table as softly as he could and pulled out the soft lunchbox. His fingers traced the plastic petals of the plastic sunflowers on the front.
Maybe he was just reading too much into things. Anyone could like sunflowers. Anyone could have a lunchbox or a messenger bag with sunflowers on them. Just because it was his first day of public school in four years and he happened to meet a strange boy in his grade who also liked sunflowers enough to have them all over his things didn't mean anything. Lots of people liked sunflowers. Mari loved them, and every summer they used to spend a month at their grandparents farm and play in the sunflower patch back when-
No. Don't think about that.
Just give Basil back his lunchbox. Focus.
Sunny turned his gaze to the crumpled boy all the way in the back corner of the library, hidden by rows of books except from this exact angle. Sunny took a deep breath through his nose and quietly crept towards him. Very gently, he nudged Basil's shoulder with the sunflower lunchbox.
He had expected Basil to be startled, but not to the extreme where he jolted backwards so violently that his head hit the wall, as if Sunny had stabbed him with a hot poker. His eyes were wet, red, and wild looking as he gave Sunny that deer-in-the-headlights look again. Sunny had been so startled that he himself had jumped back, knocking a few books off a nearby shelf (he'd have a bruise on his elbow tomorrow for sure). Basil was panting like a wild dog and Sunny tried not to notice the tear streaks down his face as he cautiously held out the lunchbox. Sunny watched Basil's eyes shoot from the lunchbox, to him, and then back to the lunchbox. He sniffed, wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and then unceremoniously snatched his lunchbox from Sunny's hands. Sunny stood there awkwardly as Basil stuffed it inside his messenger bag.
Not even so much as a "thank you".
Sunny removed the whiteboard from around his neck, erased his name and wrote, [I see you like sunflowers too] before offering the whiteboard to Basil. Basil's eyes narrowed but he was no longer crying. He took the whiteboard from Sunny (and the marker) and erased what Sunny had had wrote. Then, with shaky penmanship, Basil wrote something back and shoved the whiteboard back at him, not even looking at Sunny. Sunny took it (and the marker) and read what Basil wrote.
[You shouldn't be seen around me. It's social suicide. Do yourself a favor and forget I exist.]
Sunny read the message a few times, his eyes squinting in confusion. He sat down, erased Basil's message, and wrote, [Why? Because of what that girl said? She didn't seem very nice.] He handed the board back to Basil, who side eyed him with an annoyed expression now etched on his face. He took back the whiteboard, read the message, erased it, and then wrote a new reply.
[Why do you care? I was rude to you in class and I'm a social outcast. If you are seen with me you won't be shown any mercy. Aubrey always gets what she wants]
He was handed back the white board. Sunny grimaced down at the response. He wanted to ask what had happened between him and Aubrey but Basil didn't seem like he was going to open up that fast about something like that. So instead, he wrote back,
[You like sunflowers]
He handed the whiteboard back to Basil and watched him out of the corner of his eye. Basil looked at the short message and Sunny saw, for the first time, a little smile play across his face. In fact, Basil started laughing, and Sunny's ears perked. The sweet little chuckle was welcome over the sound of his quiet sobs from earlier. Basil didn't even erase Sunny's message. He just wrote, [Really? That's it?] under it and handed it back to him. Sunny wrote back.
[I'm new and you seem like you need a friend. You're different, like me.]
It seemed Basil did not like that answer. He erased everything, scribbled something, and then got up and left in a hurry.
[I'm nothing like you and I don't need friends. Stay away from me.]
Sunny stared at the writing, feeling a bit hurt by the words. Yet he also felt a spark of determination in his heart.
He would become friends with Basil whether Basil wanted it or not. He wasn't sure why he felt so drawn to him. Maybe four years of being a shut-in had made him jump at slightest bit of normalcy he could find now that he was around the outside world again, and Basil was the first person to pay him any kind of attention. And he wrote on the whiteboard instead of talking to him. Something about that felt like a connection. Any other person would've just talked to him and waited for him to write a response, like his teachers had. But Basil wrote back to him. Even though he insisted he didn't want to be friends (obviously after the cafeteria incident, Sunny knew there was some trauma behind this reaction), he had still written back to Sunny. It was as if Basil had been split in half; half of him yearned for a friend while the other half tried to protect him from more pain. Sunny could understand that. Maybe he was the only one at this school who could. So he'd keep reaching out. It was better to have one close friend than many distant ones. He didn't feel the slightest need to try to make friends in any of his other classes. He had been fine with being home schooled and being away from the public where he could be a danger to-
No. Don't think about that.
But here he was. His mom and sister had both pushed him to try to reenter society, and that meant going to public school, so here he was.
Sunny stood up and brought his things back to the back table. His study hall would be starting soon. He didn't really know what to do with that time. After study hall, he had English, then Gym, and lastly, Art, which was very generic and he didn't know what kind of art class he had signed up for because all it had said was "Art." He hoped it was just a drawing class because he wasn't very good at ceramics or any kind of 3D art. To that end, Sunny took out his brand new sketchbook from his bag and his brand new case of professional grade colored pencils. Without really thinking, he began sketching out a single sunflower. He had drawn sunflowers so many times that the shapes came easily to him and he didn't have to put much effort into thinking about it. It seemed like the perfect choice to christen his new sketchbook and pencils, especially after his encounter with Basil. This way he would always remember the sunflowers on Basil's lunchbox and the sunflower sticker on Basil's lab notebook. It was the perfect first picture to represent his first day of school. It wasn't until the bell rang to signal the end of 5th period that Sunny realized that four sunflower pages later, he had begun drawing the outline of Basil's head. He didn't have time to erase it so he made a mental note to rip out the page when he got home as he hurriedly packed up his belongings and rushed to find his English class.
English was pretty boring. He had already read the book the class had been assigned to read the first chapter of. Sunny doodled little sunflowers on his notebook. He was really dreading his next class, Gym. Sunny was very aware of how out of shape he was considering he barely left his house for the past four years except to go to doctor appointments. Also, he wouldn't be able to have his whiteboard with him. That didn't seem fair, but he was the one who insisted on no translator, so he'd have to endure. Of course all of his teachers already knew of his impairment, so at least the gym coach would know that he couldn't speak.
As the clock ticked nearer and nearer to the next period, Sunny became more and more anxious. He was told he'd have to change into the special gym clothes he'd been given.... in a locker room filled with a bunch of guys he didn't know. He already memorized the code for the special lock his mom had bought him in order for him to keep his belongings safe in the locker room. Still.... he didn't like the idea of changing in front of strangers. What if someone saw-
No. Don't think about that.
He'd just wear his thermal shirt under his gym shirt. It was pretty cool out anyway, and he didn't sweat easily. He'd be fine.
The bell rang and it was finally time for 7th period. Sunny reluctantly left his English classroom and headed to the locker rooms by the gym. The boy's locker room was further down than the girl's. He tried to keep calm as he entered and was immediately assaulted by awful smells. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. He quickly found a locker and shoved his belongings inside, changing his clothes as fast as he could and locking his locker with the special lock. As he made his way out to the gymnasium, he looked around, a little hopeful that maybe he'd see Basil. He hadn't seen him in the locker room but he also had been quick to change and get out of the locker room.
It seemed there were four groups of students, considering his classmates had started sitting down in front of a certain coach. Sunny didn't know where he was supposed to sit and it wasn't like he could exactly ask. Were they sorted by grade? Sunny didn't recognize anyone.
Until a girl with long, bright pink hair came out of the girl's locker room, talking to another girl who had been sitting at her lunch table. Sunny ducked, trying to hide behind other classmates so he wouldn't be recognized. But the coaches began blowing their whistles and everyone was getting settled and Sunny was left standing, not knowing where to go.
"Hey, you! Get in your squad!" one of the coaches yelled. Sunny wanted to run back into the smelly locker room as a majority of heads swerved to look at him, including the pink haired girl named Aubrey.
"Coach, that's the new mute kid, Sunny," Aubrey said with a roll of her eyes, "I don't think he knows which squad he belongs in."
Well, at least one good thing came from Aubrey's involvement during the lunch incident earlier.
"Oh, right!" the coach said as if everything had been explained. "Sunny, you're over here with the other juniors!" The coach gestured for Sunny to come over. "Aubrey, since you already know him, maybe you could help him out?"
Aubrey sighed with annoyance. "Should've kept my mouth shut," she muttered as Sunny nervously walked over and sat near her.
"That's the nerd from my math class," Aubrey's female friend said. "I didn't realize it at lunch. So he was the one sitting with the creep?"
Sunny's eyes narrowed. He didn't like hearing Basil called a 'creep'. Sure, he didn't know the full story behind the incident but the way Basil had acted, he was sure it had to have been a misunderstanding. He'd find out eventually. Probably.
"He's new, he doesn't know what that pervert did," Aubrey said to her friend. "Maybe it's not too late to save him. You wanna know what that sleezeball did, Sunny?"
Despite not liking how she was talking about Basil, Sunny did want to know what had happened, so he gave a small nod.
"Alright. I'll tell you when we go outside to walk," Aubrey said, turning back around.
"Aww, such a softie~" Aubrey's friend teased her.
"I'm just gonna tell him the truth, Kim," Aubrey said, giving her friend a light shove, "What he does after that is his choice. I just hope he doesn't choose wrong." Kim snickered but didn't add anything after that. Sunny felt that now, it didn't really matter what he was told because if he was forced to choose, he'd already chosen.
For the first ten minutes, their coach had them do warm up stretches. Then they were allowed to pick what activity they wanted to participate in; either inside sports or walking around the track outside.
"Let's go, nerd," Aubrey ordered Sunny as she stood up with a stretch. Sunny didn't appreciate being talked to like that, but he ignored his qualm for the time being because he wanted to hear Aubrey's side of the story as to what horrible thing Basil could have done to subject him to years of isolation and loneliness. So he followed her obediently, hoping Basil wasn't looking out of a window in whatever class he had now and seeing him walking with his tormentor.
As they made their way to the track, Aubrey pointed to a decent sized shed in the distance.
"See that shed, Sunny?" she asked, looking at him, and Sunny nodded, "That's the Gardening Club shed. The middle and high school use it together. I used to be a part of the club. We all did, because that was back when we thought Basil was our friend." Kim's face screwed up with disgust. She was walking side by side with Aubrey.
"One day, we were hanging out after school in the Garden Shed and I was looking for a certain plant book that we kept in there, and instead I found a book that had secret pictures of us taped in it. I never once saw Basil snap a pic of any of us. He must've taken them with his phone and the whole time we thought he was just texting his grandmother or looking up something about plants."
"Almost all of them were of Aubrey," Kim said, still looking disgusted. "It was super creepy."
"And here I was just thinking he was a nice, shy person who really liked plants," Aubrey sighed, shaking her head, "but it turned out he was just stalking me like a perverted freak the whole time. I mean, who does that?!" She looked at Sunny as if expecting an answer.
"Yeah, and he knew Aubrey and I were a thing, too!" Kim said, latching onto Aubrey's arm. "I guess he only pretended to be supportive of us because he was secretly in love with Aubrey. But she's mine!"
Aubrey smiled warmly at Kim but then looked back with accusing eyes at Sunny.
"Honestly, I thought he was queer, like me," Aubrey said, and Sunny noted that she actually looked a bit sad. "The Garden Shed was our safe space. When Kim and I were still figuring things out... We could just be ourselves there. And Basil seemed genuinely delighted that we got together. He said we should figure out what kind of flower represented each other and keep one at our houses so we'd look at the flower and be reminded of each other. It was... really sweet." Aubrey kicked the track ground. "Finding that secret picture book was like, the worst day of my life. Do you know how it feels to have your trust betrayed like that?!" Kim looked up at Aubrey with a commiserative frown.
"Basil never apologized. He tried to spout some bullshit about the pictures just being his "precious memories" but if he really wanted precious memories with us he should've just taken selfies with us, or at least asked us to pose for the camera! You don't take secret pictures of people and then print them out and tape them in a book you keep secret!" Aubrey sounded bitter.
"So that's the story," she finally finished, "I would ask you if you had any questions but you can't talk. Well, now you know the REAL Basil. Stick with me and I'll protect you from his creepiness. His stuttering was always really annoying, but you're just silent and easy on the ears. I wouldn't mind adding you to our group." Aubrey looked at him as if she had just offered Sunny the deal of a life time. Sunny didn't know how to react so he stared blankly back at her.
"I'll give you some time. It's your first day. You'll see in time, though, that my group rocks and it's way better than being with that pathetic loser." Kim snorted at that comment and Aubrey placed a quick peck on her cheek.
For the rest of the class, Sunny just walked silently behind Aubrey and Kim who began talking about things Sunny knew nothing about, and when it was time to go back in and change, he was feeling a bit numb. Aubrey had seemed pretty genuine about her side of the story. He didn't want to believe that Basil was that kind of person. He wanted to hear Basil's side of the story. It probably was just a huge misunderstanding.
Sunny's art class was small. It seemed not many people wanted to take art classes, but that was alright with him. He liked a smaller, quieter setting. The assignment of the day was to draw an object in different perspectives, and Sunny couldn't help but use a vase of sunflowers as his subject. After all, it was what he could draw best. When the school day was over and Sunny was packing up his bookbag at his locker, he couldn't help but think about everything that had happened that day. A lot happens in eight hours when you're around actual people. It was very overwhelming. He would process the day when he got home, maybe take a nap because he felt utterly exhausted. And tomorrow, he would talk to (well, write to) Basil again.
There were two sides to every story.
The sun was peaking out from behind the clouds.
Chapter 2: Cloudy with a Chance of Rain
Summary:
Basil didn't show up for school the next day.
Notes:
tw: self harm, suicide mention/suicidal thoughts
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
___
Then sadness takes over
And sadness wonders what we're gonna do
And sadness comes closer
Then sadness comes to sing a song for you
___
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER
Apparently the day had been too exhausting and overwhelming for Sunny. He hadn't been to WHITE SPACE in a long time. He hoped this wouldn't happen after every school day. It must have just been the stress of his first day back in society.
What wasn't comforting, though, was the absence of OMORI. Not that he really wanted to be near OMORI, but at least if OMORI was here, it meant here wasn't out there. Now Sunny didn't know if he was actually taking a nap or if OMORI had taken over his body. If so, he really hoped it was NEUTRAL OMORI. He hadn't been feeling any strong emotions when he had fallen asleep, so there was no reason to think it was one of the extreme OMORIs, but Sunny would never know until he was awake again.
WHITE SPACE was pretty boring. Sunny would've rather had an actual dream, unless it turned into a nightmare. Now it was just a waiting game, and time seemed irrelevant when he was here.
OMORI had a large white rug on the ground of WHITE SPACE, and on the rug was a weird laptop with most of the keys missing, a sketchbook that Sunny didn't dare open, and a box of tissues for some reason (he wasn't going to ask). If he looked up, there was always a single black lightbulb hanging down. And, as always, their childhood kitten MEWO was sleeping just near the edge of the rug. Sunny knew that if he were to walk away from the rug, he'd be grabbed by a red, dismembered arm and pulled back to the rug, so there was no use use trying to explore the vast nothingness anyway.
Somewhere in the distance he heard a ringing sound. And then-
He was awake.
Sunny woke sitting in his desk chair, and the ringing noise was coming from his computer. He was getting a video call from Mari. He quickly clicked the "answer" button and his sister's annoyed face looked back at him.
"Are you going to talk to me now?" she huffed. Sunny felt a bit dazed and confused.
'I just woke up here,' he signed. Mari's face immediately fell.
"Oh. Well, that explains why the other two times you picked up, you just stared blankly at me and hung up after a minute. I guess a full day of school was a bit of shock to your system, huh?"
'It was long.'
"Well, hopefully you'll get used to it and that won't happen again."
Sunny nodded.
"Are any of your keyboard keys missing?"
Sunny checked. The letter "B" had been pried off.
'B' He quickly clicked it back into place.
"At least it was only one letter this time," Mari chuckled, trying to make light of the situation. "I don't know why he thinks he can bring the keys back with him."
Sunny could feel a familiar pull behind his eyes.
'Change the subject, please,' he signed to her.
"Right! So! Tell me all about your first day! Make any friends? See any cuties~?"
Sunny made a face at her and Mari laughed.
"I'm just teasing you!" she waved him off, but her cheeks turned rosy. "I happened to meet a cutie though in my Psychology class! I talked to him and it turns out he has a little brother your age that goes to your school! Did you meet anyone named Kel, perchance?"
Sunny shook his head.
"Kel is the star of the basketball team at you school! Pretty cool, huh?" Mari said enthusiastically. Sunny shrugged. "Well, I told Hero- that's the name of the cute guy- to ask Kel to look for you at school tomorrow! I figured having another friend wouldn't hurt."
Sunny hid his face in his hands. Greattttt, that's what he needed. A "popular" kid paying attention to him.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Mari laughed. "Kel is really nice and loves making friends! Even with introverts like you."
Suddenly Sunny's stomach gave a large growl and he was very aware of how hungry he was.
"Was that your stomach?" Mari asked. Sunny removed his hands from his face.
'Yeah. I forgot to eat lunch,' he signed, just remembering.
"What?! Sunny!" his sister scolded him. "You can't skip lunch! Do you want me to sing the song? Because I'll sing the song!"
'I'll hang up,' Sunny sighed back.
"Then I'll teach it to Hero and have him call his brother and teach it to him and make him sing it to you in front of the entire school!" Mari threatened, and Sunny knew she would absolutely do it. "Go eat something right now, but not too much because I'm sure mom will be home for dinner in an hour."
'Okay,' Sunny promised.
"Love you, my silent little sunflower!" Mari said, making a heart shape with her hands. Sunny mimicked the motion back; it was their special way of saying "I love you" to each other rather than hand signing 'I love you'.
"Okay, go eat! I'm gonna text mom later and make sure you've eaten, so you'd better do it!"
'I will,' Sunny promised again, even signing the word 'promise' to her.
"Okay, love you, bye!" Mari ended the video call.
Somehow, Sunny was feeling even more exhausted than when he had laid down on his bed to take a nap. Maybe he'd go to bed right after dinner. He looked at the time in the corner of his computer screen. It was a little after 6. He'd eat some cereal or something since his mom would be home around 7 with dinner. He knew she would also ask him about his day and then reprimand him when she found out he hadn't eaten the lunch she made him. He'd just put his lunch back in the fridge and eat it tomorrow. He didn't have any homework, aside from reading a chapter in the book they were assigned in English that he had already read a year ago. Most of the time when Sunny had nothing to do, he would just sleep or watch TV, but he didn't want to go back to sleep so he decided he'd go downstairs and watch some tv while he ate some cereal and waited for his mom to come home.
Everything went just as Sunny expected. His mom got home and started on dinner. She asked about his day over dinner and when he told her he hadn't eaten lunch, he was scolded (not as much as his sister had scolded him, though). She asked about his classes and if he had made any friends and Sunny gave vague replies. He really didn't feel like trying to explain Basil and Aubrey to his mom. He did, however, tell her that he had been so mentally and physically exhausted that he had taken a nap when he got home and woke up to learn he hadn't actually been asleep at all. His mother frowned upon learning that.
"I'm sure you just need to get used to going to school and interacting with people again," she told him, "but do mention this to your doctor during therapy on Friday, okay?"
Sunny nodded, and when he was done dinner, he immediately took his nighttime meds.
"Already?" his mom asked as she saw Sunny swallowing the pills.
'I'm tired,' he signed, which was absolutely true.
"Okay. Well, good night! Don't forget to turn your computer off before you go to bed."
This was standard procedure because if he had another episode, like earlier, the computer would be on in the morning.
The next day, Basil wasn't at school. Sunny had been looking forward to talking to him more, but when 3rd period came, his seat was empty. Sunny ate lunch alone at the isolated table. No one bothered him. He half expected Aubrey to come over but she didn't. He wondered if she'd just forgotten about yesterday. Maybe she forgot he was even here. He could deal with that.
That was, until halfway through lunch (which Sunny was actually eating, lest Mari teach the whole school The Sunflower Song). Sunny had just finished his sandwich and was about to start on the bag of pretzels when a very tall boy with fluffy brown hair past his ears came over and sat down at his table.
"Hey, you're Sunny, right?" the boy asked. Sunny side eyed him and gave a small nod. Was this going to be another Aubrey situation?
"Cool, cool!" the boy exclaimed cheerily. "Apparently, my older brother Hero knows your sister, Mari! My name is Kel! Nice to meet you!"
Sunny prayed he wasn't taught The Sunflower Song. When he didn't reply to Kel, Kel went on.
"Just wanted to check up on you!" He grinned. "You're sitting here all alone. You wanna come back to my table?"
"This guy's not worth your time, Kel." Sunny's insides froze. Aubrey had come over. "I told him about what Basil did and he still decided to sit at Basil's table."
"Oh, right, this is Basil's table," Kel said, just having noticed. Sunny suddenly felt angry. So, even this guy didn't like Basil? He was still reserving judgement for Basil's side of the story. It really did seem like the whole school was against Basil. But after his interactions with Basil yesterday, he was convinced everything had been a misunderstanding. Or maybe he just really wanted Basil to be a good person because he was the only person he felt connected with.
"Yeah, I told Sunny everything that happened and said he could hang with me but he sat at Basil's table, even with Basil not here."
"He's probably sick again," Kim said from behind Aubrey. "Basil is always getting sick, though he's never said what he actually has. He just skips school when things gets "hard". He knows what he did was bad and he just won't own up to it."
Kel frowned.
"Didn't that all happen like, three years ago?" Kel asked. "Can't you give it a break? I think you've made your point to Basil. No one will associate themselves with him because they're afraid you'll beat them up."
"You telling me he doesn't deserve it after what he did?" Aubrey challenged him.
"It's true what he did was bad but I don't think anyone deserves what you've been doing to Basil," Kel replied, and Sunny suddenly felt warmer towards him.
"You'd better be careful if I see you start hanging out with that freak," Aubrey threatened him. "You're the star of the basketball team but I'll knock your popularity down so quick even your coach will wanna bench you during all your games."
"I'm not scared of you, Aubrey," Kel said, "and I'll hang out with whoever I want!"
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Aubrey spat, turning back to her girlfriend and ushering her back to their table.
"Sorry about that," Kel sighed, "Aubrey can be a bit- huh?" Sunny was holding out his whiteboard. Kel took it and read, [Thank you for standing up for Basil.]
"Oh. Uh, you're welcome?" Kel chuckled nervously, handing the whiteboard back to Sunny. "But um.... I do have to ask, considering Aubrey told you what happened... why are you being such an advocate for him?"
Sunny erased his words and started writing something. When he handed the board back to Kel, it read, [I think I understand how he's feeling. I'm an outcast, too.]
Kel didn't seem to like that answer. "You're not an outcast!" he immediately declared. "Just because you can't speak doesn't mean anything!" He stopped talking because Sunny was vigorously shaking his head and grabbed his whiteboard back.
[You only just met me but it's not being mute that makes me an outcast. I like being alone, and I think I can do that with Basil.]
Kel actually squinted at the writing. "Um... I think that's a but contradicting," he finally said. "How can you be alone if you're with another person?" Sunny almost rolled his eyes. This guy would never get it. He wouldn't understand. No one in this school understood. But Basil... he knew Basil would understand.
"Well, uh..." Kel started, probably trying to salvage the awkward conversation, "You don't have to be alone, you know? I'll be here if you need me. Especially if you need defending from Aubrey." He shot a nasty glare at Aubrey's table. "Even despite her vendetta against Basil, she can be pretty awful to people for no reason. I've heard a LOT of rumors from my basketball teammates. She and her gang are always getting into trouble. I think it's good that you didn't join them, even if I would still be hesitant of Basil. He did do a pretty gross thing."
After that, Kel left and Sunny finished his lunch, despite losing his appetite once again. He didn't want to risk Kel learning The Sunflower Song.
Instead of going to the library for study hall, Sunny went to the main office. He had already written on his whiteboard [My name is Sunny. This is my second day of school. I'm mute so I have to write on this whiteboard. A boy in my class named Basil isn't here today. I want to give him his homework. Do you know how I can contact him?]
He took his whiteboard off and set it on the counter, waiting for the secretary to notice him. When she did, she only spared him a glance before saying, "Can I help you?"
Sunny picked up his whiteboard and handed it out to her. She was confused for a second, and Sunny watched her expression change as she read what he had written on it.
"Ah, yes," she finally said, giving him a nod of understanding, "You're the new student who can't talk. Basil.... Yes, his caretaker called in this morning that he had fallen ill and would be spending a few days in the hospital. Poor kid gets sick a lot. I'll give you his contact information and the name of the hospital he's at. It might lift his spirits to have a friend visit him. This is the first time anyone has asked about him when he's been sick." She seemed to be rambling to herself but Sunny's heart was pounding and the sound of rushing water seemed to cloud his mind.
Hospital.
Hospital.
Hospital.
He hated hospitals. He never wanted to be in one ever again if he could avoid it. But at the same time he wanted to make sure Basil was okay. It was clear from yesterday and today that he had no friends and no one would be visiting him. No one probably even knew he was in the hospital. He was the only one. He'd push past his fear and visit Basil because no one should have to be alone like that.
For the rest of the day, Sunny fought his anxiety over the fact that he'd be visiting a hospital later and tried to just focus on the day. That proved to be pointless because he was constantly being reminded of Basil and that would lead his mind directly to HOSPITAL. And during gym, Aubrey made it BLATANTLY clear that Sunny was now on her shitlist. Although, it turned out Kel also had the same gym period, though he was usually inside playing sports. He invited Sunny to play inside with him and the rest of their classmates, but Sunny shook his head and pointed to the doors that led outside. He was still too out of shape for any kind of sport. He'd have to start with walking and go from there, slowly gaining some kind of athletic strength back. At least enough so that he wouldn't be winded every time he had to go up the school stairs.
"Are you sure?" Kel asked, and Sunny nodded. "Well... I'll walk with you today, then! How about that? You might need protection from a certain pink haired girl..." Sunny wasn't about to argue with that, since he could practically feel Aubrey staring daggers into his back. He nodded his approval at Kel and he looked delighted. Sunny hoped he wouldn't regret this because Kel seemed very, VERY high energy and Sunny was the complete opposite.
It did turn out to be a bit of a problem. Kel was VERY talkative and had to keep reminding himself that Sunny couldn't answer him more than yes or no questions.
"You know, if your sister is friends with my brother, maybe I can ask Hero if you're sister can teach me sign language so then we can communicate! It will be like we're talking in a secret code and no one else will know what we're saying!"
Sunny didn't know how to feel about that. Kel was already talking like they were best friends. Kel didn't know the first thing about him other than he was mute. If he learned sign language he would be forced to engage with him and honestly, he liked not talking to people. That's why he felt he would be comfortable with Basil. Basil wrote back to him on the whiteboard but never said a word to him. That felt comfortable. Perhaps that was why he was so desperate to hear Basil's side of the Aubrey incident. He was really hoping it was just a misunderstanding, and then they could both be quiet friends together, and everyone would leave them alone because of Basil's reputation. That was ideal.
"I think that's the first time I've seen you smile! So you think it's a good idea?"
Shit. Sunny's smile vanished. He hadn't even realized he had been smiling. Sunny gave a noncommittal kind of shrug.
"Great! I'll ask him!"
Oh well. Maybe Kel learning sign language would be good in the long run, especially during gym when he didn't have his whiteboard.
The rest of Sunny's day was spent not trying to think about where he was going to go after school, but to little effect. All he had left was art class and since yesterday they were drawing an object in different perspectives, today they were drawing a room in different perspectives. Of course, all Sunny could think of was his sist-
No. Don't think about that.
A hospital room.
Ironically, he felt sick the entire period in which he was able to complete three different perspectives of a hospital room. His teacher praised him for the amount of detail he drew, but how could he not after months of-
No. Don't think about that.
He was glad that his teacher collected the drawings and it wouldn't stay in his sketchbook.
The hospital was only a few blocks from the school, so Sunny decided to walk it. He quickly realized this was a mistake. If he hadn't known he was extremely out of shape before, he did now. He really should be able to walk a few blocks without needing to rest at several benches. When he finally got the front doors of the hospital, he found himself stuck, unable to move any closer.
You're here for Basil, he reminded himself. This wasn't even the same hospital as-
No. Don't think about that.
Finally, he took a deep breath and pushed open the doors. He fought the urge to immediately run back out and made his way over to the reception desk.
"Can I help you?" the secretary asked. Sunny took off his whiteboard and showed it to the clerk. He had pre-written it before he left for school and wore it backwards so no one on the street could read it.
[My name is Sunny and I'm mute. I'm here to visit my classmate Basil in room 404 and give him the work he missed today.]
The secretary eyed him suspiciously.
"Yes, Basil is in here pretty often," she nodded, typing on her computer. "He's never had another classmate visit him before. I guess it's okay if you're just here to bring him his work." She gave the whiteboard back to Sunny and took something out of a drawer. It was a visitor's pass, something Sunny was no stranger to, and he took it with shaky hands.
Don't think about it. Just focus on Basil.
When Sunny found the room, his heart was still beating out of his chest. All the noises of the hospital were overwhelming him.
Focus.
Basil.
He knocked on the door as a courtesy and was about to open it when a nurse opened it for him.
"Oh, hello there!" the nurse greeted him, "Are you a classmate of Basil's?" Sunny nodded, swallowing the sick feeling in his stomach. This was all too familiar. He held up his whiteboard which still had the previous message on it.
"Basil never gets visitors from classmates," the nurse said with a pitiful smile. This nurse must've been personally assigned to Basil in the past for his repeated sickness. "I'm not sure you should see him like this. Why don't you give me his classwork and I'll let him know you stopped by."
Sunny shook his head. He didn't come all this way into a hospital to not see Basil. He needed to make sure he was okay. He needed to see him with his own eyes.
'I need to see him,' Sunny signed with his hands. He had been so desperate that he momentarily forgot that he had to write down what he wanted to say. But it seemed the nurse understood the concept of what he had tried to say, considering the sentence involved pointing at himself, gesturing to his eyes, and then into the room where Basil was.
"Alright, but... I don't think he'll be too happy being seen like this."
That statement confused Sunny until he stepped inside and saw Basil asleep in the hospital bed, hooked up to an IV and heart monitor, his left arm wrapped in bandages.
Something dark stirred in the back of Sunny's mind. He pushed back; as disturbing as this was, he couldn't let it get to him or-
No. Don't think about that.
Just stay calm.
Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.
His left arm burned but if he let the feeling overtake him-
No. Don't think about that.
It took all his willpower to stay conscious, to sit in the chair next to Basil's bed and take out his schoolwork he had collected (he really only had Basil's science work since he didn't know any of his other classes). He ignored the nurse's eyes on him. He knew why the nurse wasn't leaving.
When he been told Basil was sick, he thought it was a physical illness. Not-
No. Don't think about-
But it was too late. Sunny threw off his whiteboard and ran to the bathroom inside Basil's hospital room. He barely made it to the toilet in time as he bent over, retching hard. He let all the feelings wash over him, flood into his stomach and then up his throat, splashing into the toilet. It always sounded like he was being strangled. He hated that noise. He wished he sounded normal, but with vocal cords that didn't work, everything sounded wrong when it came from him.
Finally, it was over. He leaned back against the wall, panting, his throat burning. He wiped his mouth with toilet paper and flushed everything away. He felt numb again.
"Are you okay, dear?" the nurse asked him kindly from the bathroom doorway. Sunny didn't have his whiteboard.
'Water' he signed, hoping she would understand. It was a simple sign, three fingers representing the letter "w" and then bouncing it on his chin. But unless someone knew what that meant, it might not be clear, as Sunny was finding since the nurse looked confused. He mimicked holding a cup and taking a drink. That, she recognized.
"Okay, I'll go get you some water," she said, leaving the room.
Sunny felt exhausted, but his mind felt better. He felt safe in this tiny bathroom. He could almost forget what kind of building he was in.
"S-S-S-Sun-n-n-ny?"
Sunny's ears perked so hard it almost hurt. That was definitely Basil's voice. He recognized it from the previous day. Sunny never forgot a voice, though he didn't have one of his own. He could've easily ignored the call and just stayed sitting against the bathroom wall, but this was the first time he had heard Basil call for him. He'd only known him a day and heard his voice twice, but between the animosity in his writing back to Sunny on his whiteboard, Basil calling out to him was unexpected. So Sunny forced himself to stand up (his legs felt numb, almost like they weren't quite there at all) and made his way out of the bathroom.
His whiteboard had fallen to the right of the chair in his hurry to get to the bathroom, and his marker had rolled away somewhere. His bag was on the floor and Basil's work was on the table between the bed and the chair. Upon seeing Sunny emerge from the bathroom, Basil sunk back down in his bed. He hid his left arm under the blanket, and Sunny felt a little relieved. And although Basil had called for him, he looked less than pleased to see Sunny actually appear. Sunny reflected the sentiment back. He felt angry, but it was controlled. He strode over and picked up his whiteboard, finding the marker not too far away from it. He erased his message and wrote a new one. Basil stayed silent the entire time but still kept his eyes on Sunny. Sunny glared at him as he walked back and threw the whiteboard at Basil.
[WHY?]
Sunny sat in the chair with a silent huff, slamming down the whiteboard marker onto the table. Basil's eyes narrowed angrily at the word written in all caps. He grabbed the marker with his right hand and started scribbling something down. He put the marker back and then handed the whiteboard over to Sunny without looking at him.
[You don't know anything about me! You have no right to judge me! Why are you even here? Go home!]
Sunny snorted angrily and stood up to face Basil, but Basil wouldn't look at him. His ears were pink again and he looked like he would burst into tears at any second. Sunny walked around to Basil's left side and ripped the covers away. Before Basil could protest, Sunny lifted the sleeve of his own left arm and knelt down to rest it next to Basil's, underside up. Basil's eyes widened, and Sunny could see the smallest movement of his eyes as he counted each scar. Basil's face screwed up and he covered his face with his right arm, finally letting out his emotions. Sunny sighed, rolling his sleeve down and sitting on the edge of the bed. Without really thinking, he put an arm around Basil (it's what Mari would've done for him) and he took it as a good sign that Basil didn't protest.
There was a knock on the door and Sunny jumped up. He had forgotten that he had asked the nurse for water. He pretended not to see Basil wiping his face with his sheets as he walked over to the nurse and took the cup of water. He signed 'thanks' with his free hand, again forgetting that the nurse didn't know what the gesture meant, but he hoped she would assume he was thanking her. He sat back down on the chair and drank half the cup before setting it on the table. He took his whiteboard and marker, erased everything, and wrote a new message. This time he handed the whiteboard gently to Basil.
[May I join the Garden Club?]
Basil was still sniffling a little when he read the message. He took the whiteboard and wrote two letters.
[No]
Sunny looked at the response, crestfallen, and then over at Basil. Basil was intentionally not looking at him.
[Why not?] Sunny wrote back, prodding Basil with the board until he took it. This time Basil's answer was longer.
[It's MY safe space. No one else is allowed in.]
Sunny frowned, but at least he was finally getting somewhere with Basil.
[I need a safe space, too, and you're the only other person who understands the need for solitude. We could be alone together. I promise I won't bother you.]
Basil sighed after reading the lengthy message. He erased everything and wrote [You won't take no for an answer, will you?]
[Is it really a club with just one person?]
That made Basil snort, a hint of a smile on his lips.
[Fine. But if you are joining, you're going to work. The plants don't tend themselves. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into. This is social suicide.]
A fluttery feeling thumped through Sunny.
[Social suicide is better than actual suicide.]
Basil snorted at the dark humor and Sunny grinned sheepishly.
It started raining just a little on Sunny's way home.
Notes:
I may or may not have gotten the Garden Club idea from Beastars lol
Also thank you so much for all the comments and kudos! I hope this is living up to your expectations :)
Chapter 3: Partly Sunny
Summary:
Sunny warms up to Kel and Basil warms up to Sunny.
Chapter Text
___
Oh, what a wonderful world
Oh, how you've got to have more
___
'I joined the Garden Club.'
"You joined a CLUB?!" Sunny's sister exclaimed excitedly. "Sunny, I'm so proud of you! It's only been your second day! I guess the first day was rough but it seems like everything is going well now, right?"
Well, contradicting that would take a lot of explaining, so Sunny just nodded.
"That's so great to hear! I'm so proud of you! My little sunflower is growing up so fast...! Ooh! Maybe you can grow some sunflowers in your Garden Club!"
'Maybe,' Sunny signed to appease her,
"Oh, and did you meet Kel? My friend Hero's little brother?"
'Yeah, he's in my lunch period and my gym class.'
"Did you like him? Think you'll become friends?"
'He was... a lot. I don't think I have a choice about being his friend. He's very pushy.'
"Well that's good! No matter how introverted you get he'll still reach out to you. I think that's something you'll really benefit from!"
'He wants you to teach him sign language.'
Mari's eyes sparkled.
"I can arrange that! Oooh, and it will give me an excuse to talk to Hero again~" Her cheeks turned rosy. "Oh my gosh Sunny, he is like, so handsome and so nice and he cooks AMAZING food! I forgot my breakfast this morning and he gave me a spare muffin he had with him that he baked himself and it was sooooo good! When we come visit this weekend I'll ask him to cook for you! Even you won't be able to resist, no matter what your appetite says!"
Sunny let his sister ramble on about her crush. It was easier to listen rather than to try to keep a conversation. He was grateful when his mom finally came home and called Sunny down for dinner. He hung up with his sister and ventured downstairs.
"No sleeping incidents after school?" his mom asked him as soon as he got to the bottom of the stairs.
'I didn't take a nap,' Sunny told her. The truth was he was even more exhausted than yesterday but he didn't dare go to sleep without taking his meds first. Not after the incident from yesterday and after being to a hospital. He still tried to push that thought away even though he planned to go back and visit Basil every day after school until he was discharged. Just like the previous day, he took his sleep meds right after dinner.
"Hopefully after this week you won't need to go directly to bed after dinner anymore," his mom said when she saw Sunny taking his meds immediately after bussing his dinner plate. Sunny shrugged as he swallowed his pills. It would be nice to stay up a bit longer and watch something with his mom but he was exhausted and if he didn't take his meds now, he risked nodding off in front of the tv and a certain someone else taking control of his body...
No. Don't think about that.
He signed 'Goodnight' to his mom and went upstairs to his room. He made sure his computer was off before changing into his pajamas and getting into bed.
I should ask Basil for his schedule so I can get the rest of his homework, Sunny thought right before falling asleep.
The next day at school was more of the same. Basil wasn't in his science class but Sunny picked a desk next to his, since it seemed all the desks around his were empty. Aubrey must really be that scary to have the whole school want to avoid Basil this much, Sunny thought. That seemed really unfair.
To his surprise, Kel was already sitting at Basil's table when Sunny went to sit there.
"Thought I would join you," Kel said as Sunny sat down with a questioning look in his eye. "Basil is usually gone for several days whenever he gets sick. My brother is studying to be a doctor so he used to volunteer at the hospital. He never did tell me what Basil was sick with. Though, I never did ask."
Sunny decided not to tell Kel that he had visited Basil in the hospital. It did make sense, though, that if Kel's brother was in Mari's psychology class that Kel's brother would have volunteered at the hospital with patients with mental illnesses. Thus, he would know about Basil's real condition and Sunny was thankful he had the respect not to blab about it to his brother. Maybe he would be a good partner for Mari...
"Sunny? You there?" Kel suddenly said. "I know you can't talk but you've just kind of been spacing out. Is it okay for me to sit here with you?"
Sunny nodded at him and then took out his lunch. He had a pretty good feeling Aubrey would have something to say about Kel sitting at "Basil's" table now.
Sure enough, halfway through the lunch period, Aubrey stomped her way over.
"Really, Kel?!" she huffed angrily, blowing her bangs out of her face.
"It's a free country! I can sit where I want!" Kel bounced back at her. Sunny tried to make himself as small as possible but then Aubrey directed her full attention to him.
"Ever since you arrived this school's been out of wack!" she accused him. Sunny just put up his hands in his defense, as if to say "What did I do?".
"Don't blame this on Sunny!" Kel shouted at her, and Sunny was a bit spooked at how loud he had just become. "This is your issue! Sunny can choose to be friends with whoever he wants!"
"Then you're guilty by association!" Aubrey yelled back at him, and Sunny was very aware of how silent the cafeteria had become. "You BASIL BITCHES are gonna be sorry!" Aubrey flipped her hair as she turned back to her table and murmuring started up in the cafeteria again. Kel snorted and shook his head.
"She's got a lot of audacity, ya know?" he said to Sunny as if the whole cafeteria hadn't just witnessed that scene. "We all used to be friends when we were younger, did you know that? She and Basil both used to come over to my house when were children, like all the time. We kind of grew apart when middle school hit because I was into sports, but Aubrey and Basil remained close until the picture incident. Suddenly Aubrey turned extremely nasty and Basil was shunned. I guess I'm also guilty of that part because it's not like I even got Basil's side of the story, ya know? So if you're going to stand by him, I'm going to ask him what went down after he returns to school. Is that okay with you?"
Sunny was completely taken aback by Kel's attitude. And another piece of the Basil puzzle had been added. They all used to be friends when they were younger, Kel included. Sunny suddenly felt a little lighter as he hurriedly wrote on his whiteboard, [Yes, I also want to know Basil's side of the story].
"Yeah, it's only fair," Kel nodded, "I mean, this whole time everyone's just heard Aubrey's version. But I can't imagine the Basil I grew up with would be creepy like that. I'm sure there's an explanation! And I owe Basil an apology for not letting him give it..."
Sunny couldn't explain it, but a warm feeling engulfed him. It kind of felt like when Mari hugged him. Maybe Kel was an okay addition to his very small friend group after all. Basil and Kel. That's all he needed. And he was sure Kel's brother would factor in, too, if Mari kept going after him. Sunny could live with that.
The rest of the day seemed to fly by. Kel joined him in gym again even though that meant skipping out on inside sports. He asked if Sunny would be interested in any of the sports, and Sunny gave him a noncommittal shrug.
"You look like you need to build up some strength first," Kel said, which was absolutely true. "A week or two of walking with me and I'll get you into shape!" Sunny nodded at him and Kel seemed pleased.
"I'll whip you into shape in no time!" Kel announced happily, "You're going to have to have a work-out routine if you eat my brother's cooking. If I didn't take up sports I'd be as big as a house by now!" Sunny just nodded at him.
In art class, they were now supposed to draw rooms with a two point perspective. This time, Sunny drew what he imagined the inside of the Garden Shed looked like. He probably overdid it, as it looked more like the inside of a greenhouse than a shed, but his teacher was pleased with the result and that was what mattered most. And when he left to walk to the hospital he wasn't even nervous. His mind had accepted that it wasn't as scary as he remembered, and Basil was there. There was nothing to be scared of.
The receptionist remembered him from the day before and handed him a visitor's pass. When Sunny got to the room, he knocked and waited. The same nurse from the previous day answered.
"Oh, how lovely to see you again!" she said, inviting him into the room. "Basil, your friend from yesterday is here!"
Sunny turned a little pink. He still wasn't sure whether he and Basil were "friends" yet, but he'd like to be. He felt nervous as he walked further into the room but immediately felt better when he saw Basil sitting up in his bed, as if his had been waiting. Sunny waved and Basil snorted to himself.
"Y-Y-You a-a-ctual-ly c-c-ame b-b-back," he said, and Sunny's ears perked at the sound of his voice. That was only the third time he had ever heard it. It felt special, somehow. Sunny sat down and put the whiteboard and marker on the table. He took out the notes he had taken for Basil during science and handed them to him. Basil took them.
"Th-Th-Thanks-s," Basil stuttered out. Sunny nodded at him. He picked up the whiteboard and wrote, [What's your schedule? I can get all your work for you while you're in here]. He handed the board to Basil whose ears turned pink. He wrote, [Um... you don't have to do that. My teachers know I miss class a lot and it's easy to catch up. Thank you for the science notes, though.] and handed the whiteboard back to Sunny. Sunny felt a little disappointed but at least Basil made it clear that bringing him the notes from their science class was okay. He wondered if he should tell Basil about Kel, but considering they had used to be friends meant that they weren't anymore, and even if Kel wanted to hear Basil's side of the story now after all this time, Sunny had a feeling Basil would spook easily if he even mentioned Kel. So instead, he wrote back, [When will you be back in school?].
[Probably Monday. They want to discharge me Friday if I... have good behavior...] He didn't look at Sunny when he handed the board back to him, but Sunny understood.
[I know what that's like...] he started writing. Then, to make it seem like not a big deal, he wrote, [So if I come to drop off your notes on Friday and you aren't here... where can I find you?]
He cautiously gave the board back to Basil and watched him read the message, afterward he gave Sunny a glare.
[I've known you three days and you're asking me where I live?] he wrote back.
Sunny bit back a grin.
[What, afraid I'll come by and slit your other wrists while you're asleep?]
The joke was very poor taste, but Sunny didn't really interact with people. He just wrote the first thing he thought of. Apparently, Basil shared the same dark sense of humor, because he laughed out loud, causing Sunny's ears to perk.
[Fine. I live at 35 Pine LN. Come kill me. Bring your shiniest blade.]
Sunny didn't erase the words. Even after going back home, it just felt kind of wrong to erase them. So he opened a new whiteboard and moved his disability papers to the back of the new one. While finding his spare whiteboards, he found an unopened box of colored dry erase markers. He couldn't resist and opened them immediately, using the green and the yellow (along with the black) to draw a sunflower on what he now called his Basil Board. He made sure to put a sticky note on it that said DO NOT ERASE just in case he mom ever found it. And Just for clarification, he put another sticky note on it that said "Basil's Address". He could've written down the address anywhere but something was stopping Sunny from erasing Basil's cheeky words. They just made him smile and he didn't know why. But if just looking at writing made him feel happy, he'd keep it. Happiness was hard to come by. He hadn't felt much of it these past four years, living in a haze of medications and scared of the person he couldn't control inside him taking over his body and doing something worse-
No. Don't think about that.
He felt that familiar pull behind his eyes. He focused on Basil's whiteboard and the feeling went away. His smile returned.
After dinner and taking his meds, he went to sleep thinking about what the inside of the Garden Shed might look like, and dreamed about Basil opening a door to a field of sunflowers. He didn't remember the dream when he woke up.
Thursday went almost the same as the previous day. Sunny was bored in all his classes and when he went to lunch, Kel was sitting at Basil's table again.
"Guess what?!" Kel exclaimed the moment Sunny sat down. "I talked to my brother last night and he said he would ask your sister to teach him sign language and then he'd teach it to me!"
Sunny nodded at him for lack of a better response. At least Kel wouldn't be talking to Mari directly. Sunny was taking his whiteboard off so he could write something to Kel but as soon as he started, Kel had his face very close to his own. Sunny leaned back. The mischievous grin on Kel's face was a little alarming.
"Don't tell your sister," Kel whispered slyly, "but I think Hero only did that so he could spend some extra time with your sister, ifyaknowwhatimean~" He snickered to himself.
Mari will be pleased, Sunny thought. Then he remembered what he wanted to tell Kel. He quickly wrote on his whiteboard and pushed it over to him.
[Basil is going to be back on Monday. If he sees you at his table you might scare him. So maybe don't sit here on Monday please? I'll try to ease him into letting you sit here but it seems like he's one anxiety attack away from falling apart.] Sunny hadn't meant to get so personal but he was sure that if Basil saw Kel sitting at his table he would just run back to the library and avoid lunch altogether. And considering Kel had said they used to be friends, he had no idea how Basil would react to Kel and wanted to carefully ease him into the idea of Kel sharing their space since it seemed like Sunny was going to be stuck with Kel for better or worse.
"Hm... You're probably right," Kel agreed after reading the lengthy message which Sunny erased immediately, lest Aubrey show up out of nowhere and see it. "I haven't really talked to him since we were kids, and it's not like I stuck up for him after the Aubrey thing. I was just kind of like, wow I can't believe my childhood friend turned out to be such a creepy weirdo. But I was only going by rumors. I really should have confronted him myself. He probably could've used an ally. I'm just sorry it took me this long to realize all this. But it's thanks to you that I might be able to reconnect with my old friend and maybe I can do something to help him, you know? I'm gonna believe he's innocent until PROVEN guilty!" Kel slapped a hand to his chest, as if making a soul binding declaration. A warmth flooded through Sunny. It felt good knowing someone else would be there for Basil now.
[Promise?] Sunny wrote on his whiteboard, handing it to Kel.
"Promise!" Kel grinned enthusiastically. Sunny tapped him to make sure Kel's eyes where on him, then he signed the word 'promise' and pointed to the word on the whiteboard. After a few repeats, Kel got the hint.
"Oh! My first lesson!" he said excitedly, and mimicked the movements Sunny was drawing across his chest, right over where his heart was beating. Sunny gave a small smile. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all, being friends with Kel. That was it, though. No more people were allowed to come into his life. Kel was alright and his brother would probably pop into the picture. After he secured Basil, he wouldn't need anyone else. Basil understood his need for solitude. It would be easy with him as his friend.
So he thought.
He had thought about things to tell Basil all day but then when he visited him at the hospital, his mind was blank. Maybe being too introverted would be a problem. Or maybe the silence was comforting to Basil. Sunny couldn't read his mind or his mood by the way he looked. He just kind of looked sad, and he didn't even say anything when Sunny came through the door. It was almost like Basil wasn't actually there. A familiar tugging sensation behind Sunny's eyes had him panicked and excited. He quickly scribbled [Basil? Is that the real you there?!] and practically hit Basil with the board in his rush to give it to him. It had happened so suddenly that Basil started, just as panicked as Sunny was acting. He looked down at the board and, not seeing the marker, took a deep breath and said "Wh-Who else w-would it b-be?"
Sunny calmed down a little but his heart was racing. He found the marker and grabbed the board, erasing the message with his sleeve.
[Are you the only person in that body?]
It would make sense, Sunny's heart beat rapidly as he handed the board back to Basil. No wonder he was drawn to him. They both-!
[It's just me. What kind of question is that?]
Sunny's heart dropped. He had to think of something quickly.
[Nothing. Just, my sister is studying psychology and nothing I swear] He didn't look at Basil as he handed the whiteboard back to him. He was almost scared when he felt the white board tap against his shoulder.
[I guess I don't exactly look like the peak of mental health right now.]
Sunny let out a breath he'd been holding in. Of course. Basil was fine. It's not like there could be someone more fucked up than he was-
No. Don't think about that. Sunny willed the feeling away.
"Are y-you okay-y?" Sunny's ears perked to the sound of Basil's voice. He looked at Basil and Basil looked concernedly back at him. Sunny felt strange. He was the one who was supposed to be concerned over Basil, not the other way around.
'I'm fine,' Sunny signed. Basil looked at him like-
Like he just spoke another language.
Because he did. And it looked weird, like he had had just hit himself in the chest and shook his hand off.
Sunny took the whiteboard and wrote [I'm fine] on it.
"Y-You d-didn't r-resp-pond f-f-or l-like... f-f-ive m-minutes," Basil said. It must have been serious if Basil was talking out loud. And Sunny's brain started connecting the dots. A cold feeling gripped his heart that felt like it was beating too hard. He needed to leave and he needed to leave now. He grabbed his whiteboard and wrote in a rush before handing it to Basil.
[I have a lot of homework and I should get back. I'll have a half day tomorrow because I have a doctor's appointment. If you get discharged I'll see you at your house.]
Sunny waited until he saw that Basil had read it, yanked the whiteboard away, and began hurrying to pack up.
"W-Wait-t-!" Basil stuttered out, seemingly confused by Sunny's change in behavior. Sunny only hesitated a moment but after seeing the desperate look on Basil's face, he forced himself to calm down.
"D-D-Did I d-do s-s-something wr-wr-wrong-g?" he hiccupped with difficulty. Sunny was confused. He was still under the impression that Basil didn't like him that much, but now it seemed Sunny leaving abruptly was upsetting him. Sunny quickly shook his head. Basil sniffed and wiped his face with his hand.
"S-Sorry-y," he apologized with another hiccup. "I j-just.... ev-v-very o-one l-leaves-s..."
Sunny was starting to understand Basil a little better. This was why Basil tried to push him away when he was trying to become friends with him. Sunny steadied himself. He needed to get out of here fast but in a way that made it clear it wasn't Basil's fault. He took his whiteboard back out and erased his words so he could shakily write [It's not you. I just have to go home because the person who didn't respond to you for 5 minutes wasn't me, and you don't want to meet him again, trust me.]. He handed the whiteboard to Basil as he packed up the rest of his stuff.
"Wh-what? N-Not y-y-you?" Basil sniffed, and Sunny was glad to hear that he seemed to calm down. Sunny readied his backpack and took the whiteboard back. He wrote [You're not the only one with a traumatic back story]. He watched Basil read the message, but the pull behind his eyes was getting stronger. If he stayed much longer, something bad might happen. He took the whiteboard back, erasing the message with his sleeve, and put it around his neck. He made sure Basil saw him wave goodbye, and it seemed Basil was a little lost in thought but not upset anymore, which made Sunny feel relieved. Sunny kept himself together all the way home, keeping his thoughts on visiting Basil at his house tomorrow. He kept his eyes down, watching the sidewalk light up every time the sun peaked from behind the clouds. As soon as he got home, he unplugged his computer and locked his door. By the time he fell into bed, his mind had already turned white.
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE.
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER.
Notes:
Sorry this chapter is short, but for what I have planned next, it needs to end here or the chapter would be WAY too long. Thank you for reading and leaving comments and kudos ^^ I really appreciate it! I'm glad you all like my story that much.
Edit: SOMEONE DREW FANART OF MY FAVORITE SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER IM SCREAMING PLEASE LOOK AT IT: https://twitter.com/strudeldoodles/status/1371437148969263105?s=20
btw ignore the notes after this one, they were from the first chapter and I don't know why they are under my chapter 3 notes
Chapter 4: Clear Skies
Summary:
Sunny sees his psych doctor for the first time since he started school.
Notes:
Note: I edited my previous chapters so that Sunny and co are juniors, as I realized that 16 is typically when you are a junior in high school (god I feel old) and I changed it so that the Aubrey incident happened 3 years ago, not 2, so they would have still been freshman.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
___
When darkness covers the Earth
And I know it's the end for sure
Here comes the sun
___
[I'll be leaving shortly for a doctor's appointment] Sunny wrote to Kel during lunch.
"Oh, so I won't see you at gym, huh?"
Sunny nodded as he erased his message.
"Well, I might see you tomorrow! My brother is inviting your sister and you over for dinner, since they're both coming home for the weekend."
Well, he couldn't say he was surprised. If Kel's brother and Mari were both fond of each other, he'd probably have to get used to dinners at Kel's house.
Once Sunny finished his lunch, he waved goodbye to Kel and made his way to his locker. He packed up his stuff and walked into the front office. His mother was waiting patiently for him. It felt weird to be taken out of school this way, but on the other side, he felt relieved that he wouldn't have to attend school for a few days. He could rest and relax this weekend.
But first, he had his psych doctor to talk to about the whole week and would have to confess about how many times OMORI had come out. He guessed he'd probably have to get his medication increased again, which he hated because it made him feel slow and empty. But it was either that or...
No. Don't think about that.
Sunny's doctor was always bright and cheery and treated Sunny like he was 5 years old. It was a lot of personality for him, in Sunny's opinion, but if his doctor wasn't so extroverted his therapy would have gone nowhere, not to mention finding a psych doctor who knew ASL had been very difficult.
"So, this was your first week of public school!" His doctor said as Sunny sat down in the chair opposite her. Sunny nodded, knowing full well his doctor already knew that, but they had to start somewhere.
"Well, tell me all about it!" his doctor encouraged him. He decided not to hide anything, considering hiding things from his doctor meant his doctor wouldn't be able to help him. Sunny got straight to the point.
'OMORI came out a few times. I think he was NEUTRAL each time. I ended up in WHITE SPACE twice. The first time was when I took a nap after my first day of school. Mari called and that's what woke me up and we figured out she had been on call with OMORI until I woke up. The other time was yesterday after coming back from visiting a friend in the hospital.' Sunny stopped there so his doctor could absorb all that information.
"Okay, let's start from the most recent thing and backwards," his doctor said. "You were visiting a friend in the hospital?"
'I did end up making two friends. This friend is named Basil. After the first day he didn't show up at school and they told me he was in the hospital and that he gets sick a lot so I went to visit him.'
Sunny's arms hurt a little. Using the whiteboard to write instead of signing out conversations was taking it's toll on his arm strength.
"You pushed past your Nosocomephobia to visit a friend you knew for a day?"
'It's more complicated than that,' Sunny signed, feeling a little frustrated. He wasn't sure they'd have enough time in the session for him to explain everything about Basil and Audrey that he had learned.
"But still. Your Nosocomephobia was pretty severe. Even hearing sirens or beeping would trigger you. You got Phonophobia that stemmed from that phobia. And you overcame that for this new friend?"
Sunny nodded exasperatedly. He wanted to continue but his doctor seemed to think this was more important.
"And you continued to go back every day?"
'Yes!' Sunny signed, not sure why this was such a big deal, they needed to get to the REAL issue. 'And yesterday, OMORI came out. Basil said it had only been 5 minutes. I managed to keep OMORI at bay until I finally got home. Something had to be done about OMORI. My sister is visiting this weekend.'
There, it was finally out. He had done his duty: tell his doctor about his OMORI episodes.
"So, this... Basil. He saw OMORI? How did he react?"
Why does that matter? Sunny wondered, his frustration coming back.
'He doesn't know about OMORI. He just told me I had zoned out for about 5 minutes and for me it was like I had blinked. Thank goodness it was NEUTRAL OMORI but you see how this is a problem?'
His doctor pursed her lips. "Yes, we'll have to up your dosage for the time being. Clearly the stress of a new environment is triggering these slips, and if one of them happens when you're having a strong emotion... yes, we'll have to increase your meds for a while."
Finally, Sunny thought, sitting back in the chair that was just a little too cushy.
"But do you understand why I'm so interested in your relationship with Basil?"
Sunny crinkled his face.
'Not really?' he signed, still thinking, 'because he's the first friend I made?'
"Well, not just that," his doctor went on, "You only met him for one day and then you visited him at a hospital, a place you are so afraid of that even sirens give you anxiety."
'It's not like it was easy,' Sunny signed, remembering how scared he was that first day. 'But the more I went back, the less scary it was.'
"So you've gone to see Basil at the hospital every day this week after school?" his doctor asked. Sunny nodded, still not understanding what she was getting at. "And are you going to visit him after this appointment? Is your mom bringing you?"
'She doesn't know,' Sunny signed, knowing full well that that was going to be an issue.
"So you haven't told anyone that you've been visiting a friend in the hospital after school every day this week? Or have you told Mari?"
'I haven't told anyone,' Sunny admitted, but he still didn't see what the big deal was. 'Anyway, he's being discharged today and he gave me his house address so I'm going to walk over there and check on him after I get home.'
"Are you going to at least tell your mother where you're going? Especially since your sister is visiting this weekend, right?"
'I guess I'll tell her,' Sunny shrugged. He would skip all the hospital stuff though. He was just going to visit a friend and would be back home in time for Mari to be there.
"That's good. I just have one more question," his doctor went on, "What drew you to this new friend of yours so much that you visited him in the hospital after knowing him for one day?"
Sunny had to stop and think about that. It was because they were both outcasts, right? And he felt like Basil would just understand him better than anyone else. He wasn't sure how to put those feelings into words, and he definitely didn't want to get into Basil's backstory that he himself was still trying to puzzle together.
'I know he understands,' was all Sunny could come up with.
"Well, think about it for our next session," his doctor said. "In the meantime, I'll up your dosage and hopefully OMORI won't bother you as you get used to going to school and the regular stress of every day life. So far I'd say you're doing well. I did expect OMORI to peak out during your first week back in society and it's a good sign that he was NEUTRAL every time. I also think you should tell your friend Basil about OMORI. If you like him enough to brave going into a hospital for him every day this week and you think you might become... closer friends... You should tell him."
Sunny didn't understand why she emphasized the phrase "closer friends". He hoped they'd grow closer. He wanted to hear what happened between him and Aubrey. But if he was going to ask something so personal of Basil, then in return he should probably warn Basil about OMORI.
Once they were better friends. He didn't want to scare Basil away when he was already so flighty.
'Okay,' he signed to get his doctor to stop staring at him.
His doctor went on to ask him about school and how his classes were going right until the end of the session. She gave Sunny's mom a new prescription and then reminded Sunny to think about what they talked about.
Sunny always felt so drained after a doctor's visit. He wanted to take a nap but he also wanted to make sure he visited Basil. He had to keep good on his word if he wanted Basil's trust. When they got home, it would be just around the time school would let out anyway (the drive to the doctor was long but she had been Sunny's doctor for years now so even though they moved to a new place, they made the long drive to his formally local doctor).
"So, upping your meds, huh?" Sunny's mom said as they walked back to the car. "I'll drop the prescription off and go shopping while I wait for the pharmacy to fill it. Do you want me to take you home first?"
'Actually, can you drive me to a friend's house?' Sunny asked since his mom was looking at him.
"Oh, you made a friend? Why didn't you tell me?" His mom fawned happily. "Oh, is it the younger brother of that guy Mari likes? She said something about him-"
'No,' Sunny signed to her, 'I mean, he's my friend, too, I guess, but this is someone different. The address isn't that far from home.'
"Well, as long as you're home for dinner. Mari is visiting, after all."
Sunny punched the address that he had memorized into his mom's maps app on her phone so she would know where to take him.
"Text me when you wanna get picked up," his mom said as they pulled up to the cute looking house. Sunny could immediately tell that this was Basil's house. It was clear that The Garden Club was just Basil's hobby because his house was the real deal. There were so many flowers planted either in the ground or in pots around the house. Sunny was sure the inside must be like a greenhouse. The house itself was a cute little cottage styled house, painted a faint peach color while the roof was a faded light green. Even the front door was green. Maybe Basil's parents really loved gardening and Basil wasn't just a nickname.
No wait, Basil had a caretaker... Sunny remembered what the front office lady had said to him on his second day of school. If he had a caretaker, where were his parents?
That was probably a bit too personal to ask yet, Sunny decided as he knocked on the door, hearing his mom drive away.
"Coming~" a female voice echoed from inside the house. Basil's caretaker? Sunny wondered as he waited patiently at the door.
When the door finally opened, a woman who was probably in her early 30s answered the door. Sunny held up his whiteboard:
[Hello, my name is Sunny and I'm mute. I'm one of Basil's classmates and I am here to check up on him.] Sunny had started to write "friends" but instead wrote "classmates" because he still wasn't really sure where he stood with Basil.
"Ah, yes!" The woman clapped her hands together. "Basil said a mute kid from his school might visit! You don't have to use a whiteboard with me, I know ASL."
Pleasantly surprised, Sunny erased the board and then signed to her, 'Is Basil here or still at the hospital?'
"He's here, resting in his room. Come in, I'll show you where everything is! My name is Polly, by the way."
Sunny was surprised at how enthusiastic and friendly Basil's caretaker Polly was.
'My name is Sunny. Nice to meet you,' Sunny signed before stepping inside and removing his shoes. Polly showed him around. It was a small house and looked pretty much like Sunny had imagined it would look like inside: Cottage style furniture and pots of flowers and other various plants everywhere.
"Basil's parents travel a lot of for work," Polly explained when she saw Sunny running his hands over the leaves of some of the plants. "They both work with plants... something about owning greenhouse plants that are being used for research into medicines. I don't really understand it, but since they're always traveling, they hired me to be the caretaker of Basil and his bedridden grandmother, who is in the room right down the hall. Basil's room is upstairs and to the right. Make sure you knock first. Oh, I'm so happy Basil finally has a friend!" Polly seemed so ecstatic that she rambled on about what exact work she thought Basil's parents did as Sunny awkwardly climbed the stairs and pretended to look interested.
"Let me know if you need anything!" were Polly's last words to him as he finally was out of view of the staircase. She was a bit overbearing, but maybe she had to be because of Basil. If Basil was as introverted as he, Sunny, was, then that would make sense.
He knew immediately which door was Basil's. The name "Basil" had been painted in green at the top of his door with what Sunny assumed were basil leaves painted around the word. And then a single, giant sunflower had been painted on the front. It was very well done, Sunny admitted to himself, and he wondered if Basil had painted it or someone else. He felt his own desire to paint on Basil's door but shook it away. He wasn't here to paint, let alone on someone's door. He steadied himself and knocked lightly a few times so didn't scare Basil by accident.
He heard what sounded like someone getting off of a bed and then footsteps that sounded like bare feet on wooden floor. He heard someone directly on the other side of the door take a deep breath.
"Sunny?"
It was Basil's voice. He sounded tired. Sunny couldn't respond verbally so he just knocked again. The doorknob turned and slowly the inside of Basil's dark room was revealed, with Basil still somewhat hiding behind his door.
"Y-You r-r-really c-c-came," Basil stuttered as he let Sunny into his room. Basil sounded legitimately surprised. He was still looking at Sunny as if he didn't actually believe he was there. Sunny nodded at him as Basil closed his bedroom door. When he turned to look at Sunny, his eyes had that familiar deer-in-the-headlights look that Sunny was now understanding better. If Basil was as isolated as Sunny, he was probably nervous at showing someone new his room. Sunny looked around. He thought it had been dark inside but he was wrong. It was bright and full of plants and flowers. He thought it had seemed dark because the walls were painted a dark green. The floor was wooden and kind of dirty, soil spilling from everywhere. But the cleanest part was the big rug in the center of Basil's room shaped like the head of a sunflower.
'Sunflower,' Sunny signed excitedly, forgetting that Basil couldn't read sign language. Sunflower wasn't even technically a sign. Sunny just combined the word "sun" and "flower", like he always did. Sunny pointed at the rug and then signed the makeshift word again.
"S-Sunfl-flow-wer?" Basil asked, seeming to relax a little. Sunny nodded, a smile on his lips.
"Um... s-so..." Basil began bashfully. "Y-You're h-here... b-because...?"
Shoot. He left his schoolbag in his mom's car! Sunny frantically took the whiteboard off his neck, erased his previous message, and wrote, [I had your science papers but I left them in my mom's car by accident, sorry. I can give them to you when she picks me up later.]
Basil didn't seem to like that answer.
"Y-Your m-mom kn-knows wh-where I... wh-where I...?" Basil was taking deep breaths. Sunny started to panic. He didn't know why Basil was getting so upset. Surely his house wasn't a secret or something; he wrote down the address for Sunny.
"S-Sorry," Basil stuttered, calming himself. "It's-s f-fine."
Sunny gave him a look that said 'that definitely was not fine,' but Basil suddenly got defensive.
"L-Like y-y-you're s-s-so p-p-perfect," he scoffed, "Wh-What w-was th-that y-yesterd-day b-before y-you l-l-left-t-t?"
Sunny froze. He remembered his talk with his psychiatrist. He wasn't sure if he could tell Basil about OMORI yet without OMORI showing up. Having talked about him to his doctor always made OMORI restless. But Sunny was getting his meds increased and hopefully OMORI wouldn't be a problem. Sunny took the whiteboard and wrote carefully, [There is a dangerous person inside of me. He's not always dangerous. He has different explosive moods. If you want the full story you can ask my sister, but I'm afraid if I talk about him too much he'll come out. I can already feel him due to having talked about him to my doctor today.] He nervously handed the whiteboard back to Basil.
This was it. Basil was going to call him a freak and never talk to him again.
No he wouldn't, he would understand. That's why Sunny was so drawn to him. He KNEW Basil would understand. That's why he could only trust Basil with this (though he had a feeling Kel was sure to find out).
Sunny got so lost in his anxiety that it wasn't until Basil practically shoved the whiteboard into him that he realized Basil had written something back. He took the board but was scared to look.
[I'm sure I'll find out eventually if you keep insisting on being in my life. And if you do, you're going to have to accept the bad parts of me, too.]
Sunny's heart was beating fast and his face was hot. Was this it? A formal declaration of friendship? He erased Basil's words and wrote in a rush, [I already accept everything you've been through. I'm sure you'll tell me about it eventually just like you'll know my story eventually. That's fine with me.]
He handed the whiteboard back to Basil, feeling much less anxious. Basil snorted, but this time there was a hint of a smile on his face, almost like defeat. He erased Sunny's message and wrote back, [What a pair we make, huh? The outcasted stutterer and the new mute kid who apparently has some kind of other person inside him. We're a disaster waiting to happen.]
When Sunny read those words, he wanted to preserve them on the whiteboard forever. Unfortunately, he still had more talking to Basil to do so he had to erase them.
[I'll text my mom and ask her to come get me since it's getting late, and I can give you your science work.] Sunny wrote, handing the board back to Basil. Basil stared at the words for longer than Sunny thought necessary. He was starting to look scared again. But then he erased Sunny's message and wrote back, [Okay]. Sunny didn't know why Basil was suddenly acting nervous again. Maybe it had something to do with his mom knowing where Basil lived, since Basil got worked up about that earlier?
Well, he was no mind reader, so Sunny put his whiteboard down on Basil's desk and took out his phone.
"A-Actually!" Basil had taken a deep breath. "C-Could y-y-you.... m-maybe... s-stay over-r?" His ears had turned pink and he looked even more frightened. Sunny stared at him, his phone still in his hands. That was a huge leap from 'I guess we're friends now because you literally won't leave me alone' to 'Let's have a sleepover!'
"I-I-I j-j-just-t-t-t," Basil tried to take a deep breath so he could talk clearer, but it sounded like a raspy gasp. He snatched the whiteboard off the desk and started writing something. He almost tried to hide behind the whiteboard as he wrote out what he wanted to say. He erased himself a few times and took very quick glances at Sunny every few seconds. Finally, he nervously turned the whiteboard back over to Sunny.
[I don't know how it is for you but on my first night back from the hospital after... an episode, I feel very... alone. So I was wondering if maybe you could stay, just for tonight?]
Basil's face was bright red and it seemed like he was trying not to look at Sunny as Sunny erased his message. Excitedly, Sunny wrote down [YES] in all caps, but then hurriedly erased it, feeling embarrassed. He started to write [Sure] when he remembered Mari was coming home that evening, not to mention all the medications he took were at his house and he kind of needed those. He erased [Sure] and wrote [I can't. My sister is visiting from college this weekend and all my medications are at my house. Unless you wanna sleep over my house instead.]
Sunny felt nervous handing the whiteboard back to Basil. Basil looked just as nervous. He watched Basil's eyes move as he read every word. What if Basil got mad at him for not being able to stay over? What if Basil just dismissed him and decided that if Sunny couldn't do this for him than they couldn't be friends? Sunny had really grown attached to Basil, despite still not knowing the whole truth about the Aubrey picture incident and only knowing him less than a week. He still wanted Basil to be his friend. Usually he was fine on his own- he had been the past four years. But finding a kindred spirit his first day back in society... Sunny really felt like he and Basil were fated to meet, and he didn't want to screw things up accidentally.
"Um..." Basil finally said and Sunny froze, "I... uh...." He seemed to give up on talking and began writing on the whiteboard. His face kept getting red, and then he would erase something and write something else. Sunny was confused. What would warrant Basil to need to keep erasing his message and look at Sunny with his face red as a tomato? Did he have some kind of embarrassing secret about staying over other people's houses? Did he really think that Sunny would just ditch him for something that small after he spent his days after school going to visit him at the hospital after just meeting him? Sunny chose Basil.
Finally Basil handed Sunny back his whiteboard, looking as though he had a sunburnt face.
[Is it okay if I bring a few of my potted plants with me? They just... make me feel more comfortable.]
It was definitely a weird request, even by Sunny's standards, but who was he to judge? Obviously Basil really liked plants and flowers and if they were a source of comfort to him, Sunny would support him.
[Sure. Just make sure you don't get dirt on the floors. My mom won't be happy about that.]
Basil sighed with obvious relief when he read Sunny's message, and something in Sunny's heart felt funny. He didn't question it though, he just opened up his text app and wrote a message to his mom asking if it was okay for Basil to sleep over. As he was texting, he realized he already said yes to Basil despite not even running it by his mom. What if she said no? So he added several "please"s at the end of the question before he sent the text.
"I'll g-get p-packed-d," Basil said, still looking a bit embarrassed. While Sunny waited anxiously for his mom to reply, he watched as Basil rummaged around his room. He took all his school books out of his messenger bag and hastily threw in some changes of clothes.
"Um... s-stay h-here r-real q-quick," Basil said before leaving his room. He probably went to tell his caretaker, Sunny thought, feeling awkward being inside Basil's room by himself. Finally his phone vibrated in his hand and he whipped it up to his face to check his messages.
'A sleepover with another person? That's a big step, Sunny! I'm so proud of you! Of course he can stay the night! I'm sure Mari would love to meet your new friend, too! I'll be there in fifteen minutes, I'm almost done at the supermarket.'
Sunny felt relief wash over him. Just so his mom wasn't surprised, he wrote back, 'Basil has a bad stutter when he talks so don't act surprised about, okay? Also he wants to bring some of his plants with him. I know that sounds weird but he really likes plants. You did see his front yard.'
A minute later his mom responded, 'Okay, just make sure they don't leave a mess, or you're the one who will have to clean it up!'
Right after reading that text Basil reentered his room with a clear bag of toiletries gripped in his teeth and a good sized box in his arms. He put the box down and took the bag out of his mouth and put it in his school bag. Then he started going around his room and selecting various plants and putting them carefully into the box. Sunny counted six potted plants before Basil said, "Okay, I'm-m p-packed." He looked a bit out of breath. Sunny put his phone back in his pocket and erased his previous message on his whiteboard.
[My mom will be here in about ten minutes.] he wrote, handing the board to Basil.
"Ok-kay," Basil said, handing the board back to Sunny. Sunny put it back around his neck as Basil zipped up his messenger bag and threw the cover over it as he put it on. Then he lifted up the box of plants.
"L-Let's w-wait d-down st-stairs," Basil said, and Sunny nodded as he followed Basil down the stairs. His heart was beating fast. His first friend! He hadn't really had friends, even before he moved here. This was something new and exciting and he honestly never thought he would find someone he wanted to be friends with. He liked being alone, but with Basil, it felt like they were alone together. Sunny just knew that he had found the one person he could be himself around.
The sun was starting to set outside when Sunny's mom pulled up to Basil's house in her dark green minivan. It looked like it would be a clear night with barely any clouds in the sky.
Notes:
Originally this chapter was going to be longer, but I realized if I kept writing, the chapter would be like 10k words, so stopping here made sense and I took the rest and put in the chapter 5 file lol
Also, sorry it's been so long since I updated. There was a family emergency that came up (not covid related, don't worry) and I didn't cope with it well and was in no mood to write. But things are okay now and I really wanted to get this chapter out this weekend, so I'm just barely making my own deadline lol
Thank you to everyone who reads and comments and supports this fic. It really means a lot to me and every comment fuels my muse to write more!
Also on a side note, Omocat did a merch drop on Friday and you best believe I got that Basil shirt and that postcard (Sunny and Basil are holding hands behind them and no one can tell me otherwise) along with a few other things. That's what really got me through this week tbh
btw if there are notes after this that are the same notes at the end of the previous chapter, ignore it. I don't know how to get that to not pop up.Thanks for sticking with me! :)
Also, Sunny's doctor knows what's up >:p hehehe~ And oh boy wait til Mari sees the two of them together ehehehehehe~
Chapter 5: Sunset
Summary:
Basil meets Sunny's family.
Chapter Text
___
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
Bringing you love and shining on everyone
___
Sunny's mom welcomed Basil right into the house.
"This is the dining area," Sunny's mom showed Basil, and Sunny remembered how Polly had also shown him around Basil's house before he actually got to Basil himself. Was this a social custom he didn't know?
"The bathroom is straight down the hall, and upstairs my room is to the left and Sunny's is to the right, and there's another bathroom in-between. Now, I assume you want to sleep in Sunny's room. If not, unfortunately, the couch will be taken up by Sunny's sister, Mari. She's coming home from college for the weekend and we specifically bought a pull-out couch for he because she's in a wheelchair and can't get up stairs." Sunny heard his mom whisper that last part to Basil.
Something inside Sunny felt cold. He had to make sure that no matter what happened, he kept his emotions stable. His mom had his new prescription. If OMORI did appear tonight, he would be NEUTRAL. And he would do what he always did and turn the computer on and play some computer games, or he would take some of the letters off the keyboard and put them under Sunny's pillow and go back to sleep like he expected the keyboard-letter fairy to bring him something for them. Although Sunny knew where he was trying to get them to go. WHITE SPA-
No. Don't think about that. You're exhausted enough as it is.
"Sunny? Did you hear me?" Sunny suddenly heard his mom say, "Why don't you help Basil get settled and I'll get dinner started before Mari gets here, huh?"
Sunny nodded. He ushered Basil up the stairs and tried not think about how much time he had just lost because those were signs that-
No.
OMORI is NOT allowed near Basil!
As Sunny opened his lame door with nothing interesting on it, he vowed that he would try to talk to OMORI tonight and tell him to stay away from Basil.
No, he couldn't risk OMORI getting FURIOUS at him for not sharing his one friend, and he could-!
Sunny suddenly ran out of his room and down the stairs. He ran to his mom who was in the kitchen unpacking groceries and tugged on her arm.
"Sunny?" His mom said. "Is everything alright?"
'Basil can't sleep in my room tonight,' he signed in a panic.
"Honey, slow down, you're signing too fast!" His mom huffed. "What's got you so upset?"
'Basil needs to sleep downstairs and I need to be locked in my room tonight,' Sunny signed to her.
"What? That's ridiculous," Sunny's mom said, but Sunny just felt more frustrated. Why did no one understand?!
'What if OMORI gets mad?' Sunny signed, feeling that slight pull he always did whenever he signed OMORI. He never risked spelling out his whole name, so everyone knew that '2nd me' meant 'OMORI'. It was a quick sign that Sunny didn't have to think too much about, which made it the perfect disguise name for OMORI. OMORI knew when he was being talked about, and sometimes he would peak out if his was signed. It was like OMORI could feel when Sunny was signing O-M-O-R-I, like the order of letters was a wake up and play invitation.
"What would he get mad about? Did you talk to him or something?" Now Sunny's mom looked worried.
"S-S-S-Sun-n-n-n-y-y...?"
Both Sunny and his mom turned to see Basil half down the stairs. He looked just as scared as Sunny felt. His mom turned back to Sunny.
'Have you told Basil about OMORI?' his mother signed to Sunny. His mom only signed things to him when she wanted to talk about someone without them knowing, or if they couldn't hear each other, like across the grocery store. And just like Sunny's way to sign 'OMORI' was '2nd me', everyone else's signing of 'OMORI' was '2nd you'.
'Kind of,' Sunny responded to her, suddenly feeling sheepish.
'If he's your friend and is going to be spending the night, he has to know.'
'I can't talk about it,' Sunny signed back. 'You or Mari('sister') will have to tell him.'
Sunny's ears perked to the sound of a familiar sob. The image of the school library flew to the front of Sunny's brain. He turned and saw that Basil had sat down on the stairs and had his head in his hands. Basil was crying!
Basil was crying?
Sunny felt like his heart had dropped out of his stomach. He instantly forgot he was in the middle of a chat with his mom and ran to the stairs. His mom shouted, "Sunny, I wasn't done-! Oh." It sounded like she had seen what Sunny had heard happening.
The second Sunny stepped on a stair, Basil curled up in fright.
"I-I k-k-knew-w it-t-t-!" Basil gasped between his sobs.
'Knew what?!' Sunny signed a second before realizing not only couldn't Basil see him but he wouldn't be able to read him anyway even if he did. Sunny motioned to his mom to come over.
'Translate please,' he begged her.
"Okay," she said. "Basil, honey, Sunny just asked me to be his translator. He asked 'Knew what?'"
"It-t-t w-w-was t-t-t-t-oo g-g-g-g-ood-d-d-d t-t-t-t-t-oo b-b-b-b-e...... t-t-t-t-too b-b-b-be....!" Basil was stuck in his sentence. Sunny had already learned how to recognize that. He was thinking fast. Basil knew... knew it was too good to be....
Sunny suddenly remembered yesterday at the hospital when Basil had started crying because he thought he had upset Sunny and that that meant Sunny was leaving him. Basil had never explained what made him think Sunny was just going to stop being his friend, and in Sunny's mind they had already been through so much this week that he was never leaving Basil. Why couldn't Basil see that Sunny wanted him in his life? It just felt so natural that he didn't think that there was anything to think about. It just made sense. But Basil did have that incident with Aubrey where he lost all his friends suddenly and at once, if Sunny was putting the puzzle pieces together correctly.
Basil was still trying to gasp out his sentence when Sunny started signing.
"Sunny says to calm down and that this can all be explained- Sunny, where are you going?!" Sunny had walked past Basil and into his room. He almost tripped over Basil's box of plants. He had left Basil at the alter of his room with no explanation.
No wonder he freaked out.
Sunny pushed open his door the whole way and ran to his desk, grabbing a white board. He didn't need to write on it because it had already been written on. He hurriedly ran out his door and then gently down the stairs to where Basil was still curled in fright, as if his body had chosen freeze as a defense mechanism. Sunny's mom had waited for him to see what he had been getting. Sunny sat down next to Basil and put the whiteboard in his lap so he could sign to his mom, 'Tell him to look at this.'
"Basil, hun, Sunny wants to show you something," his mom translated. And because she was a mother used to defusing a situation even if she didn't understand what was going on, she added, "Can you do for me, please, Basil? Or rather, for Sunny?"
Sunny held out the whiteboard. His stairs were extra wide just in case they ever had to move Mari upstairs; It was one of the key factors in buying this house in particular.
Basil calmed himself down enough to look at what Sunny was holding out to him.
"Wh.... Wha..." Basil couldn't get any words out, but he was looking at the white board as if he was being shown a world wonder.
[Fine. I live at 35 Pine LN. Come kill me. Bring your shiniest blade.]
There were two sticky notes. They were both written in Sunny's handwriting (Basil could tell because of all the science notes he read that Sunny had written for him, and all the back and forth messages on the white board (or in this case, a whiteboard, because this one had been kept which meant Sunny had others). He would know Sunny's handwriting anywhere). The first one said, "Basil's Address" and the second one said, in all caps and bolded, "DO NOT ERASE". Basil's whole demeanor changed. He had stopped crying but kept sniffling. His eyes suddenly spotted the perfectly drawn sunflower that had been drawn in color. He also knew what Sunny's sunflowers looked like because Sunny constantly doodled them in his science notes, and they always made Basil smile and feel warm inside when he saw them. Just as he was now.
"Y-Y-You r-really k-k-kept th-th-this?" Basil sniffed and hiccupped, wiping his face with his sleeve. Sunny nodded.
"Sunny says, 'It felt wrong to erase it. Because it was something from you to me'- Sunny, why are you making poetry right now? You usually write your poems down. Huh? What do you mean you're not writing a poem? Then what did that even mean?"
Sunny's mom never did understand the poem thing. Sunny had started writing after Mari- wait, that didn't matter right now. It was a symbolic gesture, and even if his mom didn't understand it, he knew Basil would.
Right?
Now Sunny was panicking. There were so many social customs he didn't know because he had been home schooled for the most important years of his life. What if this broke some sort of social code? Aubrey had been angry at Basil for having not told her that he had pictures of her. This was starting to feel like a similar situation. Sunny's anxiety was skyrocketing.
"Sunny, your panicking again!" His mom scolded him as if he could control it, "Stop thinking and look. Your friend is smiling at... whatever that is. It worked so who am I to say?"
Sunny stopped being inside his own head and really looked at Basil. He was smiling at him.
"Y-You r-really th-thought th-that m-my w-words w-were w-worth k-keeping p-preserved-d?"
"Sunny says, 'Yes, because you are the friend I chose'- Oh Sunny, that's so sweet!"
Basil's face was red, probably from the crying, Sunny thought.
Suddenly the doorbell rang.
"Oh, shoot! That's Mari!" Sunny's mom fussed, "I totally forgot about dinner! Well, I hope she isn't starving."
While his mom went to get the door, Sunny watched Basil apprehensively. But it seemed his idea had worked; Basil was smiling, a sight that Sunny welcomed with relief. Strangely, Basil's little episode made Sunny feel a burst of fondness for his friend. There was something comforting in the fact that Basil had his own set of problems, too. But it also begged the question; Sunny might be okay with Basil's episodes, but what if Basil couldn't handle Sunny's? Would Basil leave him if Sunny had an episode? He was already so fragile; Maybe he couldn't handle someone else with.... problems.
Suddenly Sunny felt Basil wrap his hand around his. He was looking at Sunny with a smile, and Sunny realized he had never seen Basil so... relaxed.
"Th-Thanks," Basil said, a little quietly.
"I'm hooooome~" Mari sang as their mother opened the door. "Huh? Where's Sunny? He should be rushing into my arms this very second!"
Sunny looked down the stairs and waved with his free hand as his mother closed the door behind Mari and her few bags.
"Sunny, who is this fine gentleman whose hand you doth hold?" Mari asked, her accent turning British. Mari loved to express herself eccentrically like that. Sunny felt Basil quickly take his hand away and try to hide behind Sunny's whiteboard.
A new person must be a shock to Basil, Sunny thought. He knew he told Basil he had an older sister because the whole reason Sunny asked him to sleep over his house was because she was coming home to visit. He had forgotten to mention that Mari was in a wheelchair, but why would that make Basil hide and curl up in fright like that?
"Oh no, did I scare him?" Mari asked, looking at Basil curiously. Sunny knew she would try to psycho-analyze Basil's behavior, as she had been doing with Sunny since she decided she wanted to become a Psychiatrist after Sunny had been sent to a psych ward when-
No, don't think about that.
Oh, he never even told Mari about his friendship with Basil. She was going to be very cross that he kept this a secret from her. It had just... never really come up. He hadn't really known where he stood with Basil until now.
'This is my friend Basil,' Sunny signed to her, spelling out Basil's name.
"FRIEND?!" Mari practically shouted, and Sunny winced as recoil. He knew his sister would peeved he never spoke a word about Basil to her. "Sunny, why hath you forsaken me of this lovely friend of yours?"
'It wasn't like I was hiding him,' Sunny signed back, his face growing hot, 'I just didn't know if we were friends until... recently.' Mari pouted but at the same time she was still looking at Basil with interest.
"It's nice to meet you, Basil!" Mari called up the stairs, and Basil visibly shivered upon hearing his name. "I'm Mari, Sunny's older- and only- sister."
Basil peaked out from behind the white board. His face was bright red and he gave Mari the smallest of waves.
"A shy one, huh?" Mari chuckled, "Sorry, Basil, I'm a total extrovert. But I'm used to introverts like Sunny. I'm not surprised to learn he found and befriended another introvert. Don't worry, I'll get you to come out of your shell eventually." She gave her fake evil laugh that Sunny knew so well.
'He has a.... speech problem,' Sunny signed, not knowing how to sign the word "stutter". Mari would figure it out the moment Basil started talking, anyway.
"Basil, do you know sign language?" Mari asked, trying to keep Basil engaged in the conversation.
"N-N-No," Basil managed to say. "M-My c-caret-t-tak-k-ker d-d-does, th-though." Sunny could hear Basil's deep breaths as he tried to talk while being completely flustered. He knew this exchange would tell Mari everything she needed to know; she had heard Basil's stutter and learned he had a caretaker.
"Well, if you need to you can use one of Sunny's whiteboards to talk," Mari added helpfully. "I'm going to help mom in the kitchen. I'll text you, Sunny, when dinner's ready. Don't be a Stranger, Basil~" She winked at Sunny and Sunny didn't know why, but at least she wasn't mad about not having told her about Basil anymore.
The moment Mari was out of sight Basil rushed up the stairs and into Sunny's room. Sunny followed and found Basil pacing very quickly back and forth. The special whiteboard Sunny had saved has been tossed on his bed.
"N-N-N-Need..... w-w-wat-t-ter-r-r," Basil panted, his teeth chattering even though he looked kind of sweaty. Sunny recognized that behavior all too well, having been in that position himself many-a-time. Sunny ran to bathroom and got out a clean plastic cup (there were always a few around in case Sunny needed water in the middle of the night) and filled it with cold tap water. He rushed back to his room where he found Basil curled up in a corner, breathing heavily, the saved white board clutched to his chest.
Sunny gently nudged Basil to show him the glass of water. However, Basil pushed it away, seeming to not want it anymore. Sunny put the glass on his nightstand, starting to worry. He got up and closed his door before dragging the box of plants over to where Basil was curled up tight, trying to get his breathing under control. Sunny couldn't exactly ask Basil what he needed to feel better so he guessed, based on his own experience and what Basil had told him earlier. The plants made him feel more comfortable, right? So Sunny began taking the pots out of the box and surrounded Basil like he was trying to trap him with his own greenery. Even though Basil was curled up and couldn't see, he still seemed to know what Sunny was doing because he reached out with one hand to stroke the leaves of his plants.
Basil was still breathing heavily, almost close to hyperventilating, and his face was very pale. Sunny couldn't ask if it was okay to touch him, but whenever Sunny had bad panic attacks (before his parents split up and Mari went to live with their dad) his sister would always hold him and sing made up songs to him to help calm him down. Mari was extremely talented at making up lyrics on the spot and her perfect pitch made her singing something to be envious of (sometimes Sunny thought all his voice went into perfecting Mari's so by the time he was born, there was no more voice left for him).
Sunny couldn't sing and his violin was in the closet downstairs so he couldn't even play something that might help Basil. So, cautiously, he gently put his hand on Basil's shoulder. Basil tensed for a second but then the feeling was gone. He just must not have been expecting it. Sunny moved closer and approached his goal with small steps. First was putting his hand on Basil's shoulder, which Basil hadn't protested to, so that was a good sign. Next, Sunny inched his way forward until their shoulders were touching and he moved his hand around Basil's back to rest on his other shoulder.
There, now his arm was around him and Basil hadn't backed away. He gently massaged Basil's shoulder with his hand. He saw Basil stop petting his plants. His breathing seemed to be calming down and his face was filling back up with color; another good sign.
Without warning, Basil moved the plants away with his leg and moved closer to Sunny. Sunny welcomed his friend into his arms, feeling Basil shivering all over. He held Basil for about five minutes before he felt Basil's shoulders slump and his head fall onto Sunny's shoulder.
"Th-Thanks," Basil whispered. "Y-You.... r-r-really-y d-do... und-d-derst-stand-d..."
Sunny nodded and felt Basil relax even more into him.
"SUNNY, YOU DIDN'T ANSWER YOUR PHONE! DINNER'S READY!" Sunny heard his sister yell up the stairs. Almost immediately, Basil jerked out of Sunny's hold like he had just been burned.
"S-Sorry..." Basil said sheepishly, his face turning red. "I... um..."
Sunny tilted his head slightly with an air of confusion.
"I-I'll j-just... m-move m-my p-plants." Basil hurriedly busied himself with rearranging his potted plants that Sunny had taken out of his box. Sunny stood up and got himself a fresh whiteboard. He wrote [Are you feeling better? Are you hungry?] and showed it to Basil after nudging him with his foot to get his attention.
"Y-Yeah," Basil nodded, standing up. "I j-just n-need t-to use th-the b-bathr-room. I'll m-meet y-you d-downs-stairs."
Sunny nodded as an "okay" before leaving his room and going downstairs, carrying his whiteboard with him just in case.
"Everything okay?" Mari asked when Sunny sat down at the table.
'He had a panic attack but I think he's okay now,' Sunny signed. Signing Basil's name was tedious but he knew Mari would know who he was talking about. 'He said he'd be down in a minute.'
"Panic attack?" Mari questioned, tilting her head the same way Sunny did when he was puzzled about something.
'He has some... emotional issues. I don't know the full story since I only met him this week but you know I can relate to that.'
"That's an understatement," Mari chuckled lightheartedly. Sunny made a face at her. He was about to sign a snarky reply but his ears perked at the sound of light footsteps coming down the stairs. His attention immediately snapped to Basil, who was looking much better, to Sunny's relief.
"Hi Basil!" Mari greeted him. Basil's ears turned pink and his eyes were turned to the ground. He chose the seat at the end of the table, adjacent to Sunny. He gave Sunny a quick glance before looking back down at his empty plate.
"I hope you like spaghetti, Basil," Sunny's mom said as she entered the dining room with a big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. "If you don't, I'm sure I can find something else for you to eat."
"Th-This is-s f-fine," Basil replied with big breaths to help his stutter. "Th-Thank-k y-you."
"Oh, it's no trouble, dear," Sunny's mother waved him off, looking flattered. She pushed the bowl towards Basil. "Help yourself and then pass it around."
After Basil scooped out what he wanted, he passed the bowl to Sunny. As soon as the bowl was away from him, Basil began eating almost ravenously. Sunny wondered if the panic attack had worked up his appetite. Sunny pushed the bowl to Mari when he was done taking what he wanted and also began eating.
"So, Mari," Sunny's mother began as the bowl was passed to her, "Tell me more about your classes! You've talked to Sunny about them more than you have to me."
"Oh, well..." Mari blushed with a smile, "They're tough, but I'm learning a lot! Oh, and that reminds me! Sunny, Hero invited us over for dinner tomorrow! I'm sure he won't mind if you bring Basil along. He and Kel should know each other if they're both your friends, right?"
As Sunny heard Basil's fork drop, he realized he forgot to tell Mari not to mention Hero or Kel in front of him. He felt so stupid considering he could've warned her so easily using sign language since Basil didn't know it.
"Basil, are you okay?" Mari asked, confused at Basil's reaction.
"K-Kel?" Basil asked, his eyes looking round and wide.
"Yeah, his brother Hero is in my psych class and when he said he had a brother in Sunny's grade, I asked if he would look out for Sunny, just as a worried big sister precaution. Hero said Kel had taken a liking to Sunny. I didn't know Sunny had made another friend, or I would've-" But Mari stopped talking at the look on the two boys faces. Basil gave Sunny a look of complete betrayal and bolted from the dining room. Sunny heard the downstairs bathroom door slam.
"What was that about?" Mari asked with concern. "Sunny? Is there something I should know?"
Mari was going to make a fine psychologist, Sunny thought as she gave him the same look his psych doctor did when she knew Sunny was hiding information from him. Except this time it had been accidental.
'Everything happened so fast today I didn't think this would be an issue,' he signed, his mother also watching him. 'He and Kel have some history. It's nothing bad but because of this big trauma Basil went through he has a hard time trusting people and I was going to ease him into my friendship with Kel next week since Basil will finally be back from the hospital-'
"Hospital?!" both Mari and their mom said at the same time as soon as Sunny signed the word. Sunny hadn't told either of them that he had been visiting Basil in the hospital every day after school. This was also getting way too personal and it wasn't Sunny's place to tell his family about Basil's trauma.
'Don't make a big deal right now,' Sunny signed, knowing that they would eventually talk about this as a family because Sunny going to a hospital was a Big Deal, 'but yes. Basil was in the hospital since my second day of school and I visited him at the hospital every day after school until today when I knew he was being discharged so I asked mom to drive me to his house and because it was his first night home he was anxious and asked if I could stay over but I knew Mari was coming home so I asked if he could sleep over here. Now you're all caught up.' Sunny had been signing so fast he probably messed up a bunch of words but he didn't care. He just needed to fix things with Basil and every minute Basil was alone in the bathroom was a minute wasted. So without waiting for a reply, he too bolted from his seat. Thinking fast, he grabbed two pencils and a note pad and then ran to the bathroom door. He couldn't hear much because Basil had turned the fan on. Sunny sat on ground and wrote, [It's me, Sunny] in big letters, tore off the paper, and slid it through the crack on the bottom of the door, along with a pencil. Then he knocked a few times.
There was no answer what-so-ever. Sunny wrote [Basil, I'm sorry. I was going to slowly try to ease you back into your friendship with Kel, but I didn't expect you to be at my house this weekend. I promise you, Kel is a good guy. He wants to reconnect with you.] He tore off the paper and slid it under the bathroom door. After a few seconds, Sunny heard what sounded like his paper being ripped up. Sunny's heart felt like it was simultaneously going to beat out of his chest and also fall through his body. He was starting to panic; he didn't want to lose Basil's friendship over this.
[I didn't really have a choice,] Sunny began hurriedly writing on a fresh piece of paper, [He kind of forced his friendship on me, thanks to Mari knowing his brother in college. He's been sitting at our table during lunch this whole week, and he even stuck up for you when Aubrey made a scene about the table being your table. I asked him not to sit there on Monday in case you... well, reacted like this. And he's been keeping Aubrey away from me during gym, too.]
Sunny slid the note under the door, praying Basil would understand.
Apparently, that information had only made it worse. Sunny got a reply back.
[TRAITOR]
Sunny's message had been scribbled out. Sunny felt his entire body grow cold, and then his vision went white.
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER
nonononononNONONONONONO!!!!! Sunny thought, finding himself suddenly in WHITE SPACE. He looked around but didn't see OMORI. That meant OMORI was using his body now. He had gotten so worked up that OMORI took over. Sunny began running into the white void. He knew a secret way out. It wouldn't be pleasant but if his suspicions were correct, MISERABLE OMORI must have taken over, which meant that somewhere in the white void, there would be a large steak knife. He dodged the red hands and arms that chased after him.
Shit! He had tripped and been grabbed and pulled back to the white rug. He stood up to make another attempt at finding the knife when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He whipped around and couldn't believe what he saw.
It was Basil.
Except, it wasn't. It was a shadow that looked like Basil.
STRANGER.
The word was in Sunny's head immediately. STRANGER was new for sure. Sunny had never met anyone else in WHITE SPACE before except OMORI and MEWO, the black kitten that was always asleep on the white rug. Sunny had no idea what to do. Should he be worried about this new alter that had appeared? Was he even an alter? Sunny's condition was never fully explained. It didn't quite fit the credentials for Dissociative Identity Disorder. His doctor had said that most people with D.I.D. get along with their alters and that alters weren't violent like FURIOUS OMORI. No one seemed to even understand who or what OMORI even was, since he labeled himself with different emotions while still being the same entity.
Before Sunny could turn and run again, STRANGER held something out.
It was the large steak knife.
STRANGER was holding it by the blade, offering the handle to Sunny. After some hesitation, Sunny carefully reached out and took it. STRANGER turned and walked away, fading into nothingness, yet Sunny knew that this would not be the last time he saw this new... person? And he knew he'd have to tell his mom and Mari and his doctor about STRANGER. But right now, he needed to regain control of his body and fix his situation with Basil. He couldn't lose Basil after everything over a misunderstanding. What he did next, he did for Basil.
Sunny turned the blade around and stabbed himself as hard as he could right in his heart. He felt the excruciating pain and the blood pouring down his torso. He fought through the pain and twisted the knife. He had to destroy his body here in order to get back to his real one.
For Basil, he kept repeating to himself as he took the knife back out and stabbed himself again.
For Basil.
For Basil.
The sun had set by the time he opened his eyes in the real world again. Someone had their arms around him.
"S-S-S-Sun-n-n-ny-y-y...!" Basil sobbed in his ear. Sunny took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around Basil. He felt exhausted and Basil smelled like soil and earth.
"Basil, it's okay! Sunny's back now!" Sunny heard Mari say. "I just saw him change, without a doubt."
Yes, it's me. I'm here, Sunny wanted to say, but of course he had no voice. He just nodded into Basil's shoulder.
"I think," Mari said as Basil began to calm down, "that we have a lot to talk about."
Notes:
I removed some of the tags from this fic because I don't want to misrepresent any mental illness (or any illness for that matter) and I don't think Sunny's situation has a legit diagnosis. I thought it could be D.I.D. but the more research I did, the more I don't think that's what this is. And honestly I'm not sure what this is, and you know, that happens in the medical field a lot. So for now, no specific label. It's possible throughout this story it gets figured out as more characters come into play, but the last thing I want to do is misrepresent something serious like that. Writing about panic attacks and anxiety and depression is easy because that comes from experience.
Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long to come out. Thank you for being patient with me. I've had to once again cut it short because if I keep writing, it will be like 10k words and another week or two, so I'm stopping it here. I never thought I would have to break up one day into three chapters.
Also thank you again for all the support! I can't believe how popular this fic got, I'm still awestruck every time I get a comment or a kudos.
ALSO my beta finally started playing Omori (I gifted it to her for her bday, which is the same as Mari's coincidentally) so once she finishes the game she might become my beta again! I know I have lots of mistakes in my previous chapters, and probably this one too, and it would be awesome for her to be my beta again, but I'm not going to pressure her on it. She has her own thing going on. But I knew she would love Omori and I'm so glad she's playing it now!
And just as a little life news update, I'm getting my first dose of the covid vaccine on Saturday! I'm last in my immediate family to get it, but I can't wait to be fully vaxxed so I can start making doctor appointments again bc I really need to see some doctors other than my GP because idk what's going on with my body but it hates me and something is wrong and I don't know what other than random IBS attacks even though I've taken risky foods out of my diet and have been taking a fiber supplement. If that means another colonoscopy than so be it, as much as that sucks, but this has got to stop. I'm legit scared that my body isn't getting the nutrition it needs to function bc my digestive system forgot how to do its job and I didn't live this long to be done in like that.
ANYWAY hope this little ~sunflower~ preview makes up for how long it took to get this chapter out. Thank you all for reading and take care of yourself! Basil would want you to wear a mask, get vaccinated, and be healthy and happy ^^
Oh that reminds me! I have friends who work at Bath and Body Works and they gave me the lotion, shower gel, and body spray of Golden Sunflower and I LOVE it. I think about Basil and Sunny every time I smell it. You best believe Basil is using this shower gel. No one can take that headcanon away from me.
PS: if there are notes after this again, ignore it. It was supposed to be at the end of the first chapter but it just keeps popping up after each new chapter I post. I tried to fix it but it didn't work so this is just how it is.
Also sorry I wrote so much in the end notes. It's almost 6 a.m. and I'm kind of chatty lol but I want to get this chapter out now. Sorry if I overshared.
Chapter 6: High Noon
Summary:
Basil learns about OMORI. Sunny dreads going to Kel (and Hero)'s house.
Notes:
I am so, so sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. So much has happened and I just couldn't finish the chapter. But finally, no more writer's block and I actually have time to think and write! Also, I HAVE A BETA!! If anyone remembers me mentioning previously, For my beta's bday I got her Omori on Steam bc I knew she would love it as much as I do, and I was right. >w< She's been helping me so much, including organizing all the ideas I have for this fic. I hope the next chapter doesn't take nearly as long to come out, but I'm in this for the long haul. Ya'll wouldn't believe how much content is in my brain, and my beta organized it and everything. She came back at the perfect time for me! I love that I can just talk SUNFLOWER headcanons and fic ideas with her any time. So huge shout out to my beta, RoseKnight! ^^ Also, today is my best friend's birthday, so happy birthday to my best friend who is spending her birthday with her newlywed wife right now and I'm so happy for her :)
Anyway, hope this chapter was worth the wait!
REAL CHAPTER NOTES:
tw: talking about suicide and self harm
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
---
Here comes the sun
Here comes the raging sun
And it's raging on and so we rage as one
On until the day is done
---
Sunny felt exhausted. He hadn't expected a day where he only had half a school day to be one of the longest he had in years. All he wanted to do was sleep, but he knew that certain things had to be addressed.
First, his mother had immediately given him his new doses of anti-anxiety medication and anti-depressants. She held off on his sleep medication for now, lest Sunny fall asleep before everything could be talked out.
Basil was still clinging to him, which he didn't mind, and the two were ushered to sit on the couch. Sunny's mom helped Mari into the recliner chair they had specifically bought for her before she also sat down on the ottoman so she could look directly at Sunny.
"Basil," Mari began, and Sunny felt Basil turn his head to look at her since he was resting on Sunny's shoulder, "I can't speak for you because I don't know you other than what I've seen today, but it's clear to me you have a lot of anxiety. I won't pry about your life because that's not my place, but are you on any medications at all?"
Sunny felt Basil shake his head no. Mari's frown intensified.
"Do you have a therapist?"
Again, Basil shook his head. Mari and her mother exchanged looks.
"May I ask why?" Mari said gently. Sunny felt Basil shiver slightly.
"W-W-We d-d-don't... m-my p-p-parents d-don't..." He was taking deep breaths, trying to get his words out. "M-Most of o-our m-money g-goes t-to t-tak-king c-c-care o-of m-m-my g-g-grand-d-dm-mother..."
"I see," Mari replied solemnly, folding her hands. "Well, if you would like, I know I've only just started my studies in psychology, but I could be your unofficial therapist. Everything will be kept in confidence, nothing you tell me will ever be known by anyone else without your permission. Not your parents, not your caretaker, and especially not Sunny, in case you were worried about that. But that's completely up to you. I'll give you my number later and if you ever need to talk to someone privately, I'll be there."
"O-Okay." Basil nodded to show he understood.
"Good," Mari said, giving Basil a sympathetic smile. "Now that that's settled, it's time to talk about Sunny and OMORI."
That woke Sunny right up. He shook his head but Mari said, "Sorry, Sunny, but after what just happened, we have to talk about it. And I think Basil deserves an explanation. You gave him quite a fright. Well, OMORI did. And if Basil is sleeping over, he has to know in case OMORI comes out again."
Sunny slumped back in his seat.
'What did OMORI do while he was using my body?' he asked.
"I'll get to that," Mari promised. Sunny felt Basil's head turn to look up at him.
'Basil sort of knew about OMORI...' Sunny signed tiredly. 'There was an incident at the hospital yesterday...' He signed the whole story to Mari.
"So, Basil," Mari addressed him after Sunny put his hands down. Sunny felt Basil stiffen a little at being talked to directly. "You actually met OMORI yesterday, according to Sunny."
"I d-did?" Basil asked, his voice a little lower than normal. He must have been just as exhausted as Sunny felt. "O-Oh... the r-reason y-you l-left s-so f-fast..."
"Yes. That was NEUTRAL OMORI," Mari told him. "He's mostly harmless. But there are occasions when OMORI becomes... extreme, due to Sunny's emotions. You just met MISERABLE OMORI. We know of only four different sides of OMORI: NEUTRAL OMORI, who is fairly tame; MISERABLE OMORI, whom you have just met; MANIC OMORI, whom we've only seen a handful of times; and FURIOUS OMORI, whom I hope you never meet."
Sunny felt his stomach grow cold. After what FURIOUS OMORI did to Mari... no matter which OMORI used his body, he hated him. He shuddered to think what FURIOUS OMORI might do to Basil if he ever got the chance.
'So what did MISERABLE OMORI do that made Basil come out of the bathroom crying?' Sunny signed with big gestures to get his point across, and also to get his mind off horrible scenarios. Mari sighed.
"Well," she began, "you stood up, or rather, OMORI stood up using your body. He turned to me since I had gone over to see what was happening, and I could see in your eyes that it was MISERABLE OMORI. It's always the eyes that give him away. Anyway, he signed some very worrisome things..."
'Tell me,' Sunny signed, feeling his heart beating faster than usual. She would have to tell him anyway, so might as well be now.
"Well, because it was so... worrisome," she said again but with emphasis, "I went into the usual 'calm down' mode but nothing worked, so I had to tell Basil what was going on. OMORI said he would... slit your throat open if Basil didn't come out."
Sunny felt Basil stiffen up next to him.
'What did you tell him?' Sunny asked, pointing at Basil from the side.
"Well, I acted on assumption based on Basil's behavior and what you told me about him at the table before rushing off. I guessed he was just panicking about getting hurt, and you only panic about that if you know you are capable of being hurt, so I knew- well, I assumed this meant Basil had already grown attached to you as a friend. Since you'd said you kind of told him about OMORI, I yelled to Basil that he triggered you into a person who said they would kill Sunny if Basil didn't come out- that if Basil didn't accept Sunny, there was no point for him to even live, let alone go back into society if he was just going to mess it up every time. When Basil heard that, he opened the door crying for you."
"I-I'm-m s-s-so s-s-sor-r-ry-y," Basil sniffed. Sunny patted his shoulder. It wasn't his fault. He should have warned Mari not to mention Kel or Hero, and then none of this would have happened.
'Tell him-' he pointed at Basil- 'that I'm sorry he had to meet OMORI. If I had just warned you first, this could have all been avoided,' Sunny signed.
"No one needs to be sorry," Mari said. "If Basil's your friend, he was bound to meet OMORI at some point. Best get it out of the way now. But I do have to ask, Basil, why did you react so harshly when I mentioned Hero and Kel?"
Basil wiped his face.
"C-Can I t-text y-you?" Basil asked shyly.
"Of course!" Mari said, clapping her hands together. "Here's my number-"
Sunny felt a little put out as his sister exchanged numbers with Basil. He didn't even have Basil's phone number.
'I want his number, too!' Sunny signed, making sure his sister saw.
'Ask him,' Mari signed back with a wink as Basil began texting something to Mari. Sunny pouted. He had left his phone upstairs on his desk, hence not getting his sister's text about dinner being ready (not to mention he had still been calming down Basil).
There was a strange silence as Basil texted out whatever he wanted to tell Mari. Sunny figured this might be a good time to tell his mom and sister about what happened in WHITE SPACE.
'When OMORI was using my body, I went to WHITE SPACE,' Sunny signed, noticing he had full attention from his family. 'I assumed it was MISERABLE OMORI and began looking for the Steak Knife.' There were nods of understanding from both women as Basil continued to type.
'I tripped and a red hand grabbed me and pulled me back to the rug,' Sunny continued. He could feel the effects of his new doses of medication kicking in, because he didn't feel any pull behind his eyes as he talked openly about OMORI and WHITE SPACE.
'When I was pulled back, someone tapped my shoulder, and when I looked behind, a shadowy figure shaped like Basil was there, holding the knife out for me with the blade in his hands. And somehow I just knew his name was STRANGER-' Sunny spelled out the name. 'After I took the knife he turned and just disappeared. Should I be worried about this new... person?'
Mari and their mom exchanged looks. Suddenly Mari gasped and put her hands over her mouth.
"Earlier I told Basil not to be a 'stranger'...!" she exclaimed, and Basil looked up upon hearing his name. "That... That might be my fault..."
"It's no one's fault," Sunny's mom assured them as Basil looked confused, glancing from Sunny to Mari.
"W-What h-happened-d?" Basil asked, looking anxious again.
'Don't tell him,' Sunny pleaded, 'I don't want him to worry.'
"Nothing to worry about, Basil," Mari reassured him with a smile. "It's a Sunny problem."
Basil didn't look satisfied with that answer.
"Y-You s-said m-my n-name," he pouted. Mari looked torn between wanting to tell Basil and keeping her word to her brother. Sunny gave his sister a wide-eyed look, shaking his head very fast.
"Sunny would rather not discuss it right now," Mari finally said. "When he's ready, I'm sure he'll tell you."
Basil turned to look at Sunny and Sunny looked away.
"Anyway, it's nothing to worry about now," Mari continued. "You two have had a long day, why don't you get ready for bed? You can keep texting me, Basil, and I'll answer your questions the best I can."
Basil became quiet and went back to texting on his phone.
"Okay, Sunny, it's time for you to take the rest of your meds and go to bed," his mom said, clapping her hands together. "We don't have an air mattress or anything because I never thought we would need one, but since Mari will be sleeping on the pull out couch, you can use the cushions to sleep on. Is that okay, Basil?"
Basil looked up and nodded at her.
"Great! I'll go set everything up while you boys get ready for bed!" Sunny's mom ushered the boys off the couch and began taking off the cushions. Sunny eyed Basil who was still glued to his phone. He didn't know why, but his ears felt hot. What was Basil telling his sister that he wasn't allowed to know?
No, that wasn't the real issue here. The issue was that he wanted Basil's number, but whenever he thought about asking Basil for it, he could feel an invisible hand squeezing his heart. He'd never felt like this before. It shouldn't be a big deal to ask a friend for their phone number, right?
But what if he won't give it to you? What if you've scared him away with the OMORI incident?
Sunny stood up to take the rest of his nighttime meds.
If he hasn't run by now, he won't, Sunny tried to reason with himself as he swallowed his pills.
Maybe he should run. What if OMORI hurt Basil one day? Then it would be all his fault for clawing his way into Basil's life when Basil had been so reluctant to be his friend in the first place. Maybe making any friends at all had been a mistake. In the end, everyone would end up hurt like Mari-
No. Don't think about that.
But he couldn't not think about it. If not for his stronger anti-anxiety dose, he would have had a panic attack by now. He wasn't panicking, but his mind wouldn't stop racing.
"S-Sunny?"
Sunny whipped around, having been too lost in his head. Basil was looking at him, his phone clutched to his chest in one hand, and the other reaching out slowly, as if asking for permission.
"E-Everyth-thing will b-be okay."
All the worries Sunny had fell right out of his head. He held out his hand and took Basil's. He seemed a little startled, but he gave Sunny a small but warm smile.
That's when Sunny vowed to protect Basil from OMORI, no matter what. Not just OMORI, but the whole school that had turned its back on Basil because of Aubrey. No way a person this warm could have done the things Aubrey had accused him of. It had to have been a misunderstanding. He knew it because he was sure the only person who could really understand Basil was him, Sunny.
"C'mon," Basil said after they stood in silence holding hands for a bit too long. "L-Let's g-get ready f-for bed-d."
Sunny nodded at him. He was going to ask Basil for his phone number as soon as they got upstairs and could find a whiteboard.
[I'm not sure I'm ready to face Kel and his brother.]
Sunny frowned at the message. When he woke up this morning, he had been determined to warm Basil up to the idea of Kel at their lunch table by inviting Basil to come with him and his sister over to their house.
[Kel told me at lunch that he wants to reconnect with you! I'm sure he won't mind if you come along!]
Sunny pushed the whiteboard over to Basil. They were both having breakfast at the dining room table. Sunny was actually hoping, for his own anxiety, that Basil would come with him. After last night, he trusted that if OMORI showed up, he would at least be NEUTRAL. OMORI never had an EMOTIONAL STATE the next time he appeared after having one. That didn't mean it /couldn't/ happen, especially with stress, which Sunny was feeling a bit of considering he would be forced to be social to people he barely knew. But if Basil was there with him, he'd have some reassurance of a person he could slip away and be comfortable alone with. They could be alone together.
[I can't just invite myself over. That's rude.]
The whiteboard was pushed back to Sunny. Sunny almost wanted to laugh. Rude? Basil was afraid of being rude? Like he hadn't been rude when they first met?
"What's going on, boys?" Mari asked as she wheeled herself to the table with a plate of eggs that she had cooked herself. She had served Sunny and Basil first, and their mom had already left for work.
'I'm trying to convince Basil to come with us today,' Sunny signed, pointing at Basil rather than spelling out his name. Basil saw the gestures and pouted when he was pointed at.
"Sunny, I don't think that's a good idea," Mari replied as she put her plate on the table. Now it was Sunny's turn to pout.
"Don't give me that look," she said, starting on her eggs. "Basil went through a lot. Don't you think this might be overwhelming to him?"
Sunny looked at Basil who looked away, his ears turning pink. Sunny let out a frustrated sigh through his nose and took the whiteboard. He erased the message and wrote, [Okay. I won't force you to come with me. I just thought it might help take the pressure off me. Kel is nice, but he has way too much energy, and I don't even know his brother other than what Mari has told me. I'm... anxious.]
It was the truth, and Sunny felt his own ears grow hot as he passed the whiteboard back to Basil. Sunny wasn't feeling very hungry anymore. He pushed the eggs around on his plate until he heard the whiteboard slide back to him.
[Hero has seen me in the hospital before. He knows... less than you but more than Kel. I don't think he would tell Kel anything... he's not that type of person. He interned as a nurse's assistant and he always kept everything... professional. But seeing them both at the same time... I don't think I can handle that right now...]
No wonder it had taken Basil a long time to write back. He'd used up the whole whiteboard space. Sunny had to admit defeat to himself- he couldn't try to ask Basil to go with him again after reading that.
"Sunny, you've hardly eaten," Mari suddenly scolded him, pointing her fork at him. "Eat up or I'll sing The Sunflower Song."
Sunny's face burst into flame as he shook his head wildly and started mindlessly shoveling eggs into his mouth.
"S-Sunfl-flower s-song?" Sunny heard Basil say out loud, causing his ears to perk up harshly. Sunny saw his sister's face light up with glee.
'Don't you DARE,' Sunny signed, a bit of scrambled egg sliding down his chin.
"It's a song I made up a long time ago when Sunny was a baby," Mari went on to explain, clearly ignoring her brother's death glare. "He has some appetite problems, so I made up a song that I would sing in order to get him to eat. He used to eat to hear me sing, but now he'll eat so that I don't sing it. ~He thinks it's embarrassing~"
"I l-love s-sunfl-flowers-s," Basil said. Sunny wanted to die- or faceplant himself into what was left of his breakfast, at the very least.
"For now, I'll keep the song as a secret threat," Mari beamed, and Sunny felt relief wash over him. "So you'd better watch yourself, my wittle Sunny-flower~"
Now Sunny wanted to die as he heard Basil snicker beside him.
"Oh, that reminds me," Mari suddenly said, clapping her hands together, "Sunny said he joined the gardening club! Are you a part of that too, Basil?"
Basil stopped snickering.
"Y-Yeah..." Basil replied quietly. It was his turn to look down and play with his food. "I-It s-sort o-of b-became m-my c-club..."
"Who else is in it?" Mari asked as she finished her breakfast.
Basil went silent. After a minute, Mari looked up from her plate.
'It's just us,' Sunny signed to her to spare Basil the trouble of having to answer.
"It's just the two of you?" Mari asked with confusion. "So, before Sunny, it was just... you, Basil? Are schools allowed to have clubs with just one or two people? It sounds like an excuse to-" Mari was cut off by Basil pushing back his chair.
"I n-n-need to g-go p-pack," he said without looking at them. Then he practically sprinted up the stairs and into Sunny's room, closing the door behind him.
"Did I upset him?" Mari asked with a frown, turning to Sunny.
'It's a long story,' Sunny replied, feeling a cold chill where his heart was pulsating. 'There used to be other members, but there was an incident, so the club has just been him for the past few years.'
"Oh... My bad, I didn't know," said Mari, a concerned look spreading across her face. "Could you go check on him? I didn't mean to bring up bad memories..."
'He didn't tell you anything while you were texting last night?' Sunny asked, a bit bitterly.
"What we talk about is privileged information," Mari said sternly, but then she softened and said, "but no, he didn't."
'I'll check on him,' Sunny signed, pushing his chair from the table and grabbing his whiteboard.
"Let me know if I should clean up your breakfast," Mari called after him as he made his way upstairs.
Even though it was Sunny's room, he still knocked on the door. He couldn't exactly announce himself, though, so it was more of a courtesy knock before he slowly opened his door.
Basil was putting his plants back into the box he brought them in, but he stopped and looked up when Sunny opened the door. Basil's face reddened and he hurriedly went back to packing.
[You okay?] Sunny wrote on the whiteboard before approaching Basil. Basil looked up when he heard Sunny approaching. He took the whiteboard and wrote, [I don't know. I just didn't want to talk about it]. He went back to packing after handing the whiteboard back to Sunny.
Watching Basil nervously packing up his plants gave Sunny a cold feeling in his chest. He sat down on his bed and erased Basil's message.
[I'm sorry if I put you through unpleasant situations this week. I haven't been to school in four years and I'm not good at socializing, but-]
Sunny paused. He wasn't sure how to put his feelings into words that didn't make him sound...
Crazy?
Well, it was a little late for that, so-
[-but I felt a special connection with you on my first day of normal school. That might sound weird, but it's true. I really didn't want to go to school and I had no intention of making friends, but I just kind of... knew that I wanted you in my life.]
He had to erase his message a few times so he could write smaller and get out everything he wanted to say. Just as Basil finished packing up his things, Sunny handed him the whiteboard. He waited nervously as he watched Basil read, making note of all the tiny expressions Basil's face made, but in the end he couldn't tell what Basil thought about the message and once again he started to panic.
"So," Basil sighed with a big breath, holding out the whiteboard, "y-you're ap-p-polog-giz-zing f-for b-being in-n my l-life?"
Sunny took the whiteboard back sheepishly, nodding to the floor. He heard the sound of Basil taking a deep breath to help his stutter, but instead he just let his breath out and took the whiteboard back. Sunny was a bit startled, but then felt a pit in his stomach. It sounded like Basil didn't want to waste his breath on him if he had just tried to say something and instead used the whiteboard.
[Sunny, I haven't had a friend in around four years. After... the incident, I thought I was just better off alone. Everyone hated me and I thought I deserved it. I tried to kill myself so many times, and it never worked and I kept wondering why. Why wasn't I allowed to die? No one wanted me. And then you practically clawed your way into my life. It's only been a week, but I feel more alive than I have since the incident. It's still hard for me to trust people, but this week you've shown me that you're not going anywhere. I need that, and maybe you do too. I don't regret it, and I hope you don't either.]
Another long message that took up the entire whiteboard, but it warmed Sunny's heart. He was a little unnerved by how casual Basil sounded about trying to commit suicide, not that he had much room to talk... but he wasn't like that anymore, and hadn't Basil just written that Sunny was his reason for living now? If he was the reason Basil never ended up in a hospital again, then his life would really have meaning. He decided he would save this message, just in case he needed a reminder that Basil actually did want him in his life. In order to preserve it, he set the whiteboard down on his desk and took out his phone to text Basil a reply.
Thank you. Also, just rechecking that this really is your number.
Sunny heard Basil's phone vibrate and watched as he took it out of his pocket. He smiled at the message and sent a sunflower emoji back. That made Sunny smile in turn. They looked up at each other and Sunny felt his face grow hot and his heart beat in his ears. He quickly looked back down at his phone. He didn't know why looking at Basil made him feel weird, though a good weird, but he was sure that couldn't be normal. Maybe he just really was out of practice with socializing with other people. He'd talk about it with Mari later.
Maybe.
It was exactly noon when Basil left.
The rest of the day, Sunny mentally prepared himself to be around at least one, possibly two, high energy people he didn't know. He already felt drained from hosting Basil, even though he already missed him. And no matter how many times he checked his phone, Basil hadn't sent anything since the sunflower emoji that morning. Basil had specifically asked Sunny not to text him while he was at Kel's house. He was already having anxiety about Sunny just being there, so getting a text from him while he was with Kel was too much to handle. In fact, Basil had asked Sunny not to text him at all unless Basil texted first. Sunny agreed to the boundary, understanding that this was still a lot for Basil. Sunny couldn't explain it, but Basil was the one person who didn't make him anxious. If Kel had asked for Sunny's number, he would've been anxious to receive texts from him. Was that how Basil felt about Sunny? But why did Sunny long for Basil to text him when the thought of Kel texting him made him want to throw his phone out the window?
Sunny could only guess it was because Basil seemed so similar to himself. That was why he was comfortable around Basil and why he silently begged his phone for even just another emoji from him.
"A watched phone never buzzes," Mari said, startling Sunny, who hadn't even heard her pull up next to him. "You've been staring at your phone since Basil left. Miss him already?"
Sunny felt his ears grow hot.
'He asked me not to text him unless he texts first out of anxiety for me being at Kel's house.'
"Good, then you won't be distracted while we're there," Mari said and Sunny scowled. "Don't give me that look! You can stand to have more than one friend. You told me you liked Kel, right?"
'Yeah, but he's not like Basil,' Sunny signed, having to spell out Basil's name. 'Kel is too high energy. It's more peaceful when I'm with Basil.'
"Hm.... you need to come up with signs for their names so you don't have to keep spelling them out," Mari said, looking deep in thought. "I don't know about Kel since I only know him through you and Hero, but Basil... his name is a type of plant and he likes plants, especially flowers- well, sunflowers for sure.... Oh! I've got it! How about-" and Mari signed 'cute flower,' which was a really quick sign compared to spelling out Basil's name.
'I can't call him "cute flower," that's weird,' Sunny told her.
"Why? I think it fits." Mari smiled at him and Sunny swore he saw a gleam in her eyes as though she knew something he didn't. "Well, if you think of anything better, we can change it. But for now, I think 'cute flower' works."
Sunny just sighed in defeat. When Mari had an idea in her head, it usually stuck. He just hoped Basil would never find out. He didn't think Basil would like being called "cute flower."
"It's almost time to leave," Mari said, snapping Sunny out of his thoughts. "Hero and Kel only live one house over, so I figured we could just walk there, or in my case, roll there." Mari gave a little laugh like she always did when joking about her wheelchair.
'Really?' Sunny asked, feeling like that was something he should have known. Then again, he'd never once walked home from school to his house except his first day, and he hadn't known Kel then.
"Yep! Their house is the one to the right of us, past the hedges."
Sunny couldn't remember what any of the houses looked like except Basil's, so he took her word for it.
"Well, start getting ready! I want to leave in ten minutes at the latest!"
Sunny set his phone on vibrate and then put it into his pocket. That way if Basil texted, he'd know immediately.
The sun was still high as they made their way down the driveway and onto the sidewalk. When they got to Hero and Kel's house, the first thing Sunny noticed was the makeshift ramp covering where the stairs to front door should've been. Even before they got to it, a handsome guy bolted from the door.
"Sorry, this was the best I could scrounge up at the moment," the handsome guy apologized. By the way he stood by Mari's side and the way Mari's cheeks were brightening, Sunny could only infer that this man must be Kel's brother, Hero. He really didn't look anything like his brother, who ran out soon after and greeted Sunny with such enthusiasm that Sunny was ready to call it quits.
"I can't believe we were next-door neighbors the whole time!" Kel said excitedly, and Sunny already felt like he needed to lie down. For Sunny, when the sun started to set, so did his body. He was usually in bed by nine. This entire week he had been in bed even sooner. With all the craziness that had happened, Sunny was already wiped out. He felt like a character in one of his simulation games for his computer, his energy bar low and in need of a long recharge.
But this wasn't a computer game; it was real life and he had to somehow make it through the next two or three hours without falling asleep on his dinner plate (something that had happened to him before).
While Hero helped Mari into the house and went with her to the kitchen, Kel led Sunny away.
"We'll be in my room!" Kel yelled to the others, ushering Sunny up the stairs like a dog ushering a chicken back to its coop. Sunny felt a brief flash of memory of his grandparents' farm surrounded by sunflower fields. It was some kind of sensory memory, but it was over in no time because he suddenly found himself in a huge room. He was ushered to the messy part as he realized that this was a split room; Kel's part of the room was at that end.
"So, I kind of have to tell you something. Did you bring your whiteboard?" Kel asked, eyeing Sunny's messenger bag hopefully. Sunny nodded, putting his bag down and unzipping it.
"Okay, so when I went back to sports during P.E. instead of walking, Aubrey... Well, she started a rumor about you and Basil-"
Sunny's eyes widened.
"Please don't freak out," Kel said, looking very worried. Sunny's mind was blazing. He didn't care what anyone thought of him, but if this involved Basil-!
"Basically Aubrey said that I only hung out with you and Basil as a medical experiment for my brother. Obviously that isn't true- at least, I hope you know that it isn't true," Kel pleaded, and Sunny suddenly realized what was happening.
Kel wanted to be Sunny's friend. Sunny was fretting over Basil while Kel was fretting over him. Even so, Sunny could only think of Basil.
[1. I'm not going to believe her over you, a person my sister vouched for. 2. Tell me exactly what she said that involved Basil.]
"Wow, no wonder your sister is studying to be a psychiatrist, you knew exactly what I was thinking!" Kel said with amazement after reading Sunny's message. Sunny didn't know what his sister's degree had to do with him other than the fact that Mari became interested in psychiatry after The Incident. She said she wanted to help other people like Sunny, to let them know that they're not alone and their illness isn't their fault, or the things they do when they're-
No. Don't think about that.
Sunny shook himself. He had to stay focused, no matter how taxing the day had already been.
'Basil,' Sunny signed in a half stupor, except he had signed it 'cute flower.'
"Is that 'Basil' in sign language?" Sunny heard Kel say. His voice was getting farther away. It was too much. Even if it was only for a half hour, he needed to take a nap. Without being able to communicate properly, Sunny took off his shoes and climbed into Kel's bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
Notes:
So I realized I already named my last chapter Sunset or else this chapter would have been named Sunset. Instead I called it High Noon (which means EXACTLY noon) and had Basil leave Sunny's house exactly at noon so that the name would make sense. Plus the most important time for Sunny involves Basil and Basil left at High Noon so the chapter is called High Noon.
Thank you all for being so patient, and yes there is a reason why Sunny needed to sleep and I'll dive right into that in the next chapter, which is already being worked on. And again, ignore the notes after this one, it's my chapter 1 notes and I've tried to fix it so that they don't pop up with every new chapter but nothing worked so just have to keep giving out the same disclosure after every new chapter lol it's fine
Chapter 7: Clear Skies with Clouds forming Overnight
Summary:
Sunny wakes up confused in Kel's bed
Notes:
tw: anxiety attacks, mentions of blood?, slight mention of suicide/self harm
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
___
High on the mountain
The postman comes and says there's still no news
Deep in the city
The buildings wonder if they'll ever be built
___
When Sunny opened his eyes, he didn't understand what he was seeing. It took him a groggy minute to realize he was in an unfamiliar bed. He rolled over (as he was facing a wall) and saw someone sitting on a beanbag chair with a game controller in their hand. It took Sunny another minute to remember who Kel was, and then where he himself was and why.
Great. I passed out in Kel's bed, Sunny thought bitterly. Could he not go a single day without fucking up?
As he sat up to get the whiteboard left conveniently at the foot of the bed, Kel turned and said, "Oh, hey Sunny! You're awake!"
Sunny was confused. Kel hadn't asked him a single question, like "Are you okay?" "Should I get Mari?" or "Why did you fall asleep in my bed?"
Sunny took the whiteboard and was about to erase whatever was on it so he could write an explanation to Kel when he noticed the handwriting already there.
Block letters in all caps.
OMORI's handwriting.
Sunny's breath caught in his throat as he read the message with wide eyes.
[SUNNY HAS BEEN OVERSTIMULATED AND NEEDS TO TAKE A NAP NOW. YOU CAN TELL THE SISTER HE WILL BE SAFE IN THIS BED.]
Sunny felt mortified. On one hand, it had been NEUTRAL OMORI, who did have a tendency to act very caring if Sunny needed it after having a BAD OMORI episode. Sunny speculated it might be OMORI's way of apologizing, but it was also annoying at times. NEUTRAL OMORI would make Sunny go to bed early or run him a bath. During this time, Sunny wasn't allowed in WHITE SPACE, so he would be doing one thing and then suddenly find himself in the bathtub when he hadn't wanted to take a bath.
As Sunny began erasing the message with the side of his hand, Kel said, "Don't worry, it's all good. I showed the message to your sister after I read it and you were dead asleep. She explained things to me. I know about OMORI."
Sunny froze.
Okay. That wasn't so bad. Kel was going to find out about OMORI eventually anyway. Probably Hero, too. But just how much did his sister tell his new friend? Also, why wasn't any of this bothering Kel? Sunny was, in his own eyes, a freak, and a "normal" person should have freaked out over Sunny's condition. But Kel looked relaxed, and also like he was waiting for Sunny to give him some kind of information. He looked around and found the marker to his whiteboard on Kel's nightstand.
[How much did she tell you?]
Sunny had to know.
"She said you'd ask, and to tell you to remember the pinky promise. She said you'd know what that meant."
Oh! Right!
It wasn't conventional, but Mari had studied hypnotherapy in secret during her research into Sunny's condition. Part of the agreement for Sunny to go back to school was for Mari to successfully hypnotize Sunny. Sunny hadn't believed it could actually be done and was sure that he would win the bet. Otherwise, he'd have to go back to public school.
However, Mari succeeded. The end result was Mari pinky promising to Sunny that she would never tell anyone more than they needed to know about OMORI if such an occasion came up in which Sunny couldn't explain what was happening. Now, whenever someone said "remember the pinky promise," Sunny had been hypnotized to flashback to that promise. This was the first use of the Pinky Promise in the general public.
Well, Mari would be pleased, Sunny thought as he got out from under Kel's bed covers. When he moved his legs, his right side hurt, specifically his hip.
Well, he DID pass out on his right side, tucked into Kel's bed. He must have lain on something. Sunny touched his hip where it hurt and remembered that his phone had been in his pocket. He took it out painfully and looked at the time.
He had been asleep for over an hour!
But before he could freak out over the time, he saw he had three texts from Basil.
Suddenly nothing else mattered. He hurriedly opened the messenger app and excitedly read the messages.
<5:23 pm>
Basil: Sunny, are you okay? Mari just messaged me that you passed out at Kel's.
<5:35 pm>
Basil: Was it because of me? Were you so exhausted from keeping up with me that OMORI came out again?
<5:42 pm>
Basil: Mari said not to worry but if you could message me back when you're awake, that would be great.
A warmth spread through Sunny's veins.
<6:27 pm>
Sunny: Sorry to worry you. I just woke up. I think I'm okay now. I'm going to figure out exactly what happened.
"Who're you texting? Mari?" Kel asked, sitting on the bed next to him. "I'd ask if you want me to get her, but we're upstairs. Are you feeling okay enough to go downstairs?"
Sunny hid his phone by clutching it to his chest so Kel couldn't see the messages and nodded. He put his phone in his other pocket to give his right side a break and slowly got up.
He wasn't dizzy; in fact, he felt better than he had when he arrived. He must have really needed that nap.
"I gotta say, it was kind of unsettling when OMORI took over your body," Kel said, and Sunny froze again.
"Oh, don't worry," Kel assured him, seeing the look on Sunny's face. "It was fine, just weird. The look in your eyes changed, you- I mean, OMORI wrote the whiteboard message very calmly, and then just tucked yourself-slash-himself into my bed and fell dead asleep."
His body must have been really tired if OMORI forced him to take a nap.
[Sorry about that. I knew I was tired, but I didn't think I was so tired that I would be forced to take a nap.]
Sunny handed the whiteboard to Kel after writing his apology.
"Dude, it's totally fine!" Kel assured him with a hard chuckle and beaming smile. "But now that you're awake, let's go downstairs for dinner. I stayed up here to keep an eye on you, but also to give my brother and your sister some ~alone time~ hehehe..."
Sunny wanted to feel bad about Kel having to watch him, but it seemed Kel didn't mind, especially since he seemed to really be into helping his brother and Mari have alone time together. He nodded at Kel and let him lead them out of his room and down the stairs.
"Sunny! You're awake!" Mari greeted them as they walked into the kitchen. "How are you feeling?"
'Better,' Sunny replied.
"I'm sorry." Mari suddenly had a guilty look in her eyes. "I should've known you'd be overstimulated again and that something like that would happen. I'm surprised OMORI didn't just have you walk home."
'It's fine,' Sunny signed to her, 'I know how much you wanted to come, and I do need to get to know Kel better since we're classmates. He had to find out about OMORI at some point.'
"That's a lot of hand signs," Kel remarked, watching Sunny signing to his sister. "I wonder if I'll ever be fluent enough to have a conversation with you without the whiteboard."
"Gotta master the basics first, little bro," Hero said, stepping out from behind the stove to look over. "You say you're eager to learn, but you still haven't memorized the alphabet yet. I photocopied the whole alphabet from the book Mari lent me and you haven't even opened the folder I put it in."
"That's too much like homework," Kel whined.
"You're the one who wants to learn. No work, no payoff. Isn't that what your coach is always telling you at practice?"
"Yeah, but that's different," Kel huffed. "I can do sports things, but everything else is hard."
"If you really wanna learn it, you'll make time," Hero said. "I already know the alphabet."
"You have one-on-one time with the teacher," Kel grumbled, and Hero gave him a look. Sunny was confused. Didn't Kel want Hero and Mari to have alone time together? Why was he suddenly being grumpy about it?
"Dinner's almost ready, Mr. Stomach-for-brains," Hero said sharply. Then he softened. "Why don't you and Sunny go wait in the dining room?"
"Fine," Kel pouted.
"Are you sure you're okay, Sunny?" Mari asked one last time, and Sunny nodded before following Kel out of the kitchen and into the dining room.
The table was HUGE. It took up most of the space in the room. Sunny sat next to Kel. That way Mari and Hero could sit together and Sunny would be able to talk to Mari because she'd be able to see him signing.
Sunny took his phone back out. He hadn't felt it vibrate, but he had messages from Basil.
<6:29 pm>
Basil: Glad you're okay. I'm sorry if I put stress on you again. I don't want to be the reason you keep getting triggered...
<6:38 pm>
Basil: ....Sunny?
<6:42 pm>
Basil: I'm sorry, this is all my fault. Please talk to me...
The nature of Basil's words surprised him. For someone who hadn't wanted him in his life only a few days ago, Basil was suddenly acting like Sunny was his only lifeline.
<6:45 pm>
Sunny: Basil, everything is okay. I just had my phone in my pocket and didn't feel it vibrate.
After Sunny sent the message, he felt that strange warmth flood from his heart through his veins again. He didn't know why, but Basil worrying over him felt... nice, especially considering that the worrying had been one-sided until now. Or until yesterday, technically, after the OMORI incident.
<6:47 pm>
Basil: Okay. Are you sure? I just... got kind of anxious that you didn't want to talk to me because I caused your episode yesterday, so I was trying to distance myself.
That had been a fast reply. Even before Sunny finished reading the text, Basil sent another.
<6:49 pm>
Basil: Sorry, I just... I guess knowing you're at Kel's is making me anxious.
Sunny squinted at the message.
<6:52 pm>
Sunny: Why are you anxious? I did invite you. If you want to come over, I'm sure Kel wouldn't mind.
"Who're you texting~?" Kel asked in the sort of singsong voice Mari used often. Sunny unconsciously hid his phone by pulling it to his chest.
"Wow, your face got bright red," Kel laughed. "It's okay if you have a secret girlfriend. I won't tell anyone."
Girlfriend???
Sunny shook his head vigorously, but that just caused Kel to laugh even more.
"It's okay, your secret's safe with me." Kel winked at him.
"Dinner's almost ready!" Hero's voice called from the kitchen. "Kel, go wash your hands!"
"My hands are clean!" Kel huffed back in defiance.
"I've known you your whole life. Go wash your hands," Hero demanded as he stepped out of the kitchen with a giant bowl of what Sunny assumed was spaghetti and meatballs by the look of it. Mari wheeled herself in right behind him.
"You should wash up, too, Sunny," she said in a much sweeter way than Hero had spoken to his own brother. Sunny stood up and followed Kel into the downstairs bathroom to wash his hands. When they came back, their plates had already been served. Kel practically ran back to his seat and started digging into his meal immediately.
"Kel! Manners!" Hero scolded his brother as Sunny walked to his seat at a normal pace.
"Mmm zuzzng n forb!" Kel said through a mouthful of spaghetti.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Hero scolded again as Sunny sat down. Kel swallowed and repeated, "I'm using a fork!"
"That's not what I meant," Hero sighed as Kel shoveled more food into his mouth. "But a fork is better than using your bare hands, like usual..."
Mari chuckled, her cheeks slightly rosy as she glanced at Hero before taking a normal portion of spaghetti with her own fork. Before Sunny began to eat, he checked his phone under the table.
<6:55 pm>
Basil: I know, but... I'm just not ready yet. Especially with Hero there since he's seen me in the hospital before...
Sunny could understand that.
<7:03 pm>
Sunny: What about Kel? Have you thought about letting him sit at our table at lunch?
When Sunny looked up to actually start eating, Kel was already helping himself to seconds.
"Sunny, start eating unless you want the song~," Mari said, giving him a small, mischievous grin. Before either of the brothers could ask about "the song," Sunny took a big forkful of spaghetti and started eating.
"Song?" Hero questioned, and Mari chuckled. Sunny glared at her.
"It's on a need-to-know basis," Mari told him, and Sunny relaxed.
"Okay, then I won't ask," Hero replied with his own chuckle. Sunny had the faintest feeling that Hero and Mari were in their own little world.
During dinner, Sunny felt his phone vibrate several times, but he couldn't answer it for fear of seeming rude or anyone else asking who he was texting. By the time he was just about finished, his phone had gone off so many times that it was starting to cause him anxiety that he wasn't answering. What was Basil saying? He had to know. And he had taken so long to eat and forgotten to tell Basil that he wouldn't be able to answer his phone. Basil must've been freaking out, just like the last time Sunny didn't answer him immediately.
Sunny stood up, which caused everyone to look at him.
'Bathroom,' he signed, and as he walked away from the table he heard Mari translate to the rest of the table. When he finally got into the bathroom, he rinsed his hands to remove any sauce that had gotten on them and dried them on a towel. Then he eagerly took out his phone to read Basil's replies.
<7:11 pm>
Basil: I.... still don't like that idea...
<7:15 pm>
Basil: It's just... Kel is one of the most popular people at school and I don't want to bring any more attention to myself than I already have
<7:28 pm>
Basil: No offense! I'm happy to have you sit with me, but I think that's all I can handle right now
<7:42 pm>
Basil: Sunny?
<7:52 pm>
Basil: Sunny, I'm sorry. Please don't be mad
<7:59 pm>
Basil: Okay, Kel can sit with us. But like... maybe twice a week? He probably wants to sit with his other friends most of the time anyway
<8:02 pm>
Basil: Did he invite you to sit at his table?
<8:09 pm>
Basil: You can sit with him if you want. Compared to Kel, I'm nothing. It's probably better for you anyway
<8:11 pm>
Basil: Not that you're not welcome at my table. Of course I want you there. But I understand if you pick Kel over me
<8:15 pm>
Basil: Sunny, I'm sorry. Please talk to me. You can have whoever you want sit at our table
<8:17 pm>
Basil: Mari isn't answering me either. Are you mad at me? Please don't be mad. I'm sorry. Please talk to me. I'm sorry, I'll do anything, just please talk to me...
It was worse than Sunny had thought. He'd really have to be careful and tell Basil when he wasn't going to be able to answer his phone in the future if this was the way he reacted every time Sunny didn't immediately answer him. His insides felt cold knowing he had caused Basil so much anxiety.
<8:21 pm>
Sunny: Omg Basil, I'm so sorry. I should've told you I was eating dinner and wouldn't be able to answer my phone. I didn't mean to cause you to freak out. Everything is okay. Are you okay?
Sunny waited with bated breath, staring at his phone, his heart beginning to race. What if Basil thought Sunny was mad at him and did something stupid.... again? Basil had said having Sunny in his life now made him want to live, but if Basil thought Sunny was mad and didn't want to be his friend anymore-
No, don't think about-
Except he couldn't not think about it. He could never forgive himself if he put Basil in the hospital over a misunderstanding. Basil's blood would be on his hands, not OMORI's, which was worse than what happened to Mari-
NO, DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT!
"S-S-S-Sun-n-n-n-y...?"
Sunny blinked and realized his phone was now pressed to his ear. That had been Basil's voice, Basil's sobbing voice that he knew all too well now, but Sunny didn't remember calling him.
"Basil," Sunny said back, except no sound came out of his mouth.
Right. He was mute. Why did he try to speak when he had been mute all his life?
There was a gentle pull behind his eyes.
Oh.
OMORI.
He must have been so stressed over Basil that OMORI took over and called him, despite the fact that neither he nor OMORI could communicate verbally.
Sunny didn't have much time to dwell on the facts because he heard another sob through the phone and his heart felt like it had been smashed into a million pieces. Sunny ran out of the bathroom, heart pounding and hands sweaty. He saw that everyone else had cleaned up the table and Mari and Hero were sitting on the couch in front of the TV while Kel was rummaging through what looked like a collection of DVDs. Sunny tapped his sister's shoulder urgently and she turned around to look at him.
"Sunny, what-?" she began, but Sunny shoved his phone against her face so she could hear the call.
"Hello...?" Mari asked into the phone with an air of confusion. Sunny tapped her shoulder again so she would look at him.
'It's Basil,' he signed, signing Basil's name as "cute flower" without even thinking about it. 'OMORI called him while I was in the bathroom. Basil's upset. He texted me during dinner and I didn't respond because I was eating and now he thinks I hate him or something. Fix this, please,' Sunny begged, signing so fast he was sure Mari didn't get what he was trying to say.
"Sunny, slow down, you're jumbling your words," Mari told him, and Sunny realized he was panting and both Hero and Kel were looking at him with concern. Mari put a hand over her free ear and looked like she was concentrating very hard on... something. Sunny's heart was beating so hard he could hear it in his ears.
"One second," Mari finally said into the phone, and she lowered it, putting her hand over the microphone part. She turned to Hero.
"I hate to ask this," Mari began in a quiet voice, "but would you and your brother mind giving us a little privacy? I'll explain later, it's just-"
"Say no more," Hero whispered to her with an understanding look, "confidential calls are confidential." He got up and walked over to Kel, who had been watching them intently.
"C'mon, let's look for a movie in our room," he said to Kel. Kel nodded and gave Sunny one last concerned look before the two brothers went up the stairs and closed the door of their room behind them. Mari put the phone back up to her ear.
"Okay, it's Sunny and myself now," Mari said into the phone.
'Is he okay?' Sunny signed desperately. Mari put her hand up to him, causing Sunny to snort in frustration. After what felt like forever to him, Mari said, "Oh, you poor thing. Sunny was just busy eating dinner. I'll make sure next time he tells you-" she gave Sunny the stink eye, which he thought was kind of unfair, "-when he won't be able to answer his phone. But everything is fine. I'm sorry I didn't answer my phone, either. It's been in my purse, which is still in the dining room. I must have accidentally put my phone on vibrate or silent. We're going to have to work on your anxiety for sure during our next session, but don't worry, everything is fine. Sunny said OMORI was the one who called you, which means you freaking out had him freaking out and caused OMORI to step in. The day after a BAD OMORI episode, NEUTRAL OMORI will do stuff like that, like take care of him in ways he himself won't."
It was Sunny's turn to give his sister the stink eye. 'Just tell him my whole life story, why don't you?' he signed right in front of her face.
Mari pushed him away. "No, he's not mad at you," she continued. "He might be a little mad at me for telling you more about OMORI, but if you saw the look on his face when he raced in here with his phone-" Sunny suddenly tried to take his phone back, his face burning, but Mari repelled him again with her arm.
"Mmhm. Okay. Alright. I'll give him his phone back after you hang up. Just remember the breathing exercises I told you about, and your own calming mantra, 'Everything will be okay, I promise.'"
After another minute, she bid Basil farewell and gave Sunny his phone back.
"What am I going to do with the two of you?" she sighed with fake annoyance. Sunny knew it was fake because why else would she want to become a psychologist if she didn't care when people had these kinds of problems?
"Basil is fine now. Well, better. Next time, please tell him when you won't be able to answer your phone," Mari scolded him as Sunny opened up his texting app. "I'm sure you've already guessed he has a lot of anxiety when it comes to... friends, for his own past reasons. Well, you must know if yesterday was anything to go by. He's probably told you more than he's told me-"
Sunny was only vaguely listening. He was already typing a message to Basil when Basil sent him a new text.
<8:41 pm>
Basil: I'm sorry I freaked out and then caused you to freak out. I'm still working on my anxiety. You're the first friend I've had in years and I'm scared to lose you...
Sunny's heart, which had already been through enough in the past hour, still managed to feel warm and hurt at the same time. He erased what he had been writing and wrote Basil a new message.
<8:43 pm>
Sunny: You're the first friend I've had in over 4 years and I don't want to lose you, either. Any problems that come up, we can work through together. I'll never leave you.
"Sunny, I know you're texting him, but can you grab me my purse? I want to text Hero and tell him that he and Kel can come back down now," Mari said just as Sunny sent the text. He nodded at her, though still clutching his own phone, and retrieved her bag for her. Sunny sat on the ground, eyes glued to his phone as he heard Mari texting on her own. Not long after, Hero and Kel emerged from their room upstairs and joined them in the family room.
"Everything okay?" Kel asked with genuine concern as he sat next to Sunny on the floor. Sunny pulled his phone to his chest again but gave him a small nod.
"Oh! Maybe we should exchange numbers!" Kel clapped his hands excitedly. "That way we can talk to each other easier! If... If that's okay with you, of course." Kel suddenly looked sheepish.
That was probably a good idea, all things considered, Sunny thought as he gave Kel another nod. Kel went back to looking happy and energetic. Sunny wished he had even a small amount of that kind of energy.
"Probably easier if I tell you my number and then you text me," Kel said. "Let me know when you're ready."
Sunny looked back at his phone. Basil hadn't answered him yet, so he went into the contacts section of his messaging app and typed in Kel's name. He gave Kel a nod, letting him know he was ready for his number. After that, he sent Kel a text that was just an emoji of the sun. Kel took out his phone and then laughed.
"A sun for Sunny," he mused as he began what Sunny assumed was saving his contact info. And then Sunny suddenly remembered something from right before he had passed out in Kel's bed.
<8:49 pm>
Sunny: Before I passed out in your bed (sorry about that btw) you said something about Aubrey spreading rumors? It wasn't about Basil, was it?
Sunny looked at Kel, waiting for him to get the text.
"Oh, did you send me something?" Kel asked when he saw Sunny staring at him. Sunny nodded and Kel took his phone back out. He watched as Kel's smile faltered.
"Oh, um..." Kel said, a little quieter, "well... I'll text you what she said." He started typing and Sunny felt his muscles tense. He tried to keep calm so that OMORI didn't take over again.
<8:54 pm>
Kel: Aubrey has been spreading rumors that I only became friends with you (and by extension Basil, since it's his lunch table) as an experiment for my brother since he's in the medical field. Which is not true at all! (I mean, yes, Hero is studying to be a doctor, but there's no experiment, I swear! I genuinely want to be your friend and reconnect with Basil.)
Kel nervously looked up from behind his phone after sending the text. When Sunny's phone vibrated in his hand, his heart jolted with excitement until he saw it was Kel, not Basil.
<8:57 pm>
Sunny: I believe you. I don't trust Aubrey. She hurt Basil very badly. She can say whatever she wants about me, but if it involves Basil again and he gets hurt, a BAD OMORI might come out. I might believe you but if Basil hears, he might believe the rumor. We have to make sure he trusts you before he hears the rumor.
Sunny looked up and waited for Kel to get his text.
"Well, it's getting late, so I guess no movie for tonight," Hero said, making Sunny's ears perk. He had been so focused that he forgot about Hero and Mari. "But I can tell something important has happened so... maybe a movie another night?"
"Oh, for sure!" Mari replied cheerfully.
"Maybe tomorrow night after I drive us back to campus?" Hero whispered to Mari, but Sunny could still hear him. Mari giggled and gave him a quiet "okay" just as Sunny's phone buzzed again. He looked at it and felt a warmth at seeing Basil had finally replied to him.
<9:01 pm>
Basil: I'm lucky you came into my life.
A short answer for waiting 20 minutes, but it made Sunny feel that familiar warmth that spread through his body whenever Basil said something nice to him. It was becoming addicting.
<9:02 pm>
Kel: I'll find a way to keep Aubrey at bay. Maybe I can squash the rumor before it gets around too much
<9:04 pm>
Sunny: Good idea. The more Basil trusts you, the more likely he won't believe a rumor like that. I don't want her to hurt him anymore.
By the time Sunny and Mari got home, Sunny took his meds and went right to sleep. He made sure to text Basil "good night" first, lest he wake up to 50 panicked texts.
....Though a text from Basil would be a good thing to wake up to.
Sunny smiled into his pillow as he drifted off to sleep, unaware of the clouds that were rolling in, obscuring the moon from sight.
Notes:
Once again, so sorry for the late upload. A LOT happened in my life. Don't worry, I'm okay...ish ^^; just had an endoscopy and colonoscopy on the 25th and the whole week before that I got my ~special woman time~ which caused me to have ibs attacks about 4-5 times a day and had I not had a colonoscopy scheduled I would have been in the hospital.
Also my beta went MIA for a bit (she does that, it's a mental health thing and I always respect her need for space from socializing bc I know how that feels) but she's back now and WROTE A SUNFLOWER HANAHAKI AU FIC which I had previously talked to her about bc I love Hanahaki AUs and I couldn't find any good ones for Sunflower, which is a total crime tbh, and she came back with this AMAZING one shot and I 10/10 recommend it. Here is the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33516016
And after reading that I got a boost of inspiration and chapter 8 is already halfway done xD (wouldn't it be wild if I could update again so quickly?)Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry again for the long wait! Life happens, ya know?
And again, ignore the notes after this one, it's my chapter 1 notes and I've tried to fix it so that they don't pop up with every new chapter but nothing worked so just have to keep giving out the same disclosure after every new chapter lol it's fine
Chapter 8: Light Showers with Heavier Rain moving in Overnight
Summary:
A rainy Sunday for Sunny and Basil
Notes:
This chapter is longer than usual because I wanted to fit the whole day into it. It was waaay longer but my beta helped me condense unnecessary parts. Bless tf up for my beta, ya'll, this chapter was only made possible with her help.
tw: violence? threat of animal abuse (you'll understand when you read it), tiny suicide mention. Can't think of anything else so I'm really sorry if I didn't tw right
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
---
Oh, what an interesting day
Looks like there's nobody in my way
---
A groggy Sunny woke up just enough to walk downstairs and hug his sister goodbye before Hero drove them both back to school. He went straight back to bed, knowing that if he so much as looked at his phone he'd be awake for the rest of the day, and all he wanted to do was sleep.
Unfortunately, this time he ended up in WHITE SPACE. He really hoped he was still sleeping and that OMORI wasn't doing anything with his body.
Then he saw OMORI, which gave him an instant flood of relief. Although now he'd have to endure some awkward silence while he invaded OMORI's space.
But when OMORI saw him, he stood up from his black laptop that was missing most of its keys and walked over to him. That made Sunny feel a little nervous. This meant OMORI wanted to talk, and they hadn't "talked" in a very long time. Perhaps it was overdue, then, Sunny thought, before remembering that his thoughts became words here in WHITE SPACE.
{It is overdue,} OMORI agreed. Sunny dug his feet into the white carpet.
<So what do you want to talk about?> Sunny asked, letting his thoughts become corporeal, as neither of them had an actual "voice" but could still somehow talk to each other without saying anything or even hand-signing.
{Basil.}
Sunny suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time. He had been dreading this, and because he thought it, OMORI heard.
{You can't avoid talking to me about Basil. He's already disrupted your life and done a lot of damage in just one week.}
That enraged Sunny.
<DAMAGE?! You wanna talk about people damaging my life?! Because that would be YOU, not Basil!>
{I'm not the OMORI who did that to your sister-} OMORI tried to say, but Sunny cut him off.
<It was still YOU!>
{-influenced by your strong angry emotions-}
<IT WAS STILL YOU!>
There was a ringing silence. OMORI still looked at him blankly with no emotion in his eyes, only darkness.
{Okay, fine, you can keep blaming me for that. I'll take the blame if it stops you from blaming yourself-}
<I DON'T blame myself! It was YOU. YOU threw my violin down the stairs and then pushed Mari down right after! That was YOU, not ME!>
{It was your anger, though, that flowed through me, and so FURIOUS OMORI tried to protect you by eliminating that which angered you-}
<I don't need you or any other version of you protecting me!> Sunny steamed. <Stay out of my life!>
{If you don't need protection, then why do I exist?}
Sunny was fuming.
<No one knows why you exist. No doctor has ever been able to give me a diagnosis. You're not an alter because alters get along. You're just a problem I have to deal with, and if you ever hurt Basil or any of my new friends, I swear I'll find some way to erase you!>
{I only do what you won't do yourself.}
Sunny looked around. He had already smashed the laptop after OMORI almost killed Mari. There wasn't much else in WHITE SPACE for him to destroy to get his point across. His eyes found MEWO, the sleeping kitten that was always there.
<If you touch a single hair on Basil's body, I'll kill MEWO.>
{That's an empty threat and you know it. I would sooner kill MEWO than you would.}
Sunny hated that he was right. He couldn't fool OMORI because OMORI knew him better than he knew himself.
<I hate you,> Sunny spat, and he knew OMORI knew that was true.
{But I don't hate you,} OMORI replied. {That's why I wanted to talk to you about Basil.}
<And what exactly do you think Basil is doing to me that's so harmful?> Sunny scoffed, still feeling angry and bitter.
{I don't know yet. But he keeps bringing out strong emotions in you and that means more chances that an EMOTIONAL OMORI will take over you. I'm trying to prevent that, but in the end I will do what's best for you. I am here to protect you.}
<We have different definitions of the word "protection", then.>
{Basil has already left an imprint in here,} OMORI went on. {You met STRANGER a couple of days ago, right?}
Now Sunny's attention was back.
<Yeah. He looked like Basil, but he was made of shadow. He helped me find the KNIFE so that I could get back to my body that you had taken over.>
{Right. He's interfering.}
Sunny laughed at that.
<Interfering?! You told Basil you would slit my throat if he didn't come out of the bathroom. If STRANGER hadn't found the KNIFE for me, what would you have done if I couldn't regain control of my body?!>
{It got Basil to come out of the bathroom, though, didn't it?}
<That's not the point!>
{He made you upset and MISERABLE OMORI fixed that.}
<How is threatening to take my own life a fix for anything?!>
{That's a question for you to figure out, not me.}
Sunny was getting extremely frustrated now.
<You know if I die, you die with me, right?>
{I react to your emotions. If you really didn't want to die, MISERABLE OMORI never would have made that threat.}
<I'm done talking to you. I want to wake up.>
{You need the sleep and I'm not done talking to you.}
Sunny ran from the safety of the white rug and into the white void. He was almost immediately caught and dragged back by the red hands. They were always more active when OMORI was here.
{STRANGER lives in BLACK SPACE,} OMORI said, catching Sunny's attention. He turned back around to face OMORI.
<I thought I destroyed access to BLACK SPACE when I smashed your laptop.>
{So did I,} OMORI replied, {yet somehow, STRANGER slipped through the cracks. I think Basil's influence on you is somehow causing another portal to BLACK SPACE to appear.}
<But STRANGER helped me! He can't be from BLACK SPACE!>
{No, STRANGER interfered. I am the one who helped you.}
<We have different definitions of the meaning of "help", too, then.>
{If STRANGER can come and go from BLACK SPACE despite the broken laptop, other things might be able to travel that way, too. You buried a lot of things in BLACK SPACE and then covered it up with another layer of BLACK SPACE. Stuff even I don't know about. That's why this is dangerous. I don't know what else is down there, but if STRANGER can find his way here, so may other things. If that happens, I might not be able to stop SOMETHING else from getting up here and taking over you. Like I said, I protect you.}
And then Sunny woke up.
Sunny immediately found the black notebook in his bedside dresser and wrote down everything he could remember about what transpired while he was in WHITE SPACE. Anytime he talked to OMORI, he recorded it in that journal. It had been almost a whole year since he wrote his last entry. He dated it accordingly and mostly wrote about the dialogue: OMORI calling Basil a "threat", OMORI insisting he was trying to protect Sunny, and what OMORI had said about STRANGER and BLACK SPACE. It took him nearly a half hour to write everything out before he couldn't remember anything else and set the journal aside, lying back on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling, feeling dazed.
STRANGER couldn't be from BLACK SPACE. He just couldn't. Sunny ran his hands down his face.
He'd smashed the laptop. OMORI couldn't access BLACK SPACE without it. He knew the laptop still worked, but without most of its keys, OMORI was confined to WHITE SPACE. He didn't understand how that worked, but then again, nothing about OMORI or WHITE SPACE made sense. And BLACK SPACE...
No. Don't think about that.
...was something he didn't want to think about.
He knew this was something he should immediately tell his mom, Mari, and/or his therapist, but something was making him feel very reluctant to do so.
What if they agreed with OMORI and thought Basil was a bad influence and forbade him from being Basil's friend?!
He knew that was unlikely, but after how crazy the week had been, it was still a possibility, and he wasn't going to let anyone or anything take Basil away from him. He sat up and shoved the journal back into his drawer. Then he checked his phone and saw it was past noon. He also had several texts.
<8:07 am>
Basil: Good morning! I'm a bit of an early riser, as you learned yesterday when I was awake for three hours before you woke up, so I'm going to assume I won't hear from you for a while. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm awake. I'm going to go back to tending the plants around the house. I have a few flowers that need repotting. So just text me whenever you wake up! 🌞🌻
<10:36 am>
Mari: Just got back to campus! I'm sure you're still asleep, my sleepy little sunflower~ Love you ❤️
<11:23 am>
Kel: Hey Sunny! Just got back from my morning jog and wanted to check in on how you were doing today! If you wanna hang out, lmk. I live right next door lol. But I totally get it if you are too tired. Hero said not to bother you but I thought I would extend an invitation just in case 😜
Sunny didn't feel like answering Mari or Kel. He had had too much of them this weekend already. But Basil was easy to talk to, and if he didn't respond Basil might become anxious again and he really didn't want to cause any more damage to him.
<12:31 pm>
Sunny: Good... afternoon? lol sorry, I really did just wake up. I was EXHAUSTED. I still kind of am so I guess I'll be taking it slow today.
He sent that straight to Basil and then looked around for his Switch. Video games were always the best medicine for a stay-in-bed-all-day kind of day. Even without his blinds up, he could tell it was cloudy outside by the unusual darkness for this time of day. That combined with how mentally exhausted he was equaled playing games in bed all day. When he finally found his Switch, he turned it on and saw the last games he had played on the home screen. He really didn't feel like playing Pokemon, which was what he normally played because he didn't have to think too much about it. He ended up scrolling through his whole library until he came across Stardew Valley. He lingered on it.
Mari had bought him this game because she had friends who played and enjoyed it, but Sunny hadn't really been interested. It was some kind of farming simulator, if he remembered correctly, and he didn't care for that kind of thing. But now he was seeing it in a different light.
Farmers grew plants, right? And Basil grew plants.
Maybe he should try to grow some fictional plants before trying the real thing whenever he was able to go to the Gardening Club with Basil.
Just as Sunny loaded up the game, his phone buzzed on his bed. He pawed for it and unlocked his screen.
<12:47 pm>
Basil: I hope you slept well! ^^ It looks like it might rain so I probably don't have to water my outside plants today. I guess I should finish the make-up work you brought me from school. Do you have any plans for today besides just resting up?
Sunny noted that Basil sounded very casual, as opposed to the anxiety-ridden texts of the day before. He hoped Basil really /was/ feeling as okay as he sounded.
<12:52 pm>
Sunny: It's a video game kind of day for me. My sister bought me this farming sim awhile back. I never played it because it wasn't really my thing, but since I'll be joining the gardening club, I thought I might see what kinds of things I can grow in this game. Do you like video games?
He put his phone back down as he began creating his character. He hated character customization. Whenever he tried to make his character look like himself, it always reminded him too much of OMORI. There were so many choices, though. In the end, he chose a hairstyle that kind of reminded him of Basil and made the character's hair a light green. Sunny was no farmer, but Basil was the closest person he knew to one, since he took care of plants. He lingered on the name.
Was he really about to name his character after Basil?
<1:07 pm>
Basil: I've played a few. I really like Animal Crossing! You can customize your island so much! I have flowers EVERYWHERE of course lol, and I really like the villagers because they're always happy to talk to me... I played it all summer when I wasn't tending to my real plants. And I think I know which game you're talking about. Stardew Valley, right? That was the first game I got for my Switch. I didn't really like the mining part because I don't like fighting games, but I did like growing crops and getting to know all the characters!
Sunny's face grew hot.
Basil liked video games!!! He hadn't expected that and having something so special to him in common with his new friend...
Warm excitement flowed through his veins.
<1:15 pm>
Sunny: I never played Animal Crossing. It seemed too much like doing chores to me. But if you recommend it maybe I'll see if I can get it. I mostly play fighting games, though. Nothing too heavy. Pokemon is my favorite because I love the strategy that goes into it. And I have Smash Bros, pretty much all of The Legend of Zelda games, and a bunch of Mario games. I use my computer for the heavier stuff, like Skyrim, and I do play The Sims occasionally but I have to be in the mood for it. My sister got me The Sims, it's not typically my kind of game but I like trying to work my way through all the job professions and side quests. Like in one expansion, you have to save the town from these mind-controlling plant things. I really liked that one.
After Sunny sent the text, he suddenly felt stupid for some reason. It just felt... weird to be telling his video game preferences to someone. Of course, Mari knew all this about him because she was his sister. He'd never told this kind of thing to anyone else. It felt weird, but also exciting. He wondered if he had any other games in common with Basil.
<1:23 pm>
Basil: Wow. Um... I'm not that much of an avid gamer ^^; I do like The Sims though. You can be whoever you wanna be and there is just so much to do and explore. I only have a few of the expansions since... well, we don't have a lot of money... but I love creating a character and pretending to live a different life... Although I almost always start with growing as many plants as I can. Old habits die hard lol and also I love building my own house and decorating it, especially doing the landscaping outside the house.
Sunny felt a little disheartened after reading that, but then again, Basil had said he didn't like fighting games, so it wasn't really surprising.
<1:29 pm>
Sunny: The expansions are too expensive to buy them all, so I didn't exactly.... get them the conventional way. I can get them for you too, virus free. Being a shut-in for four years... well, I've learned a lot about computers in that time. I promise it will be safe! And easy. The newest expansion has farming in it. I think you'll like it. And in the meantime I'm going to start playing Stardew Valley to see if I like it. You said there was fighting in the mines? I'll probably be really good at that lol
He went back to his Stardew Valley character. It really did look like a green Basil, but there was no way he could name his character Basil.
But he could name the character CuteFlower.
That idea made his face grow hot, but it was better than just outright naming him Basil. He didn't have to put much thought into the farm name: Sunflower Farm. And for favorite thing, he wrote "plants." For the animal, he made sure he didn't choose a cat. Any cat would remind him too much of MEWO, so he picked the cute dog with the droopy ears. He also had his character wear shorts instead of pants, and gave him a shirt that looked like overalls. That was what farmers wore, right?
Then came the last step: choosing a farm type. There were several to choose from. The Wilderness Farm seemed like his kind of thing: monsters coming out at night. But it didn't seem very Basil-y. In the end, he settled for the Standard Farm.
He finally clicked the "OK" button and watched as a cutscene began to play.
There was an old man in a bed, and he called Sunny- or rather, CuteFlower- his grandson, so this must be his character's grandfather.
"There will come a day when you feel crushed by the burden of modern life..."
Sunny already felt that.
"...and your bright spirit will fade before a growing emptiness."
Had his spirit ever been bright to begin with? And he was no stranger to emptiness... but as soon as he thought that, his brain reminded him of Basil, and he felt less empty.
"When that happens, my boy, you'll be ready for this gift."
A letter with a wax seal was given to his character. When Sunny felt his phone buzz on his bed, he instinctively turned his attention to it, but then realized he would miss the cutscene. He waited until it was over to answer.
<1:36 pm>
Basil: Oh, um... I appreciate it, but uh... it still makes me kind of nervous. Isn't that... illegal? Not that I'm accusing you of anything! Just... that makes me feel kind of anxious. But if you promise me it's safe and no one is going to show up to my house and arrest me because of it... or arrest you! I wouldn't want you to get in trouble for it either! But um... if you're sure... it would be nice to play some of the new stuff... My computer isn't great and I don't play many things on it, but it does seem good enough to play The Sims. I'll trust you, but YOU have to be the one to install it. I'm not very good with computers. Is that okay?
Sunny sat up straight in bed. Did Basil just ask him to come over?
<1:41 pm>
Sunny: I assure you it's safe, but I'd be happy to come over and install it myself! I can have it ready soon. Can I come over to your house today?
His heart pounded in excitement. He put his Switch into sleep mode and jumped onto his computer, putting his phone on his desk so he would know when Basil replied. He had plenty of flashdrives and fished out one he knew was empty so he could start the file transfer process. His phone buzzed just as he plugged the flashdrive into his computer, and he excitedly snapped it up.
<1:45 pm>
Basil: Are you sure? Not sick of me yet? 😜 lol um... yeah! If you're feeling okay, you can come over whenever you want. Do you have a ride? I mean, my house isn't THAT far away, but it *is* starting to rain a bit. I could ask Polly to pick you up if she isn't busy. Just lmk ^^
Sunny's heart fluttered. Even better than being holed up in his room on a rainy day alone playing video games was being holed up in a room on a rainy day with Basil playing video games. Or not playing video games. He was just eager to see Basil again. He didn't know why Basil was the only person he felt this way towards, but again he figured it was because Basil was extremely introverted like himself. They could be alone together, and it would be comfortable. Between Sunny's muteness and Basil's stutter that made him communicate better through writing, they were the perfect pair of outcasts.
<1:49 pm>
Sunny: There's a lot to download, so it's gonna take about 40 minutes. Then I'll see if my mom can drive me but if not, I have rain boots and an umbrella. I need to do more walking anyway.
Rainy days were usually bad for Sunny's mental health, but knowing he was going to see Basil made him feel like the sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky.
<1:58 pm>
Basil: Okay, sounds good! Bring your Switch too 🙂 I can help you with Stardew Valley ^^
Sunny looked nervously over at his Switch.
No way he could show Basil the character he just made.
...Although, there was no way for Basil to know that the character was based on him. And it wasn't a lie that he made the character not look like himself because he didn't want it to look like OMORI. Basil would understand that.
...He'd just have to find a way to explain the name CuteFlower.
Random name generator, Sunny thought to himself as an excuse for that.
<2:02 pm>
Sunny: okay, I will. I'll probably play a bit on my own while I wait.
Sunny took his phone and went back to his bed where his Switch was. He turned it on to continue playing. He got a new cutscene where his character rode a bus into Stardew Valley and was greeted by an NPC. His phone buzzed again, so as soon as a dialogue box appeared and "paused" the game, he grabbed it to look at his new message.
<2:11 pm>
Basil: Alright! Just some helpful beginner tips: the game has a time cycle. You'll want to put your character to bed before 2 am or you'll pass out and either lose money or items, and I think your energy doesn't replenish very well when that happens, either. Or maybe that depends on your day's "luck". Also always make sure to check your tv every morning. It will tell you the weather forecast for the next day (helpful bc when it rains you don't have to water your crops)!
(The text went on and on as Basil talked about NPC birthdays, foraging for spring onions, and some kind of community center with bundles, whatever that meant. He finally finished with: )
Um... I can explain more when you're here, sorry this message was so long 😅 I just really love this game so I know a lot about it.
Sunny felt a little overwhelmed after reading Basil's long text. Maybe he should just wait for Basil in order to play...
Or he could just dive right in and if he made any mistakes, he could always make a new file.
<2:18 pm>
Sunny: Thanks for the info! It's a little overwhelming tbh but I'm gonna try to get a basic feel for the game before we play together.
Sunny went back to the dialogue on his screen. The NPC who greeted Sunny's character led him to a farm, which was littered with bushes, rocks, and branches. His character did a little freak out animation which made Sunny laugh. He felt his phone buzz again and checked it once another dialogue box popped up.
<2:23 pm>
Basil: ah, sorry, I got a bit carried away 😅But when you come over I can help you or we can play a co-op game! That could be fun! It's up to you.
That sounded a lot better to Sunny.
<2:26 pm>
Sunny: Yes, let's do co-op. Starting small with me focusing on a few aspects of the game rather than EVERYTHING would probably help me more tbh
That, and then Basil wouldn't have to see the character that he'd made in his image.
<2:29 pm>
Basil: Okay, co-op it is! ^^
Sunny went back to his game and clicked through the dialogue until the day ended and the game saved. He decided to just quit; he didn't want to mess anything up and Basil was going to teach him anyway, so he put his Switch into sleep mode and packed it and a charger. Then he checked his computer to see how well the download was coming along.
Ten more minutes. He'd better get ready to leave. He put his phone in his pocket and left his room, heading downstairs.
"Oh, Sunny!" his mom said in surprise as he made it to the bottom of the stairs. "I thought for sure you'd be sleeping in or playing video games in bed all day."
'That was the plan,' Sunny signed, 'but then Basil invited me over. Can you drive me?'
His mom looked confused.
"Who? Is 'cute flower' a nickname for someone?"
Sunny's face turned red. He'd been signing Basil's name that way unconsciously ever since Mari suggested it.
'Mari gave that nickname to Basil,' he replied, signing Basil's name out letter by letter.
"Oh, okay! I don't mind driving you. When are you supposed to be there?"
'Leaving in about ten minutes,' Sunny signed, and he quickly pulled out his phone to update Basil.
It was almost three o'clock when Sunny arrived at Basil's house. It was cloudy but not too dark, and there were stray raindrops here and there. Sunny had everything he needed in his backpack, including two whiteboards (one for him and one for Basil, if needed). His mom insisted he wear his rain jacket, even though he would only be walking five feet from the van to Basil's front door. He waved goodbye to her but knew she wouldn't leave until she saw he was inside. Sunny raised his hand to ring the doorbell, but the door opened immediately. Basil's beaming face greeted him.
"Hi!" Basil said, letting out a deep breath so that he wouldn't stutter. Sunny almost staggered back. Basil was acting completely different from... well, the whole time he'd known him. For the first time, he really seemed to be happy. And Sunny felt happy, too.
A real friend! He never thought he would ever have friends. He couldn't remember really having any before he was homeschooled (in fact, his memories of who he was before OMORI showed up were kind of fuzzy), so becoming a shut-in had never been a problem. Socializing was exhausting, but with Basil, it seemed easy.
Sunny smiled back and waved hello, which prompted Basil to step back and let Sunny inside. Basil closed the door behind him.
"P-Polly i-is r-running-g er-r-rands," Basil said as Sunny took off his shoes. "Sh-She w-want-ted t-to-" Basil took a deep breath, "-make us a n-nice din-n-ner," he took another deep breath, "since I told her y-you were c-com-m-ming o-o-over."
Such extreme labor for one sentence, Sunny thought with pity in his heart. Somehow it felt worse than not being able to talk at all. At least he had sign language. Sunny quickly put down his backpack, took out a whiteboard, and held it out to Basil.
"Thank you," Basil sighed with relief, taking the board from Sunny. Sunny took out the second one just to show Basil that they would both have their own.
[You think of everything :) ] Basil quickly wrote on his board, showing it to Sunny and smiling just like the face he drew. It was so nice to see Basil smiling after all the drama they had endured that week. Sunny smiled back. Basil's ears turned red and he looked away, but was still smiling.
"C-C'mon. M-My c-comp-p-puter is in-n m-my r-room." Basil gestured for Sunny to follow him. As Sunny trotted up the stairs behind him, he tried to think back to Friday when he had come over and been in Basil's room for the first time. He couldn't remember seeing a computer, but maybe that was because he had been too engrossed in all the plants.
Once again Sunny's eyes locked onto the big painted sunflower on Basil's door, and then when Basil opened his door, the big sunflower rug on the floor. Something about the sunflowers just made him feel welcome in Basil's room. He dodged the potted plants littering the floor and made his way to Basil's bed, sitting down and putting his bag on the floor.
"C-Comp-put-ter's over h-here," Basil said, gesturing to the other side of his room. Now Sunny knew why he hadn't noticed it before; there was a gossamer green wall of some sort blocking the view, like a makeshift room divider. It even had small plastic green beads hanging from the sides of the material. Basil had pulled it back like a curtain so that Sunny could see.
Basil's computer wasn't exactly ancient, but it wasn't even close to Sunny's. Sunny thought Basil was lucky that The Sims ran on that computer at all. He hoped all the new expansions would run as smoothly as whatever Basil currently had. He rummaged through his bag and found his flashdrive. He got up and walked over to the computer, sitting down on the only chair. He looked at Basil expectantly and Basil turned his computer on, as if reading his mind. It wasn't password protected, so Sunny was able to log right in.
Thank goodness, Windows 10, Sunny thought, for he had feared the computer might be running Windows 7 by the look of it. He plugged in his flashdrive and got started installing the files. He was very aware of Basil watching over his shoulder, and it made him kind of nervous for some reason.
It only took Sunny about five minutes to get everything in order, and then they only had to wait for it to finish installing. Sunny brought up the notepad app and wrote, [Just let this install by itself. It's going to take awhile but after you'll be able to play the game fine :) ]
He turned and Basil jumped back in surprise, his cheeks rosy.
"R-Right," Basil nodded, showing that he had read the message. He grabbed the whiteboard Sunny had given to him and wrote, [Stardew Valley in the meantime?]
Sunny nodded and removed himself from Basil's computer chair. He walked back over to Basil's bed and sat down, rummaging through his backpack for his Switch and his own whiteboard. Basil sat next to him, his small Switch Lite ready for action. Sunny noticed he had the yellow one, which made him think of sunflowers.
---
Playing Stardew Valley wasn't easy in a co-op where one person was mute and the other had a bad stutter. Sunny quickly learned how valuable time was in the game. Basil explained things the best he could, writing down the most important things on his whiteboard. In the end, they decided that Basil would do most of the farming and that Sunny would gather resources and, once the mine was open, go mining. Sunny very much enjoyed the mine. It was action-packed, while growing plants felt like a chore just like Animal Crossing did (though the Animal Crossing posters Basil had hanging on his walls showed how much he liked the game and made Sunny consider picking it up, if only to play occasionally with Basil).
Basil told Sunny some facts about the characters in Stardew Valley, but they didn't really interest him. He only met all the characters to finish the introduction quest, and he only gave them birthday presents for the perks Basil said came from becoming friendlier with them. Other than that, he stuck to foraging materials and battling in the mine. The fishing minigame frustrated him, so if there was ever a quest that involved someone wanting a fish, Basil would just fish for two of them and leave one in their "share" chest for Sunny to take to the person who wanted it.
They had just finished the Egg Festival (Basil won) when Sunny's ears perked up at the sound of a door opening downstairs. Basil heard it, too, because he startled in fright (which alarmed Sunny), but after a second Basil returned to normal and said, "P-Polly m-must b-be h-hom-me."
Sunny nodded at him and put his Switch down to write on his whiteboard. [I should check on the download. You can greet Polly. We can leave our game here for now.]
"R-Right," Basil agreed, and they let the game save before quitting. Sunny walked over to the computer and Basil left his room. Sunny could hear his light steps trotting down the stairs as he checked the progress of the installation.
It was finished.
He clicked "OK" and removed his flashdrive, putting it in his pocket. Then he started up The Sims to make sure everything had installed properly. The game took a good five minutes to load, which wasn't bad considering the state of Basil's computer. He turned mods back on, restarted the game, and then clicked to create a new game.
"S-Sunny, w-w-wait!"
Sunny's ears perked up and he turned and saw Basil, face red, rush over to the computer.
"Um, th-thank y-you," Basil said, quickly exiting the game, "b-but I'm-m s-sure it's f-fine. I'll ch-check l-later." He laughed nervously as the game closed. Sunny was confused why Basil didn't want him playing. It wasn't like he was going through Basil's saved games or anything; he just wanted to make sure it was running correctly.
"A-Anyway," Basil sighed as the desktop finally showed up (Sunny hadn't even noticed that Basil's desktop background was a sunflower field), "P-Polly is a-almost-t f-finished w-with d-dinner. L-Let's g-go d-d-downst-stairs." Sunny did as he was told. If Basil didn't want him playing The Sims, he wouldn't push him. He nodded, got up to grab the whiteboard without Stardew Valley tips written on it, and followed Basil down the stairs.
After dinner, Sunny and Basil played a little more Stardew Valley until they both got tired of it and then Basil showed off his island in Animal Crossing. He'd unsurprisingly named his island Sunflower. There were no sunflowers in the game (the flowers that looked the most like them were the yellow cosmos), but he had a lot of sunflower patterns that he had drawn himself, and they looked really good. Sunny also noticed that Basil's character was wearing a pink flower in his hair. It was quite cute, and he wondered if Basil had ever put flowers in his hair before. When he was younger, Mari had some kind of pink flower pin she used to wear in her hair a lot. Sunny wondered if she still had it. He'd have to remember to ask her.
Basil's island was really pretty. He was very organized and made creative use of the customizable items. The game was really starting to pique Sunny's interest. According to Basil, there were over three hundred villagers and each had one of eight personality types. He said it had taken him a long time to collect his favorite villagers from mystery islands. Each player's island had room for ten villagers, so Basil had one of each personality type and two doubles. Sunny decided he would definitely need to look up the villagers later and start thinking about which ones he wanted.
Time flew by too fast, and Sunny got a text from his mom saying she was going to come pick him up because it was getting late. Sunny didn't want to leave. The rain had been getting heavier throughout the evening and usually when it rained, he had nightmares or ended up in White Space. But sitting with Basil actually made the rain sound peaceful for the first time in his life. He wished he could sleep over, but unfortunately, it was a school night. Another thing he would have to get used to.
[I'll see you at school tomorrow :) ] Basil wrote on the whiteboard as Sunny packed his things. Sunny smiled at the message and nodded.
[Text me when you get home,] Basil added quickly, [so I know you're safe. It's raining pretty hard out there.]
'Promise,' Sunny signed, knowing Basil knew that word in sign language.
The short walk from Basil's porch warranted his rain jacket. Every raindrop that fell made him feel that much emptier as he reluctantly left Basil behind and got into his mom's minivan. By the time they were home, Sunny felt like an empty husk.
<9:32 pm>
Sunny: Home safe
Sunny hung up his rain jacket to dry, took his meds, changed into his pajamas, brushed his teeth, unplugged his computer, and went straight to bed.
<9:35 pm>
Basil: Glad to hear! Thanks for coming over today. It was a lot of fun! 😁
<9:48 pm>
Sunny: I had fun too. I'm about to go to sleep now. See you tomorrow 🙂
The rain was loud and even Basil's words didn't help fill the emptiness he felt inside himself.
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER
Notes:
(sorry the Stardew Vallew pic was bad quality, I took a pic of it with my phone to send to my beta and it was just easier to upload that pic than to get it directly from my switch. It's a real game I started so I could play-pretend to be Sunny playing SV for the first time in case I needed to clarify anything about his game. Also yes, the hairstyle is #69, lol nice, funny number. I swear I'm an adult. Also if you want to use the numbers to make your own game that mirrors Sunny's, feel free ^^ )
~~~~~~~~~~~
This was so fun to write. I'm so glad I have my beta, she really helped me SO MUCH with this chapter. It was almost over 8k words bc I overexplained the games lol and she was able to condense those parts for me. Bless betas, honestly. Also, fun fact: we've been playing SV co-op (we've done this before but with a different otp) and she is Basil and I am Sunny. Our farm is called Sunflower Farm. Basil does pretty much all of the growing crops part and the fishing, while Sunny does the mining and the foraging and taking care of the farm animals. So yes, this was absolutely inspired by our game 😆 As of right now we are on day 2 of the night market in winter, I forget what actual day of winter that is but, mid winter I think. Sunny made it to level 120 of the mines which is the lowest you can go, so now I'm having him build up his fishing skill bc I neglected for so long 😂
It was actually my beta's fic that inspired me to put video games into this story, because somehow I really did forget that sunny likes video games. Basil took a picture of him playing with a gameboy, after all. So I was like, omg I can use video games to help Sunny and Basil's relationship with each other grow!!! So I thought of what games would suit Sunny and Basil best.
Also fun fact, I made Basil my last character in my Animal Crossing game (I have myself, and then a bunch of anime/cartoon characters bc I'm a weeb and I can't help myself lol) I even have the Nintendo Online Family plan so that all my characters can go to my friends' islands. (in order to make a new character, you need to make them their own nintendo profile on your switch). Anyway, my beta and I are currently debating on Basil and Sunny's dream villagers. Feel free to comment on which villagers you think suit either of them best! I'm interested to hear other people's theories ^^ who knows, you might convince me of a villager I haven't considered, or you might reinforce villagers already on the list of possibles we have. :)I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did! Sunny and Basil deserve to have moments of peace and happiness together <3
And as always, please ignore the notes after this one, they are my notes from my first chapter and they pop up after each new chapter I publish and I haven't been able to fix that.
Chapter 9: Rain in the Morning with Storms forming in the Afternoon
Summary:
Sunny and Basil's first full school day together since a week ago.
Notes:
(Yes, the timeline really is that this chapter is exactly one week later from chapter 1. So much has happened since then, hasn't it?)
tw: emetophobia right at the end, vagueee mentions of wanting to unalive oneself previously
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
---
But the road's gonna end
And the storm's comin' in
Looks like nobody wins today
---
When Sunny arrived in WHITE SPACE, he was alone.
Great. On a school night, Sunny thought angrily. If OMORI wasn't here, it meant that he was now in control of Sunny's body. He prayed OMORI just let his body sleep or else he'd be a wreck at school. Sunny turned to check OMORI's laptop, just to make sure it was still broken, but something new caught his eye.
A big, white door.
That was very concerning.
Sunny approached it cautiously. What caught his eye was the dark shadow radiating from the crack below the door.
Wherever this door led to, it couldn't be good.
...did he dare open it?
There was a keyhole, but not the kind you could look through. Sunny circled around the door. It was the same on the other side, like a reverse image. It was possible that it was merely a door and if he opened it (if he could even open it), it would just open to the nothingness of WHITE SPACE.
But somehow Sunny knew that wouldn't be the case. When he returned to the front of the door, he took a deep breath. He had to know where this door led. He reached out and touched the doorknob. It was cold and sent a shiver through him. He slowly turned the knob, secretly hoping that it wouldn't open, that it was locked, but it wasn't and the knob turned. With another deep breath, Sunny sucked up every ounce of courage he had and slowly opened the door, just enough for him to see what was behind it.
A split second was enough. Sunny slammed the door shut, almost hyperventilating.
It had been completely BLACK inside, with white outlines of BLACK doors.
BLACK SPACE.
Sunny didn't know what to do. His first instinct was to destroy the door somehow, even if he had to break it down himself. But would that destroy the door or just leave an archway into BLACK SPACE in its wake?
He couldn't let this door exist.
WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN?
Sunny turned, still clutching the door shut, to see MEWO had woken up and walked over to him.
<Help!> Sunny pleaded desperately. The kitten arched its back and began hacking and spitting until it coughed up a black key. Then it walked back to its spot and snuggled up to fall back asleep. Sunny bent down and grabbed the key, wiped the slime off it on his shirt, and jammed it into the keyhole. It fit. He turned it to the left and heard a 'click.' He pulled the key out and tried the doorknob again.
Locked.
Sunny slid to the ground, panting with relief. He still wanted the door destroyed, but at least it was locked now. He looked at the black key in his hand.
He had to hide it. Somewhere OMORI and MEWO couldn't find it.
There was really only one choice.
He'd have to swallow it.
Sunny stood up, took a deep breath, and tried to swallow the key. At the last second, the key sprouted many long, black legs that latched onto Sunny's face.
If Sunny'd had a voice, he would have screamed. He swatted the thing off him and it fell to the ground, scuttling away like a spider into the WHITE void. Before Sunny could even come to terms with the horror he had just endured, someone or SOMETHING began pounding on the door. He leapt back in fright, looking at the door with wide eyes.
"Sunny! Sunny, help me!"
It was as if a hand made of ice and needles grabbed his heart.
That was Basil's voice.
The pounding on the door became more desperate.
"Help me, Sunny! He's going to kill me! Please let me out!"
<Basil?!> Sunny asked, still feeling terrified.
"He's going to kill me, Sunny! Please! Only you can save me! Please open the door!"
No, Basil had a stutter. It wasn't Basil. It COULDN'T be Basil. And yet now Sunny was desperately trying to get the door back open. Except, of course, he had just locked it and it wouldn't budge, and the key had grown spider legs and run off.
"Help me, Sunny, please!" Basil's voice begged.
<I'm trying!> Sunny replied. Then something grabbed his leg. He fell back on his butt and saw to his horror that the shadow beneath the door had grown arms, and one of its hands was clamped around his ankle. Sunny tried to shake it off, but then the shadow grew a head and looked up at Sunny.
It was STRANGER.
"Don't let him kill me, Sunny," STRANGER said, and then he was gone.
Sunny woke up in a sweat, his heart pounding. Had that been a dream, or had he really been in WHITE SPACE? Regardless, he sat up, turned on his bedside lamp, and got out his black notebook to record everything that had happened (and that he could remember). Rain was pounding against his window, which only served to increase his anxiety. When he was done (and exhausted), he looked at his clock. It was five in the morning. School started at seven thirty. He still had an hour left before he had to start getting ready, but there was no way he could sleep now. He took out his phone, hoping to see a text from Basil, but all he had was a good night text from Mari. He'd have to remember to text her back, but right now he only wanted to talk to Basil.
<5:13 am>
Sunny: Hey, hope this isn't waking you or anything. I know you wake up early. Just wanted to text and see how you were doing.
<5:15 am>
Sunny: I... had a nightmare, I think. And now it's raining so loud I can't get back to sleep. I think we're supposed to have thunderstorms later in the day and I hate storms.
<5:16 am>
Sunny: I'm just a little on edge after that nightmare, and with the threat of storms later. Sorry to bother you.
Sunny felt stupid after sending those texts. Why was he telling Basil? He should be telling Mari. But... he wanted to tell Basil, not Mari. He couldn't explain it.
He definitely couldn't go back to sleep. Sunny got out of bed and retrieved his Switch from his bag that he hadn't unpacked after visiting Basil. He plugged it in to charge and then turned it on while he curled under his covers, muffling the rain outside just a little.
Stardew Valley was the first icon on his Switch, but he really didn't feel like playing it without Basil. But he did feel like playing something relaxing. Without really thinking, he went into the E-shop and right on the first page of recommended games saw Animal Crossing.
After having seen Basil's island and all the cool things he did in the game, it sounded really inviting. A whole island that he could customize to be anything he wanted. Cute animal villagers that interacted with him. And something new every day because the game ran on real time. Sunny decided he wanted an island, too. He would make it really cool, and Basil would be impressed.
The game wasn't cheap, though. It would take all the money from the gift card Mari had given him for his birthday. Buying the game used from a retailer would be cheaper, but he wanted to play the game now. It would help his anxiety.
As if on cue, there was a low rumble of thunder that struck Sunny through his heart.
Take me somewhere else, somewhere nice! Sunny thought as he bought a digital copy of the game.
<6:34 am>
Basil: Just woke up. Sorry you had a nightmare :(
also sorry you don't like storms. It's supposed to clear up during the day but then get stormy in the afternoon. Do you still want to come to garden club after school? We'll be safe in the shed. But I understand if you don't want to.
Sunny almost didn't notice his phone vibrate. He had been so engrossed in his new game that he had even tuned out the rain, but feeling his phone vibrate snapped him back into the real world. Sunny hadn't even been paying attention to the time. He read Basil's message and his heart leapt when he saw the words "garden club." He VERY much wanted to go to Garden Club with Basil after school. Even if there was a tornado, he wanted to see the Garden Club with his own eyes.
<6:42 am>
Sunny: Thanks. I'm feeling a lot better :) I actually bought Animal Crossing since I couldn't sleep and seeing you play it made me want to play it. I didn't even realize how late it was. I need to start getting ready for school! And yes, I absolutely want to stay after school for Garden Club, even if it's storming. I'll bring my Switch with me so you can see my island! It really did help my anxiety so even if it's storming and I can't really do any gardening, I can play AC but still hang out with you.
Sunny finished what he was doing in his game and saved, turning his Switch off. He packed it up (along with the charger just in case) and put it in his school bag. He changed his clothes, brushed his teeth, used the bathroom, and went back into his room to grab his bag and phone. He saw he had another message, but he was running late so he decided he'd read it in the car.
"Hurry, Sunny!" his mom scolded him as he rushed down the stairs. She was waiting with his lunchbox and breakfast, which was a muffin in a bag. Sunny put his lunchbox in his school bag and set aside his muffin so he could put on his raincoat and sneakers. When he was ready, he and his mom booked it to the car. It wasn't raining as hard as earlier, but Sunny still got wet. His mom drove him to school every day because she passed it on her way to work. It wasn't far, but far enough that Sunny didn't want to walk there anyway. He was especially thankful for this arrangement today. When he got in the car, he buckled up and then immediately took out his phone to read Basil's text.
<6:51 am>
Basil: You got AC?! Yay! That makes me so happy. I can help you get whatever villagers you want and you can take my stack of DIY recipes I have duplicates of! I'll bring my Switch with me to school then, too. We can play a little at lunch ^^
And I'm happy to hear that you'll be coming to my gardening club. I do have actual plants to take care of in there, ya know ;p
<7:10 am>
Basil: I'm guessing you're getting ready for school. I'm about to leave as well. See you in third period! :D
Sunny's heart felt warm as he bit into his muffin, the raindrops shattering on the car roof not even affecting him.
<7:18 am>
Sunny: See you in class :)
Sunny could barely pay attention in his first two classes. The rain was making him anxious, and he was also excited to see Basil. He wanted to know where Basil's locker was so they could meet up between classes, or at least before homeroom. He was definitely going to ask Basil for his class schedule.
Sunny was so eager to get to third period that he bolted the second the bell rang. If he had been paying more attention, he might have noticed the foot sticking out in his path. Instead, he tripped and was barely able to break his fall. Sunny stood back up, feeling dazed. Everyone was looking at him.
"Oh no, my bad," a familiar voice said, and he turned to see Kim looking sarcastically innocent. He'd totally forgotten Kim was in his class.
"Where you off to in such a hurry, Silent Sunny?" Kim sneered in a low-enough voice that only Sunny could hear. "We all know which class you have next and who's in it. Still can't believe you chose his side after you learned what he did to us!" Kim stood up and shoved Sunny out of her way with her shoulder as she left. The rest of the class had lost interest. Sunny's ears burned. He didn't want to risk FURIOUS OMORI coming out, but he was extremely pissed off that Kim, Aubrey, and whoever else was in their gang went out of their way to hurt Basil, to the point that they knew his whole schedule and that Sunny was in his science class. He tried to push it from his mind and instead focus on the fact that he would be seeing Basil shortly. Unfortunately, the excitement was gone now and all he felt was anxiety and anger on Basil's behalf.
However, all the negative feelings flooded out of him when he walked into his next class and saw Basil sitting in the back. He must have been waiting for Sunny because their eyes met and Basil smiled at him. Sunny smiled back and hurried to the back of the room to claim the desk next to Basil's.
"Hi," Basil greeted him in a whisper.
Sunny gave him a little wave, considering he couldn't actually verbally tell Basil "hi" back. He wished he could just write back and forth to Basil for the whole period, but they were in class and they kind of needed to pay attention. Luckily it was Monday, which was Lab Day, and Sunny and Basil were lab partners so they would have a little time to catch up. Today's lab was a pretty simple one; they were going to get a bunch of dirty pennies and drop them in different solutions to see the reaction. There would be plenty of time to talk then.
...which was why he should really be paying attention to the class, but it was hard to clear his head of all the things he wanted to tell Basil.
Despite missing the past four school days, Basil was certainly up to speed on his work. Sunny watched him taking notes out of the corner of his eye, and it didn't seem like he had any questions or hesitation about the new work. They had been studying more complex chemical reactions throughout the previous week, and Sunny had paid extra attention in order to take notes for Basil while he was absent. Since he'd paid attention for the both of them all of last week, he figured Basil could pay attention for the both of them today. Sunny, instead of taking notes, decided to write down everything he wanted to say to Basil. He had a lot of questions about Animal Crossing. Did he have good villagers? How did he get more? Could he get rid of villagers he didn't like? How did he customize his character? He also had some questions about Garden Club. Like, what plants was Basil growing? He knew very little about taking care of plants other than that they needed sunlight and water.
He decided to leave out the incident with Kim. That would just spoil things.
"S-Sunny, l-lab," Basil whispered to him, shaking his shoulder. Sunny looked up. The teacher had written a bunch of information, and he had missed it all. He just nodded at Basil and gathered up his stuff to move to the lab section of the room.
They took the same spot as last week and Basil began setting up. Sunny realized he hadn't properly labeled his lab sheet or anything. He ripped Basil's note out of his notebook and opened his lab book so he could copy what Basil had written in his. He also took out his whiteboard for the two of them to communicate with. As soon as Basil saw the whiteboard, he picked up the marker and wrote on it.
[Distracted much? lol Did you not pay attention to anything in class?
....was your nightmare that bad?]
Basil continued to set up and Sunny paused filling out his lab information to read the message. A cold feeling pierced through him.
He had completely forgotten about his trip to WHITE SPACE.
The look on Sunny's face must have scared Basil because he hastily erased his words and wrote a new message.
[I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of it. Go back to writing about AC. You did so much for me last week, I can take care of the lab, no worries!]
Sunny nodded at him after reading his message, and Basil seemed to relax. He went to get the materials for the lab as Sunny went back to writing his note for Basil. Only...
Now he could only think of STRANGER in WHITE SPACE using Basil's voice to beg Sunny to help him because someone (most likely OMORI) was trying to kill him. Hearing Basil's voice begging for Sunny to save him was haunting. He hoped he would never hear the real Basil ever sound like that.
He couldn't focus.
He turned his note over and wrote, [You know that if you were ever in trouble, I would save you, right?] He put the note on top of Basil's lab book so he would see it. He needed Basil to know. He waited with bated breath as Basil returned with the beakers and chemicals they would be using for their lab. He saw the note Sunny had written, and then he took his pencil and wrote a message back.
[Was that what your nightmare was about? Something happened to me?]
He pushed the note back over to Sunny as he went to get the rest of the lab materials. Sunny didn't know what to write back. He really didn't want to tell Basil about what happened in WHITE SPACE.
[Kind of.... It was just your voice and you were begging me to save you because something was going to kill you... Hearing your voice like that has me unnerved, I guess.]
He felt stupid writing something like that to Basil, but he put the note back on top of Basil's lab book. Basil came back with the bag of pennies they would be dropping into different mixtures. He read Sunny's reply and looked very concerned as he wrote back. Sunny took the time to finish labeling his lab. Basil passed the note back and started setting up the beakers.
[I'm so sorry you had a nightmare like that :( It is good to know that if I'm ever in trouble that you'll come save me ^^ I... haven't had someone like that in my life in a long time. I'm glad you pushed your way into my life even when I resisted.]
Sunny looked at Basil, who seemed to be determinedly fixated on setting up their lab. Suddenly, it felt like everything was going to be okay.
The remainder of the lab was spent waiting for the different solutions to finish reacting with the pennies. In the meantime, Basil was answering the note that Sunny had written during the first half of class. They used a notebook rather than the whiteboard to write back and forth to each other. It was the spare notebook he'd used to take notes for Basil, and of course it had sunflowers on it because Mari had picked it out for him. He was glad of her choice now, because it was kind of like a Basil and Sunny diary-
Journal.
Sunny blinked. He'd been staring at Basil too long. He gave his head a little shake and acted like nothing had happened. Basil went along with it, but it must have been funny because his face was bright red the rest of the period.
OMORI WOULD REMEMBER THAT.
By the end of class, Sunny had most of his Animal Crossing questions answered. He was going to bring his Switch to lunch so that Basil could see his island.
[Since we're both going to lunch, mind if we walk together?] Sunny asked in his sunflower notebook after Basil took both their lab books up to their teacher.
Basil stared at the question like he didn't believe it was real. At least, that's what it looked like to Sunny. Basil hesitantly picked up his pencil and wrote back, [I don't know if that's a good idea. If you're seen with me, you could be in danger...]
Basil wouldn't look at him. Sunny read the response and almost snorted.
[I was already tripped by Kim last period. I think I can handle it. Plus, I'd like to know where your locker is. We might have chances to meet up during the rest of the day.] He pushed the notebook to Basil, who eyed it nervously. He watched Basil's eyes move over his response. Basil's cheeks flushed, but he gave a kind of playful sigh as he wrote, [Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.]
Sunny couldn't help but smile. Then he remembered, [I need to stop by my locker, too, so you'll also get to see mine.]
"O-Okay," Basil said out loud while they both packed up. "Y-Yours f-first."
Sunny's locker was only down the hall. Basil looked very nervous the whole walk there, even grabbing onto Sunny's school bag strap while they navigated the hall, dodging other students. The extra weight made Sunny feel strangely giddy, but he didn't understand why. It just felt nice.
There was nothing extraordinary inside Sunny's locker. He hadn't decorated it or anything. This was only his second week of school, after all. He quickly switched out his textbooks and put his Switch case in his bag, along with his lunchbox. It took him less than thirty seconds, and then he looked expectantly at Basil, waiting to be led to his locker.
"Th-That w-was f-fast-t," Basil said, and Sunny merely shrugged. He gently took hold of Basil's bag strap to mimic what Basil had done to him. It seemed Basil understood because he turned and began walking at a pace that Sunny could easily keep up with.
Basil's locker was down the hall and right near a side stairway. Basil sighed when he stopped walking and Sunny looked to see which locker could be his. He knew immediately it was the one with a big wad of gum stuck to the handle. It had to be the work of Kim or Aubrey or one of their friends. Sunny felt a fire spark inside him. He was going to put a stop to this, somehow. For now, he checked his pockets for a tissue and took it upon himself to remove the gum. He heard Basil sigh again.
"Thanks," he said after Sunny cleaned the locker handle. Sunny nodded at him. Basil opened his locker, cheeks flushed. Basil's locker was also undecorated, which made Sunny feel better about his own.
"Oof!"
Suddenly, Basil tripped into his locker. As Sunny quickly reached out to help him, he heard a familiar voice laughing behind them. "See, Aubrey? I told you!"
Sunny didn't know what happened next, but then he found himself staring at a horrified Aubrey and Kim.
"You're a FREAK!" Kim yelled, and she dragged a still-shocked Aubrey away and down the stairwell.
"S-S-S-Sunn-n-ny?"
Basil's voice behind him sounded scared. He turned to him and signed, 'What happened?'
"U-Um... L-let's g-go t-to l-lunch," Basil answered, closing his locker. He grabbed Sunny's bag strap, but this time it was to push him forward instead of cling to his back. People were staring at them and Basil was ignoring them, head down, focused on getting them to the cafeteria. They took the main staircase down since Aubrey and Kim had used the one near Basil's locker. Sunny felt dazed for the entire walk. He could remember getting the gum off Basil's locker, but then all he remembered was seeing the horrified looks on Aubrey and Kim's faces.
It wasn't hard to put the pieces together.
He let Basil lead them to his lunch table. As soon as they sat down, Sunny whipped out the sunflower notebook and wrote, [Whatever happened, it was OMORI. I can't remember anything.]
Basil took the notebook and pencil and began writing. A lot. Sunny anxiously took out his lunchbox while Basil wrote, even though he had no appetite right now. Finally, Basil handed the notebook back to Sunny, putting the pencil on the table.
[Kim or Aubrey pushed me into my locker. You helped me out but when you saw them... OMORI must have taken over because your face went kind of blank and you took out the tissue with the gum and stuck it in Aubrey's hair. Aubrey pushed you away from her and OMORI pushed her back. I grabbed you and pulled you back and you didn't resist at all. OMORI must have given Aubrey and Kim a scary face because they both looked terrified and ran off after calling you a freak and then you turned to me, looking confused. You signed something to me but I don't know what it was because I don't know ASL.]
Sunny swallowed dryly. The fact that OMORI had shown himself today after Sunny had had a trip to WHITE SPACE was bad.
He had to tell Basil.
[Um... so remember how I told you about my nightmare last night? It wasn't... completely true. See, rainy days, especially when it storms... I don't know, it's just bad for me. Basically I didn't have a nightmare. I went to WHITE SPACE. OMORI wasn't there but I heard you begging for your life through a door that had appeared randomly. I wrote it all down in my special notebook I keep just for WHITE SPACE encounters. I didn't want to worry anyone because... it WAS your voice I heard begging me to help you. But it wasn't you using that voice.]
Sunny already regretted writing that down for Basil, but erasing it would look more suspicious. What if Basil thought they shouldn't be friends because he was affecting WHITE SPACE? That was just what OMORI wanted, and probably why all that had happened. OMORI was trying to turn everyone against Basil by causing problems, all so that Basil would be out of Sunny's life. Sunny couldn't- WOULDN'T- let that happen. He wrote on:
[Please don't stop being my friend because of OMORI. That's why I was scared to tell you. No matter what OMORI pulls, please don't leave me. I've never had a real friend before and he wants me to be alone for some reason but you're so important to me. I can't control what he does or what happens in WHITE SPACE but you're my first real friend and if he scares you off, there's nothing for me in this world...]
Now he felt REALLY stupid. And pathetic. He wished he could rip the page out without Basil seeing, but he knew Basil would insist on reading it more if he did that. He cautiously slid the notebook over to Basil, his face burning. He took out his lunch and began eating just to have something to do while he waited anxiously for Basil to read his confession.
[If you don't leave me I won't leave you. Promise. Also, don't be silly. You have a mom and sister who love you very much.
I won't let OMORI scare me off. Not when I finally have a friend, too.]
The message was short compared to what Sunny had written, but it made its point. Sunny felt relief wash over him. He looked over at Basil and saw that he was eating his lunch, very focused on his sandwich.
Sunny still didn't want to tell anyone about STRANGER yet, just in case, so he left the topic at that. Knowing that Basil wouldn't leave him because of OMORI was very reassuring.
[I've got your back. OMORI reacted to my anger earlier. In my math class, the class I have before science, Kim tripped me and said some... well, she said some stuff that made me angry. The locker incident must have tapped back into that anger if it caused OMORI to step in. I just hope that doesn't get me into trouble one day... anyway, want to see my Animal Crossing island? I brought my Switch with me.]
He passed the notebook back to Basil. Basil side-eyed the response at first, but he, too, seemed to relax.
[Sure] was all he wrote back, but his mood seemed to be better. Sunny pulled out his Switch, careful to hide it under the table so it wouldn't be visible for everyone to see.
The rest of the day was normal except for the sky getting darker and more ominous, putting Sunny a little on edge. When it was time for gym, Sunny almost stayed inside, but that would have required him to participate in some kind of sports activity. He also didn't want to be alone due to his increasing anxiety, so he walked over to Kel and tugged on his gym shirt.
"Oh, hey Sunny!" Kel greeted him with a beaming grin. How could someone be that full of energy? "Did you have a good weekend? You never answered my text, but I figured you were probably just exhausted."
Sunny nodded and then pointed to the door leading outside.
"Oh, you wanna walk together? It might start raining. Are you sure?"
Sunny nodded again.
"Catch you guys later!" Kel waved to his friends. Sunny was actually surprised that Kel was willing to abandon the rest of his friends like that just for him. His friends seemed to be understanding, though they did give Sunny some distrustful looks. They probably knew by now that Sunny was friends with Basil, and Sunny could only guess what kind of rumors about Basil had been circulating around the school for the past few years.
"So, feeling better?" Kel asked when they were outside.
Sunny made the "so-so" gesture with his hand and gave a small shrug.
"Well, that's better than feeling worse!" Kel replied. Was he always this cheerful and optimistic? Sunny looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were rolling in.
"HEY, ASSWIPES!"
They both startled and turned. An angry-looking Aubrey with an equally angry-looking Kim right behind her were stomping towards them. Sunny quickly ducked behind Kel (thank goodness he was so tall!).
"Oh no, you don't get to hide behind someone after what you did!" Aubrey seethed.
"What happened?" Kel asked, and Sunny was relieved that Kel took a defensive stance as if to protect Sunny just in case.
"That FREAK put gum in my hair and shoved me into a row of lockers!" Aubrey snarled, fists clenched. "If you wanna fight, come out behind Kel and face me like a real man!"
"Did that happen?" Kel asked, head turning back to look at Sunny. Sunny nodded slowly. He wouldn't lie to Kel, but he also couldn't explain that Aubrey had started it and OMORI finished it.
"Was it... you who did that?" Kel asked, as if reading Sunny's mind, and Sunny was suddenly very grateful that Kel knew about OMORI. Sunny shook his head.
"Wh- it absolutely WAS you!" Kim cut in.
"Hold on!" Kel snapped back at her and then turned back to Sunny. "Did they do something to you or Basil first?"
Sunny nodded fervently. He was so grateful for Kel now that he felt bad he hadn't texted him back yesterday.
Kel turned back to the girls. "What did you guys do before Sunny pushed you?" he demanded.
"We were just walking through the hall, that's all!" Aubrey lied, crossing her arms.
"You did something to Sunny or Basil first. Don't lie to me," Kel replied, also crossing his arms.
"You're such a traitor, Kel!" Aubrey yelled at him. "You're gonna believe that FREAK you've known for a week and that CREEP after you know what he did to me and Kim?!"
"I know Sunny better than you think," Kel defended himself, "and I'm starting to believe that this grudge you have against Basil is bogus, too!"
"He had a secret book of creepy pictures of me and Kim!" Aubrey shouted, fists clenched again.
"Did you even ask Basil why he had that? Did you give him any chance to explain?" Kel asked.
"So, you really ARE going to take Basil's side now, huh?" Aubrey glared at Kel, ignoring his question. "You have made a HUGE mistake, Kel. I already warned you last week that there would be consequences if you sided with that pervert!"
"So you didn't give Basil a chance to explain and you've been spreading rumors and bullying him ever since. You're the bad guy here, Aubrey. Were you just too proud to admit you made a mistake?"
"You don't understand anything!" Aubrey shouted, her face red with fury.
"Then explain it to me!" Kel huffed. "Help me understand!"
"I already explained it!" Aubrey yelled. "You're just too dense to understand!"
"This conversation is getting us nowhere," Kel sighed, "so either tell me what Basil told you when you asked for an explanation about the pictures, or leave us alone."
"Oh my god." Aubrey laughed spitefully, brushing her hair back. "You already know the story! We found that book hidden in the gardening shed. It was filled with creepy pictures of me and Kim, hearts drawn all over the pages, and when we confronted Basil he said it was a misunderstanding and 'not what it looks like,' which is what every pervert says as an excuse when they're caught! He had even drawn little pictures of himself with hearts around him in between pictures! Who does that?!"
"You still didn't give him a chance to explain!" Kel said, though his voice wavered.
"What other explanation is there?!" Kim spoke up.
"Maybe if you'd given Basil a chance, you would've found out!"
"Whatever!" Aubrey had had enough. "I warned you, Kel. Remember that. And don't think I'll forget about the gum in my hair, Silent Sunny!" The two girls turned and walked away. Kel turned to Sunny, who hadn't realized he'd been frozen in place the whole time. His legs felt weak, and he would have collapsed to the ground if it wasn't all muddy.
"Sunny, you okay?" Kel asked with concern. Sunny wished he could say "ask me again later," but he felt so weak he wouldn't have even be able to sign it, even if Kel could understand ASL.
"Sunny? It's still you in there, right?"
Sunny was able to nod, just barely. He still felt frozen in place. A rumble of thunder in the distance startled him out of freeze mode. Kel looked up.
"Hm. Guess a storm is moving in," Kel said nonchalantly. "Do you like storms, Sunny?"
Sunny shook his head.
"Ah. It's a common fear," Kel replied cheerfully, as if the whole spat with Aubrey and Kim had never happened. "We'll be safe as long as we don't go under any trees."
That wasn't exactly true, but Sunny's head was still swimming from what Aubrey had said about Basil's picture book. She had added information that she hadn't disclosed when she first told Sunny her version of what had happened. She had to be lying, then, in order to try to turn Kel and Sunny to her side!
...But what if she wasn't lying?
Why would Basil keep a secret book of pictures of the two girls and draw hearts around them, as well as draw himself in the margins?
Sunny suddenly felt very overheated, which was strange considering it was a cool, fall day.
"Sunny, are you okay?" Kel asked. "Your face just got really pale-"
But Sunny wasn't listening anymore. Hand over his mouth, he ran into the woods that were beside the school. He barely made it behind a big tree before his stomach emptied its contents all over the ground. The image of Basil looking --lovingly-- and longingly at pictures of Aubrey and Kim, of drawing himself next to the pictures and dotting the pages with hearts, kept playing in his head and made his stomach burn. All the good memories of playing video games with Basil the day before were gone. Sunny remembered how eager Basil had been to stop Sunny from seeing any of his Sims games. Had Basil made himself and Aubrey and/or Kim in The Sims and played out fantasies he could never have? Sunny hacked up more bile.
What if Basil still had feelings for Aubrey and/or Kim, and Sunny was just a replacement?
"Whoa, dude," came Kel's voice from behind him. "Is this an anxiety thing? Hero told me that some people get sick when they have anxiety or panic attacks. Don't let Aubrey get to you. She feeds off other people's misery. I've got your back, okay?"
Kel didn't understand. Despite the mud, Sunny slid to the ground and put his head in his hands.
He didn't understand, either, why thinking about Basil having feelings for the girls was making him sick to his stomach.
"It's okay, don't cry," Kel said soothingly, kneeling next to Sunny and rubbing his shoulder. Sunny hadn't even realized he had burst into tears. "I won't let them hurt you. I fully support you AND Basil."
Sunny shook his head, but it made no difference. He couldn't speak and therefore couldn't tell Kel what was really bothering him.
What was really bothering him?
It was time to get The Truth from Basil. Half of him wanted to skip Garden Club and go right home, but he needed to confront Basil.
He had to know. He didn't know why but he had to know The Truth. Kel helped Sunny up, and they walked back to the school together.
Everything would be revealed at Garden Club.
Notes:
Sorry this chapter took so long to come out. It was ready for a few weeks but my beta wasn't available until now. The next chapter is actually almost done lol And I'm writing a second fic!! Not sure if it will ever come to light but I have been getting some ideas for another Sunflower fic, told through Basil's pov instead of Sunny's. But this fic is my main priority. Thank you everyone who is still sticking around for this fic even though it seems like it takes me a month to update each time lol
And as always, please ignore the notes after this one, they are my notes from my first chapter and they pop up after each new chapter I publish and I haven't been able to fix that.
Chapter 10: The Storm
Summary:
Sunny and Basil go to Garden Club.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
---
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
Bringing you love and shining on everyone
---
Sunny didn't know how he got himself to get back up and fake being okay for so long. (He suspected OMORI.)
He was pretending to be fine as he changed back into his regular clothes.
He was pretending to be fine as he left the locker room to go to his actual locker.
He was pretending to be fine as he put the correct textbooks and items into his school bag.
He was pretending to be fine as he shut his locker.
He was pretending to be fine as he walked down the stairs.
He was pretending to be fine as he opened the-
-door?
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE. YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER.
...damn it!
OMORI had taken over his body!
He knew it had been foolish to think that he could stop an OMORI attack after feeling so horrible! Was it NEUTRAL OMORI or.... ENRAGED OMORI?
If it was NEUTRAL OMORI, he would probably walk Sunny directly home. But if it was ENRAGED OMORI, he was sure to confront Basil, and Sunny did NOT want an ENRAGED OMORI anywhere near Basil. It was Sunny's job to confront Basil, not OMORI's.
ENRAGED was hard to get out of. But it couldn't have been MISERABLE OMORI, could it? He would have heard the clink of the knife.
There was only one way to know if OMORI was NEUTRAL versus ENRAGED. Sunny ran into the white void.
....two, three, five, seven-eight-nine!
Okay. He was ENRAGED.
Whenever OMORI was ENRAGED, there were at least three times more red hands
chasing him when he ran off the rug than normal. The number at NEUTRAL was three. FURIOUS was when WHITE SPACE turned RED. Strangely, it was not actually known as RED SPACE, because it was literally just WHITE SPACE dyed red. (Sunny didn't make the rules; he just knew them after years of therapy and taking note of everything that happened when OMORI took over. Like the rules about the other EMOTIONAL STATES that OMORI abided by. Whether OMORI came out or note depended on the level of emotion Sunny was feeling.)
What was he so ENRAGED about, anyway?
"S-Sunny...?"
Sunny blinked and saw that he was back in the real world. Basil was looking at him with concern. They were at his locker, and Sunny felt relieved that ENRAGED OMORI had merely taken him to that spot and not done anything... stupid.
...As far as he knew.
He took out his phone and wrote, [I had a weird day. I'll tell you about it in Garden Club,] in a text to Basil, but instead of sending it, he just showed his phone screen to him.
"Okay," Basil nodded, and he finished getting his stuff from his locker while Sunny put his phone away. He was feeling much calmer. He was sure Basil had a perfectly innocent explanation for him. He had to keep believing that or OMORI would take control again.
"F-Follow m-me," Basil said after closing his locker. Sunny nodded, and for some reason, he took hold of Basil's sleeve. It made him feel grounded. Any other thoughts or feelings he might have could be talked about in the Garden Shed. He just wanted a little bit of peace beforehand.
He followed Basil down the stairs and out the side door. Most other kids were walking toward the buses or their houses, but Basil led them against the flow and behind the school.
The Garden Shed was past the basketball court and off to the side of the path they were allowed to walk during gym. Sunny remembered when Aubrey pointed it out to him on his first day.
Aubrey.
His heart was pounding in his ears.
No. Don't think about that.
Stay calm.
"I h-have the k-key," Basil said, taking a key from his pocket. He unlocked the door, opened it, and turned the lights on.
It was different than what Sunny had expected. The shed's rustic look merged with the appearance of a greenhouse. He let go of Basil and put his bag down by the table in the middle of the shed. He took out his whiteboard and sat on a stool.
"I-It's b-built s-so I c-can m-miss s-some d-days and s-still h-have the p-plant-ts w-wat-t-tered," Basil said, breathing through his stutter. Sunny was half-listening as he tried to figure out what to write. If he just asked out of nowhere for The Truth about Aubrey, Basil might see that as an attack and freak out. But the fact was Sunny needed that Truth soon or he was going to freak out (again).
[So Aubrey confronted me during gym last period,] Sunny started. [Luckily Kel was walking with me. He knows about OMORI. Aubrey tried to make it seem like I pushed her and put gum in her hair unprompted, but Kel figured out I was provoked and OMORI stepped in.]
That was all he could fit on the whiteboard, and probably the best way to ease Basil into the subject. He put the whiteboard on the table and waited for Basil to turn back around and see it. He was probably so used to being alone that he had slipped into his normal routine, bouncing around and taking out various gardening tools and supplies. After a few long minutes of waiting, Basil finally turned around to look at Sunny. His eyes dropped to the whiteboard.
"Oh," he said, putting his hand-sized gardening shovel on the table. He pulled the whiteboard closer to himself and said again, "Oh." Sunny watched him intently, eager to continue the conversation. He saw Basil's eyes move as he read the message. His face seemed to get paler.
Sunny couldn't stand the wait. He took out the notebook they had been writing in for most of the day and recounted the event. He left out the part where he threw up in the woods because he still didn't know what had caused that. Or rather, it was too complicated for him to explain.
[I trust you,] Sunny wrote at the end, [which is why I want to hear your side of the story. I have to admit, hearing that you drew yourself in the margins around the pictures and dotted the pages with hearts does concern me a little. Though Aubrey could have made that up. That's why I wanted to ask you directly.]
Sunny felt nervous handing the notebook over to Basil, but Basil looked just as nervous. He quickly looked away from Sunny, which meant he had been watching Sunny write in the notebook for a bit. Sunny watched as Basil took the notebook and began to write. After about half a minute, Basil's face reddened and he scribbled out whatever he had just written, got up with a huff, and walked back over to the plant he had previously been attending.
"I..." He gulped nervously, looking from Sunny to his plant. "I... Um... I-I r-r-really sh-should-d t-take c-care of-f th-th-this f-f-first-t..." He was stuttering more than usual and his face had gone completely red. Sunny's heart began to beat faster. Why wouldn't Basil tell him? Was he really going to hide the truth? Maybe he really did have feelings for Aubrey or something, and everything Aubrey and Kim said was true. Why else would Basil not tell him?
Sunny tried to calm down. He couldn't risk OMORI taking over. If he did, he was sure to beat an answer out of Basil with force, and that wasn't how Sunny wanted to find out the truth, be it good or bad or... weird. He picked up his whiteboard and erased the message so he could write to Basil.
[I need you to tell me the truth now because I don't know how much longer I can fend off OMORI from trying to force it out of you. I promise I won't judge you. Please, I just need to know.]
He got up and handed the whiteboard to Basil, who had turned his back and was concentrating heavily on the plant in front of him. He startled when Sunny bumped the whiteboard against his shoulder. He watched Basil scan the message and his face turn from red to white. Then he looked up at Sunny, and Sunny could actually see the fear in his eyes.
"I'll t-t-tell y-y-you ev-v-very-yth-thing," Basil said, his anxiety coming out in his stutter, "b-b-but y-y-you h-h-have t-t-to b-b-bel-liev-ve m-m-me."
Sunny nodded. Basil still looked like he had something to say, but then he shook his head, took the whiteboard, and erased Sunny's message.
[It's really hard for me to trust people because of what I went through. It feels different with you, though, so I'm giving you my trust. Please don't take that for granted.]
Basil slid the whiteboard back to Sunny, his face extremely red, and then immediately started writing in the notebook.
This was it. He had promised that he would believe Basil, and Basil had no reason to lie to him.
Right?
Right.
They had gone through a lot in the past week, and Sunny wasn't going to take that for granted. His best friend growing up had been Mari. He wasn't a social person, even before Mari's accident and being taken out of school. He never had friends growing up, yet he had been drawn to Basil on the day they met. Sunny didn't know social norms very well, but after everything that had happened in the past week, he was ready to label Basil as his BEST FRIEND. He had always wanted a BEST FRIEND like other people had in books and movies. He was sure that happened in real life, too. He briefly wondered who Mari's best friend was. She had a lot of friends, and Sunny could vaguely remember a few girls in particular coming to their house often to hang out with her. He remembered Mari always shooing him away when they came. That had been a very long time ago. Before the accident, before Sunny was in the psych ward and Mari was in the hospital, before their parents split up and Mari went to live with their father.
No, don't think about that.
All he knew was he wanted Basil's friendship. He wanted to be really close, like the best friends in TV shows and movies.
So he needed to know Basil better. That meant getting The Truth about this feud with Aubrey. And one day Basil would have to be told about Mari's accident and everything that followed, but that seemed less pressing than this issue since Aubrey was going out of her way to cause problems for Basil (and Sunny) at school, a place Sunny now had to go five times a week, and stress like that put a strain on his emotions. He couldn't have Aubrey provoking him all the time. OMORI had already shown himself twice today, and the first time he had fought back against Aubrey. That was sure to get him in trouble down the road if things escalated.
Basil was writing quite a story. Sunny noticed all the changes of color in his face, the way his brows crinkled and then spread apart, every time he bit his lip and paused; he had also turned the notebook pages twice. A few times he glanced up at Sunny, but before Sunny could even pretend he wasn't watching, Basil was back to writing. Sunny heard a distant rumble of thunder that sent his heart racing, but the need to learn The Truth from Basil overrode his need to hide under the table because of a thunderstorm.
Finally, Basil let out a sigh and put Sunny's pen down. He slid the notebook over, looking as scared as Sunny felt. Sunny took a deep breath as he turned the notebook and began to read.
[Aubrey and I became friends in kindergarten. Kel, too. Kel kind of drifted away as we grew up because he was more interested in sports. We were both interested in plants, and Aubrey was always patient with my stutter, so she kind of became my best friend, since I wasn't very social anyway. We turned this place into the Garden Shed during our first year of middle school, since we knew we'd be able to use it through high school. It was like an after-school hangout.
Halfway through 7th grade, Aubrey met Kim. Well, Kim was in some of her classes but they didn't really become close until a few months into the school year, and so Kim joined our little Garden Club. I was happy to have another friend who liked to garden, though she mostly just helped Aubrey. I'd known Aubrey for so long, so I noticed how different she acted around Kim. One time we both went to Kim's house and she was a huge fan of that really popular ninja anime, Naruto, and Kim said Aubrey would look cute with her hair dyed pink like the main female character Sakura. When we left Kim's house, Aubrey begged me to help her dye her hair pink. That's when I realized that Aubrey liked Kim more than just a friend.
I swear I never had romantic feelings for either of them. Aubrey was like a sister to me. I don't think Kim saw it that way, and I think she started telling Aubrey stuff about me that wasn't true because she was jealous of our friendship. I can't think of any other reason why Aubrey would believe someone she knew for a few months over me, someone she knew for most her life.
Anyway, I knew Aubrey liked Kim, and it seemed obvious Kim liked her back, and of course I was happy for them. For Christmas I got one of those Polaroid photo printers that connects to your smartphone via bluetooth, so I decided I was going to make Aubrey and Kim a cute photo album of the two of them together. I liked taking pictures in secret because it shows the true nature of a person, when they don't know they're being documented. Like a little snap of a memory in time. I worked on the book in the shed on days Aubrey and Kim weren't here. I was going to give it to them on Valentine's Day. I decorated the pages with hearts, and even drew a little version of myself on some of the pages to show my support.
Unfortunately, Kim found the book while I was still working on it and immediately demonized me to Aubrey, who believed her. I really tried to explain, but Aubrey and Kim had finally officially started going out earlier that week, so she thought I had made that book when they got together because I was in love with Aubrey or something. It was hard to communicate because of my stutter, so I didn't get to explain myself before they stormed out, taking the book as evidence. I explained it all to Aubrey through text, but Aubrey blocked my number, as well as blocking me on all social media. I wrote her a note, but when I tried to give it to her, she shredded it in front of me and said there was no excuse for my secret creepy photo book. She's hated me ever since. She was my best friend and in one day, over one misunderstanding, she became my worst nightmare. I don't know what kind of lies Kim fed her about me, but it was enough to ruin our seven-year friendship.
They've been spreading rumors and tormenting me ever since. No one would even associate with me. Aubrey and/or Kim would get people to pretend to be my friend only to have them betray me in some way. Since middle school until now, I have... been in the hospital a lot. The only thing I had to live for was my plants. My parents are never around. My grandmother is bedridden. Like I told you, I kept wondering why I wasn't allowed to die whenever I... you know... But since I met you, I think I finally know the reason.
I was meant to meet you. I really do believe that, even though we've only known each other for a week. That's why I get so anxious when you don't respond to me or I think you're mad at me... I like you a lot and I'm scared to lose you, because I was betrayed so easily by someone I thought was my best friend. I can't go through that again. I really hope you understand and believe me. I'd never lie to you. You're literally all I have.]
The note had been over two pages long, front and back, and it took Sunny awhile to read the whole thing. Basil had gone back to gardening, as if to keep himself busy while Sunny read.
This made sense. Sunny felt his entire body relax. Some kind of fear had been alleviated. On one hand, he couldn't believe Aubrey would do something like that to her best friend of seven years. On the other hand, Basil had admitted how important Sunny was to him, and Sunny's heart felt so warm and full it might burst. He had completely forgotten what had made OMORI ENRAGED earlier.
[I believe you, and I'm so sorry that happened,] Sunny wrote back. [I've been homeschooled for the past four years and even before that, I never had any friends. I didn't want to start public school because I don't like people. I've fainted in stores a few times because there were too many people around me. OMORI has even taken over and tried to walk me out of stores and my mom had to rush outside and grab me. I became a shut-in with only my mom, Mari, and my doctors to interact with. I thought I was fine by myself, I was even prepared to be a loner at school, but then I met you. I also think we were fated to meet. Kel got pushed onto me by my sister and that's been a helpful friendship for sure. I guess I didn't know I needed him, either, but it does help to have an ally who knows about OMORI in school. But it still feels different when I'm with you. It feels natural. I'm not great with social cues or norms but when I'm with you, I feel like I don't have to try because you understand. So even though we've known each other a week, I would consider you my best friend. And if I have to, I'll fight the whole school to keep you.]
Sunny felt strange after writing his message. It was like a balloon of happiness had swelled inside him. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this happy. It was like Basil had been a missing puzzle piece in his life and he'd finally found him. Sunny got up, leaving the notebook on the table. Basil whipped around, as if he had been waiting for any hint of Sunny's movement. He must have been extremely worried about what Sunny wrote because he looked pale and wide-eyed. Sunny's heart was overflowing with affection, so without being able to ask permission, Sunny wrapped his arms around his friend, who froze on the spot. After a few seconds, he felt Basil's body relax and he just said, "Oh," and set his tools down so he could hug Sunny back. It was much different from the frightened hug after Sunny had had an OMORI episode. He was relaxed, warm, still smelled a bit like soil, but also some kind of fruity shampoo.
Basil's smell.
For a brief moment, everything seemed right in the world.
Then there was a loud clap of thunder.
Through pure instinct, Sunny dove under the table. He had forgotten to let go of Basil so he came crashing down with him, pretty much right on top of Sunny. Basil yelped and then Sunny heard him say, "Ow..."
Whoops. It seemed Basil had hit his head on the table. Sunny really hadn't meant to bring Basil down with him, but he had been so scared by the thunder... He wished he could say sorry, but that was hard to do without a voice.
"S-Sunny?" Basil asked, his tone filled with concern. Sunny let go of Basil and shrank farther beneath the table. Basil turned around, still rubbing his head. His eyes softened when he looked at Sunny, and Sunny felt his face heat up.
"R-Right," Basil said, standing up a bit wobbly. "Y-You d-don't l-like st-storms." Basil's feet shuffled around and then Sunny's bag was offered to him. Sunny took it graciously as another rumble of thunder, softer this time, echoed in the distance. Sunny hugged his bag to his chest. He was suddenly aware that he was in a shed, albeit a nice one inside, but it was still just a shed and he was used to the comfort of cowering from storms in a house where the true sounds of mother nature were muffled better. He could hear each drop of rain as it fell on the shed roof, quickly developing into a full downpour and more thunder.
The whiteboard was suddenly handed to him, along with the closed notebook they had been writing in. The whiteboard had a new message.
[Thank you for what you wrote in the notebook. I'll come huddle down there with you after I finish cleaning up.]
Sunny felt relief, knowing Basil would be joining him under the table soon, safe (well, safer) from the evil thunderstorm. As Basil moved around, Sunny watched his feet dance across the dirty floor. After seeing the flashes of lightning light up the ground through the shed windows, he shut his eyes and put his hands over his ears. He could still hear the thunder and feel the booming vibrations. Something solid and warm pressed against Sunny's side and his eyes shot open. Basil had sat next to him. He reached over Sunny, who found himself holding his breath, and took the whiteboard back.
[Cleaning can wait. Wanna play more Animal Crossing?]
Sunny nodded, already feeling more relaxed. When he was younger, Mari used to hold him through every thunderstorm, even at night. It was hard getting through storms after she moved out with their father. Sunny would usually just hide under his covers and play video games, putting headphones on to drown out the thunder. His phobias became worse once Mari left.
But now he had Basil, and Basil made him feel just as safe. Mari might become obsolete if this kept up. Well, she'd never be obsolete, but a lot of the emotional support she used to provide to Sunny was certainly being supplied by Basil. Having a best friend was a wonderful thing.
Sunny took out his Switch and unlocked the screen. He let Basil take it so he could explore Sunny's island. As the storm got worse, he cuddled closer to Basil, who didn't seem to mind. He still jolted a little at every rumble of thunder, reacting worse the louder it was. One particular shed-shaking crack of thunder had Sunny grabbing Basil's arm and hiding his face in Basil's shoulder. He couldn't control his breathing or how his entire body tensed up. He felt Basil rubbing his arm, which was now tightly wound around Basil's.
"E-Everyth-thing w-will be okay, I p-promise," Basil whispered to him soothingly. Sunny nodded into his neck. He kept reminding himself that he was with Basil, and Basil would protect him. He was curled up in a way that suggested he was trying to fuse himself with Basil, as if they could merge and become one functional human being. At some point, the Switch was put away safely and Basil took Sunny's hand as they huddled together under the table. Basil used his phone to put on a show and shared his earbuds with Sunny. (Sunny's right ear was plugged with his finger. He was trusting Basil to block the sounds in his left ear.) Basil put on some music app that had a playlist of loud songs, songs that specifically drowned out noise but were also good. He was thankful that Basil was being so understanding of his fear of storms. He was even holding him like Mari did. Sort of. Not as close. Maybe Mari had told him...
He silently thanked Mari. He'd have to email her later.
(OMORI SAW THAT.) (Basil snapped a picture.)
Sunny had his eyes closed so he wouldn't see the lightning. He really needed to get some kind of mask if he was going to be working in these conditions long-term. He could figure out a way to get through thunderstorms that didn't paralyze him.
(OMORI can sense your need to CALM DOWN.)
Oh god, it was BAD. He saw STRANGER and thought it Basil. STRANGER disappeared into the door. (When did he get to WHITE SPACE?) MEWO coughed up a black key. Sunny grabbed it, ignoring how gross it was, and quickly unlocked the door.
A black smog entered WHITE SPACE, something that had NEVER happened before. Sunny would have to remember to write this down when he got control of his body back. But what if he forgot it by the time he got home? He'd have to write it in The Notebook. Basil would be confused, but Sunny would explain later. Basil would accept that, right? Right.
Oh right, the FOG. He had to find out what it meant. He remembered the Rules of WHITE SPACE. This was an EMOTIONAL EVENT. Apparently one he hadn't known about. And if he was in WHITE SPACE and OMORI wasn't here, that meant it was a LEVEL 2+ EMOTION, which was even worse. He could have been having these attacks and not known it for days. Not until-
-a thunderstorm. First thunderstorm, first phobia, first friend, first week in public school.
This was a first-time event! Thank goodness. ...but that meant that this was a completely new EMOTION and he had no idea what kind of OMORI Basil was now with, and that was scarier than any of the things that led up to this event.
Also, since this was new, Sunny didn't know what to do to get his body back. What emotion was this? Why did a new one appear? And in the form of a monster?
Just like Sunny knew that STRANGER's name was STRANGER, Sunny knew that this entity was SOMETHING.
SOMETHING felt familiar.
SOMETHING was always watching him.
That was why SOMETHING had appeared. SOMETHING saw his true fears.
...Fear...
FEAR!
He was SCARED.
No.
AFRAID.
SCARED must be LEVEL 1. Sunny hoped he could remember that realization.
He tried to attack the fog.
Nothing happened.
Sunny felt the wind get sucked out of him.
SOMETHING laughed, sounding like an ambulance. Sunny felt AFRAID.
"It's not as scary as you think!"
Mari's mantra rang in his ears. Audibly, like she had just said the words to him. She'd said that every time it stormed and Sunny needed to be held like a child because he was scared. His parents assured him it was a common fear and would go away, but if anything, it got worse. Why hadn't they prepared him for experiencing a thunderstorm in an unknown location?
Just relax. Breathe.
CALM DOWN.
The fog vanished. Sunny only had a second to process WHITE SPACE before he opened his eyes.
Had that been STRANGER who said CALM DOWN?
Sunny jolted back into his body, forgetting all about the storm and sitting up, causing himself to hit his head on the underside of the table. Basil scrambled back, no doubt startled by Sunny's sudden change in demeanor. In this light, his face looked red.
What kind of OMORI had been with Basil until now?
Despite his ringing headache from hitting his head so hard, he scrambled to get up. He had to write down everything that had just happened!
No, he had to tell Basil not to worry first!
These two priorities conflicted with each other.
No, he could split the work in two. He found the whiteboard and the notebook by some miracle. On the whiteboard he quickly wrote, [Will explain later. How long was I like that?] Then he started writing everything he could remember from WHITE SPACE. He heard Basil splutter next to him as he wrote back on the whiteboard. When it was pushed next to Sunny, he looked over.
[Like... Like what?]
Sunny erased the message and wrote, [However I was just before I hit my head on the table. Because I was actually in WHITE SPACE until then, and something weird happened so I have to write it down before I forget, and all I have for that is our notebook, sorry.] He immediately went back to writing in the notebook.
Basil wrote something on the whiteboard. His hands were rigid, like he was trying not to let them shake. Sunny was desperate to keep writing, but he could see that familiar gloss in Basil's eyes that meant he needed an answer now.
The two priorities battled.
Basil won.
It was okay if he let some OMORI stuff slide; it might happen around Basil a lot, and he could take more accurate notes then. He looked at the whiteboard.
[Did I do something wrong?]
...What?
Was this... a joke???
Sunny wanted to laugh. Why on EARTH would Basil think it was HIS FAULT?!!
[No, what? Why would it be? This has nothing to do with you.] He laughed as he handed the whiteboard back to Basil. Basil let out a breath and read the reply. He seemed really relieved by it. So much so that-
-Basil just fell asleep. Magically back in their corner. And Sunny continued writing in the notebook about what he could remember. [Uhhhh... Fog... Crap... I can't remember. I thought I hurt my friend's feelings and I prioritized him above writing down what happened while I was in WHITE SPACE. But with Basil around, it'll happen again, right? It won't happen again. Please let me stay in public school! Even if you don't, I'll still see him. You can't stop me. I don't care. I've grown attached to something in this world I'm willing to fight for. Even on days when I regress, I'm better with him. You wouldn't understand. We connect in a way no one will ever understand.]
Just as he finished writing, Basil woozily got up. Sunny looked at him and smiled, urging him to read the whiteboard:
[My problem has nothing to do with you.]
Basil still didn't look convinced, but he wrote back, [Before you "woke up," you were just curled up tightly next to me. I thought you were sleeping.]
Sunny made sure to put that in his notes. He was relieved that whichever OMORI had taken his place just had him do nothing.
Sunny apologized about having to rip pages out of their notebook. He felt truly bad, but Basil couldn't see this much of OMORI yet. He couldn't risk scaring Basil off as a friend. He had the uncontrollable need to just be around him. He didn't know why, and he didn't question it. It was something UNBREAKABLE. And he would protect it at all costs. Not even Mari compared to how much happiness Basil made Sunny feel.
He HAD hit his head pretty hard. He liked Basil but surely he would never choose him over Mari, his own sister?
No. Don't think about that. That would never happen anyway. Case closed.
(OMORI would remember that.)
Sunny thought about how well Basil had treated him during the storm. With anyone else, that would have been a disaster. It was like Basil just knew what to do, although he'd been holding Sunny in a completely different way from Mari. Mari would pull Sunny into her lap and sing during thunderstorms. Basil just put his arm around him and shared soothing music via one strand of the earbuds. (And Sunny had some kind of weird OMORI EMOTIONAL explosion while being held soothingly by Basil. All friends must do that if Mari did it for him, right?)
He texted his mom to pick him up from school. The storm had let up and they had been in the shed well past club hours. Sunny offered Basil a ride home, but Basil said he still had some gardening to do before he could leave. Sunny apologized again for interrupting Garden Club, but Basil assured him it was okay and that Sunny's health mattered more. Sunny promised to text him when he got home, and Basil did the same.
When Sunny got back, he put the pages torn from his sunflower notebook into the black notebook he used to record important OMORI-related things.
It was only a matter of time before he would have to show these new developments to someone, like his mom, Mari, or his therapist. But he was so scared they would tell him that he couldn't be friends with Basil anymore, because he was causing Sunny to have too many OMORI incidents.
He could handle OMORI. He couldn't handle losing Basil. That just wasn't an option.
Notes:
I hope you all enjoyed that! :) Had a LOT of help from my wonderful beta who is actually staying with me for a month, so expect lots of fresh Sunflower content in the future~
This is really just the tip of the iceberg for this fic tbh.Thank you for reading! And as always, please ignore the notes after this one, they are my notes from my first chapter and they pop up after each new chapter I publish and I haven't been able to fix that.
Chapter 11: Sunshine
Summary:
Sunny and Basil begin to work through their problems together.
Notes:
Thank you all for waiting patiently for this chapter! I'm sorry it took so long to get out. I'm already writing chapter 12 though.
Hope you enjoy!tw: referenced implied past suicide attempts, emetophobia
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
___
Here comes the sun
Here come the blazing amazing miracle sun
And it's raging on and still, we'll blaze along
On until the day is done
___
"Sunny, what happened at Garden Club today?" Mari asked. She had texted Sunny while he was eating dinner that she wanted to video call him, so here he was, an hour before bedtime- he was so tired- talking to Mari on a Monday night. "Mom said it stormed there before she picked you up. Were you okay?"
Sunny almost didn't know what to tell her. He for sure was NOT going to tell her about the new OMORI... "experience" he had. There was still too much risk of potentially losing Basil.
'I was scared, of course,' he signed to her. 'I hid under the table. Basil comforted me, though, just like you used to, but also a little different. Obviously he's not you.'
"Well, yeah," Mari chuckled, "he's your friend and I'm your sister. I get to hold you and protect you in my arms and keep you safe. What did Basil do?"
'He kind of held me. You're not going to be mad about that, are you? I didn't know that was a sister-only thing. It helped me and that's what matters, right?' Sunny was getting nervous. He didn't want Mari to feel like he was replacing her. Obviously no one could replace her; she was his sister and he loved her very much, more than anyone in the world.
"He 'kind of' held you? What do you mean by that?" Mari asked. She didn't look mad, which made Sunny feel relieved, but she did look like she was thinking about... something.
Sunny told her how Basil had joined him under the table and shared some music with him from an app on his phone. He was a little embarrassed when he admitted to her that he had kind of snuggled up to Basil, but Basil hadn't seemed to mind, and he'd felt that same kind of protection from the storm as when Mari would hold him.
"I see..." Mari said thoughtfully, and once again there was that twinkle in her eyes that meant she knew something Sunny didn't, which always kind of annoyed him.
'He was very understanding,' Sunny went on. 'I couldn't have picked a better friend.'
"Kel's a good friend too, right?" Mari said a little defensively.
'Yeah, he's nice,' Sunny replied, 'but it definitely feels different with Basil. He just understands me better.'
"Well, can't say I'm surprised," Mari said, and Sunny swore he saw a secret in her eyes. He was too tired to give it much thought.
'Kel is also very understanding, but he has too much energy for me,' Sunny went on, 'but I do appreciate him being my friend.'
"Mmhm," Mari winked at him.
'Why are you acting weird?' Sunny asked, starting to feel annoyed.
"Oh, sorry. Just something I learned in class today," Mari waved his concern away. "Anyway, I'm glad you made it through a thunderstorm! Maybe with friends around it will get easier to get through things like thunderstorms and some of your other phobias."
Sunny just shrugged. He doubted his phobias would ever go away.
...Then again...
(Hadn't Basil being in the hospital superseded his fear of hospitals?)
Well, he was still scared of hospitals, so hopefully no one he loved would ever be in one again, and that phobia wouldn't even be an issue.
'I was thinking,' Sunny began, 'just in case there's another storm while I'm at Garden Club... I could make something to cover my eyes so I won't see the lightning.'
Mari burst into laughter, and Sunny narrowed his eyes. He was being serious! Why was she laughing?
"Mute AND blind...! Sunny, c'mon, now."
'I'm serious! Wouldn't that solve my problem?' Sunny signed in a huff.
"How are you going to pot a plant if you can't see, let alone write on your whiteboard to ask Basil what you should be doing?"
Sunny pouted.
'I won't be able to function during a storm anyway,' he told her with an annoyed snort. 'At least if I can't see the lightning flash, I will be less scared.'
"What about the thunder?" Mari asked a little snarkily.
'I'll wear headphones and play loud music.'
"Sunny... that's really not practical," Mari sighed. "You're going to have to face your thunderstorm fear if you want to be able to function. You don't have to be completely unafraid," she said fast, seeing Sunny roll his eyes, "just... more used to it. You wanted to be part of this Garden Club, so you're going to have to adapt to your surroundings."
Sunny stuck his tongue out at his sister.
"Okay, crankypants, I think it's bedtime for you," Mari snickered. "You always get so childish when you're tired. Love you~"
'Love you, too,' Sunny signed before logging off. He shut down his computer, unplugged it, and then went downstairs to tell his mom he was going to bed and also to take his nighttime meds. He went back upstairs, brushed his teeth, and curled up in bed. He texted goodnight to Basil so he would know he was going to bed, though Basil hadn't answered any of his messages since he had texted that he was home safe and Basil replied with "okay."
He hadn't really thought anything about that because he had been so tired from the day's events, but now that he was thinking about it, it was weird that Basil hadn't answered him at all. Sunny had texted him when he was eating dinner because he wouldn't have been able to answer his texts at that time and the last time he didn't do that, Basil had some kind of breakdown. But now that Basil hadn't responded to any of his other texts sent during the evening, he worried if Basil was okay. He didn't have too much time to dwell on it, though, because his meds combined with the entire day had him fully asleep within minutes.
There were no more storms forecasted for the week, and that let Sunny finally be able to enjoy Garden Club. Basil hadn't lied when he said he would put Sunny to work; his hands developed blisters on his first "real" day. Basil went easy on him after that. (He even brought in gloves and blister ointment the next day, and for some reason he acted strange, as though he himself had harmed Sunny. Sunny assured him he was fine and it would just have to be another thing he'd get used to, but Basil looked gloomy the whole day.)
By the end of the week, Sunny and Basil had already formed a rhythm for getting the daily chores done and didn't even need to communicate with words about them. Sunny felt great during those first ten minutes (it used to be twenty when Basil did it himself) of watering the plants, checking the emergency and backup generators for the sprinklers (which were set to go off at midnight if the override button wasn't pushed that day), and then the little things like temperature control and checking the supply of backup water.
At first, Sunny had asked how all that emergency stuff was put into a small building that looked from the outside like a garden shack.
Basil had answered, [Well... My parents used to work here before I was born, and they offered the school a deal with their research... stuff. I don't really know what my parents do. They left me-]
Sunny had been watching Basil write because he was interested, but as soon as he wrote "They left me-," he erased it quickly with his palm.
(OMORI SAW THAT.)
Basil's face went bright red. He hastily wrote, [My parents have really important research jobs involving plants. They work for the government.]
Sunny didn't ask any more questions after that. If they worked for the government, their research must be top secret, right?
[I'll keep your secret,] Sunny wrote back. When Basil looked at him, he pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key. Basil kept staring at him weird.
Oh, right! He couldn't talk!
Sunny began to mime tying up his own hands. He imagined it was probably a very hard thing to do, considering he could barely tie his own shoes. He always wore slip-on shoes. He felt bad about shoes because Mari-
No. Don't think about tha-
Basil had burst into laughter, breaking Sunny out of his running thoughts. It was such a relief that Sunny began laughing, too. He had grown attached to the sound of Basil laughing (after all, he had also heard him crying, which Sunny felt was the opposite of noises he liked).
Basil quickly stopped laughing, and Sunny did, too, feeling the tension in the room shoot back up. Basil quickly erased his message and wrote, [What was that noise?! Are you hurt?]
Sunny stared at the board. He didn't understand.
[I laughed? Because you were laughing...] Sunny wrote, a weight suddenly dragging him down. Something wasn't right.
[I've heard you laugh before, that was something... medical. Sunny, are you SURE YOU'RE OKAY?!]
Basil looked really scared. Sunny felt something squeezing him. Maybe there was something wrong with him.
He couldn't keep himself together. Sunny put his arm over his face and sunk to the floor. He didn't know why, but he suddenly couldn't feel his legs. It felt like the world was ending.
Of course Basil would hate the sound of his laugh. It was weird and breathy because he didn't have vocal chords, especially when he laughed really hard. His family was used to it, but real laughter was beautiful, especially Basil's.
"S-S-Sunny, I'm-m-m s-s-so-!"
Sunny suddenly felt arms around him.
<"What Basil means to say is that he's sorry."> Mari's small voice came from Basil's phone, which was on the ground next to them. (The screen looked a bit cracked, had it fallen?) <"He didn't know how important him liking your laughter was. That's kind of a weird one, Sunshine, let's be honest.">
Sunshine...
Mari always called him that when everything was okay. It was like a trigger word so that Sunny would be instantly calm after...
...after an OMORI attack where he overreacted to something trivial (according to his sister) that led to developing a phobia.
...Had he really been that upset that Basil was scared by his laughter? How could Basil have possibly known when he himself hadn't known that would upset him? It really was a trivial thing.
Stupid, really.
God, he was stupi-
"A-Are y-you o-o-okay n-n-now?" Basil sniffed, pulling back. Once again, Basil pulled him away from his racing thoughts. Sunny smiled and nodded, wiping his very wet cheeks. He pointed to the phone.
"O-Oh, r-r-right, M-Mari," Basil said, picking up his phone and turning the screen around so that Sunny could see.
"Okay, so Basil texted me and said he was pretty sure you were dying," Mari began, "so I video called immediately and saw you crying so hard you were wheezing. I asked Basil what had upset you so much, and he said he didn't understand why I wasn't more concerned by the way you sounded. You suddenly became still, and I knew OMORI had come out. I asked him what you were so upset about and then I translated the sign language for Basil: 'HE IS UPSET BASIL THOUGHT HIS LAUGHTER SOUNDED BAD WHEN HE THINKS BASIL'S IS BEAUTIFUL. MAKE IT RIGHT.' That's when Basil dropped the phone and I heard him apologize and translated that, too."
Basil's face was red for some reason (though he had just been crying), but he kept holding the phone up.
'I don't know why I reacted like that,' Sunny signed, still sniffling. 'I was trying to show Basil that I wouldn't say anything about... something, so I mimicked the zipper-key thing you always do," and he went on to sign the rest of the story, Basil glancing at him every so often. 'That's when he heard how I sound when I REALLY laugh, and it scared him. I just wasn't expecting it.'
Mari translated what Sunny said for Basil's sake and then said, "So what's this secret you and Sunny are hiding from me, huh?"
Basil hung up the phone.
Sunny nodded.
Best Mari didn't find out about the secret government jobs.
On Friday, Sunny made a slip-up. It was cloudy and frigid, which already had him feeling off, so he didn't realize the weight behind the question he asked Basil.
[Why do you have to go through such a process so that the sprinklers won't go off?] Sunny wrote in their notebook (they decided that was easier than the whiteboard except for short messages, since they could write as much as they wanted and didn't need to erase the other's words).
When Basil saw the message, his face drained of all color. Sunny could practically see the life drain from his eyes. Alarmed, Sunny snatched the notebook back and scribbled out the question, writing under it, [Nevermind. What plants do you want me to check on today?]
He tried to give the notebook back to show Basil not to mind that previous question, but Basil had disappeared. His ears perked to the sound of Basil's breathing (which sounded fast, like he had just run a marathon), and he looked around the table to see Basil sitting on the ground as though he had fallen over, but his eyes were wide and he was sweating. He looked like a gulping fish out of water.
Sunny dropped the notebook and ran over. He knew what a panic attack looked like (well, he knew what it felt like, and Basil looked exactly how it felt) and he knew how to help, thanks to Mari (at least, he hoped he did).
Sunny bent down before realizing that he couldn't communicate with Basil, and just getting near Basil seemed to make his panic worse. Sunny looked around for anything, ANYTHING he could write on, but there was nothing. The floor was pretty filthy, though, with loose soil on every inch. It would be gross, but he could always wash his hands later. Basil was more important than a dirty, possibly slimy floor.
[Deep breaths,] Sunny managed to scribble on the floor upside-down so Basil could read it. He ignored all the dirt that got caked under his nails. He saw Basil read the words and then look at him with even more panic in his eyes. Sunny signed, 'Breathe,' which involved a deep breath along with hand gestures. He hoped Basil would understand.
After a very tense few seconds that felt like an eternity, he saw Basil's eyes dart from the messy writing to Sunny. To his surprise, Basil began to mimic him, hands and all.
Deep breaths.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Slowly, Basil began to calm down. He still looked terrified, but his breathing was stable.
"T-T-Teach-ch m-m-m-me m-m-mor-r-re w-w-wor-r-rd-d-ds," Basil managed to say through heavy breaths. Sunny was a little surprised, but Basil looked really desperate, so if that was what he wanted, Sunny would teach him everything he knew.
Except he didn't know where to start.
Names?
No. Basil would find out about his nickname and that was way too embarrassing.
"P-P-P-Please," Basil sobbed, his breathing speeding up again. Sunny nodded vigorously and Basil calmed back down. He always felt this sharp, cold pain stab through his heart when Basil cried. Sunny wiped his hands on his pants, trying to clean them off the best he could, and then reached out to tilt Basil's face back up so he would be able to see Sunny's hand signs. Basil went strangely still when Sunny touched his face, but Sunny thought he probably just hadn't been expecting it. He took his hand away and Basil watched him with wide eyes (probably still in panic mode) and his full attention. Sunny was glad to see the color returning to Basil's face.
Sunny pointed to himself and then with his right hand he spelled out, 'S-U-N-N-Y.' He pointed back at himself. Then he spelled his name again, but slower. Again, he pointed to himself. Basil seemed to suddenly snap back to reality and asked," I-Is that-t y-y-your-r n-n-name?"
Sunny nodded and Basil's face finally broke out into a smile, unclenching the knot of anxiety that had been inside Sunny's body.
"Ag-gain-n?" Basil stuttered. "I'll t-t-try al-long-g." Sunny nodded, his body feeling so much lighter. He sat in a more comfortable position on the floor (he had been on his knees that whole time, and boy, did they hurt!) and made the letter "s" with his hand. It was basically just a fist, but since Basil had seen him spell his name twice already, he knew what it was. Basil held up his right fist, mirroring Sunny. Then Sunny changed to make "u" which looked like making a peace sign, but the fingers sticking out were pressed together. Basil changed his right hand to copy the new letter.
The letter "n" was a little trickier. There were multiple ways to sign double letters, but Sunny had never really thought about it until he got to "n." He had made "n" twice when he was trying to calm Basil down, but if he were to spell this out in reality, he would make the letter "n" and then do a little dippy-loop motion before "y." So he decided to do that motion and see how Basil would react.
Basil looked confused at first but mimicked Sunny anyway. For some strange reason, Sunny felt relieved. Then he made the symbol for "y" which was pointing your thumb and pinky out. Basil looked confused again as he mimicked him. Sunny nodded with excitement, his face heating up from feeling the accomplishment of something he was proud of: he'd taught Basil his name in sign language!
Immediately, Basil repeated the double "n" movement and said, "S-so, l-low s-s-sw-woop-p f-for d-d-doub-ble l-lett-t-t-ers."
Wow. Sunny was impressed that he had figured that out all on his own.
Or maybe it was actually something really simple. He had been homeschooled most of his life... It was really dumb of him to think of this as some kind of accomplishment when Basil had done so much more in his life.
"T-Teach m-me m-more," Basil said, snapping Sunny out of his mental downward spiral. Basil's eyes were now gleaming instead of distressed. He looked excited. Sunny felt the familiar warmth that filled his stomach whenever he made Basil happy about something. If learning ASL would make Basil happy now, he'd teach him.
After all, the plants had an automatic watering system, and Sunny had asked his question before the usual routine of turning it off had commenced.
School had been going pretty well. Aubrey and Kim mostly left them alone, thanks to Kel. For some reason, it was almost like they were afraid of him, despite showing no fear when yelling accusations at them back when Sunny first started school. He couldn't help feeling like they were planning something, but without them interfering in their lives, Sunny saw Basil slowly looking more confident each day. He had watched Basil act so timid during school, but so free during Garden Club. Aside from the stray misunderstanding, Sunny and Basil hadn't had any more big incidents or OMORI attacks (as Basil called them).
The first weekend in October, Basil invited Sunny for a weekend sleepover. Mari was staying at school most weekends (and according to Kel, so was Hero; Sunny suspected that wasn't a coincidence), so Sunny had actually been able to hang out with Basil (and sometimes Kel when he wasn't practicing basketball) over the weekends. It always felt... empty when they were apart. Whenever Basil left his house, it always felt like a part of Sunny left with him. It was such a strange feeling, but Sunny figured that was probably what it felt like to have a best friend, always wanting to be around each other. So when Basil asked if he would be okay spending the weekend at his house, Sunny immediately wrote, [Yes!!] in their notebook.
A whole weekend with Basil! They could do so much! They could play video games together or watch TV shows together! They were constantly talking about shows they should watch together.
Sunny was excited to see Basil's house again. Basil had been coming over to his house, so he hadn't been back since the first week of school. He was very interested to see Basil's backyard greenhouse that he mentioned here and there in their conversations. Apparently, he grew his own herbs and a few vegetables. Sunny definitely wanted to see that, even though he didn't like vegetables very much.
Basil seemed startled by Sunny's fast reply, but he smiled.
[You'll help me tend my plants, right?] he wrote back in the notebook.
Sunny wrote back, [Nope. I'm going to make you do all the work and I get to be on vacation. ;p]. Basil snorted and playfully gave Sunny a light punch on the arm.
When Sunny got home, he hurriedly started packing a bag with anything he might need for the weekend. He had already texted his mom about staying over at Basil's, to which she had replied with some concern, but Sunny insisted so she gave in. She did make him promise to keep her updated, just in case something happened (meaning, in case he had an OMORI attack). Sunny had been doing pretty well, so he wasn't worried. He made sure to pack all of his medications. He was so excited that he forgot to pack any whiteboards, something he only remembered when he had already walked halfway to Basil's house.
Well, I have our notebook, Sunny thought, not wanting to walk all the way back.
Sunny had barely gotten to the sidewalk in front of Basil's yard when Basil burst from his door, a huge, beaming smile spread across his face.
"Sunny!" he declared happily, hugging him as if they hadn't seen each other in months. Sunny didn't mind, though; Basil's hugs were like being wrapped in the weighted blanket that Mari had bought him for his birthday; all his anxieties just melted away and he felt safe and secure. It was almost addicting.
"C-Come on. I j-just p-put on a p-pot of w-water t-to b-boil f-for some of m-my h-homem-made s-sunf-flower t-tea! Y-You've g-got t-to t-try it!"
And just like that, the weighted blanket was yanked away, leaving Sunny feeling cold and anxious.
...Tea?
He hated tea. Any kind of tea. No matter what Mari said during the countless times she had him taste test what was probably every kind of tea in the world, it never tasted like anything but dirt. And Mari had made him try a LOT of teas that were supposedly fruity or sweet, and every time it was like drinking the earth, no matter how much sugar or flavoring was added. And Sunny had never been able to keep even a single sip down.
But Basil looked so happy and sounded so proud of his homemade sunflower tea, which sounded good in theory, but Sunny knew what fate lay ahead of him.
No. This was important to Basil. He could see in the way his blue eyes sparkled as he happily led Sunny through his front door that Basil was incredibly proud of his tea.
Please, Sunny silently begged, if there is any kind of merciful deity listening to me, do NOT let me throw up Basil's tea.
After Sunny let himself get pulled inside, he quickly took out their notebook so he could write to Basil. [I forgot to bring whiteboards, sorry. We'll have to just write in this.]
"Th-That-t's o-okay," Basil said brightly. Sunny smiled back nervously. He was trying to think of any excuse to get out of having to drink tea without hurting Basil's feelings or lying. But he didn't have time to think of anything before his ears perked to the sound of a tea kettle whistling.
"Oh, t-tea's al-l-lm-most r-ready!" Basil said excitedly, and Sunny's stomach dropped. He couldn't disappoint Basil. If that meant drinking gross hot leaf juice, then so be it.
Sunny sat at the table in the kitchen and watched as Basil poured steaming water into two flowery mugs. It looked like the tea leaves were sitting in some kind of strainer resting on top of the mugs. Sunny had never seen Basil look so happy and at peace, not even during Garden Club. Sunny couldn't quell the dread slowly creeping through his body as Basil said, "M-My own s-spec-cial b-blend-d, w-with a h-hint-t of s-sun-nflow-wer~"
The more Sunny dreaded this, the faster time seemed to move. Basil had removed the tea strainers and was already drinking his cup when he looked at Sunny expectantly.
It was time.
Sunny took hold of the mug (he was sure the tea inside would be hotter) and took a sip.
It took everything he had not to spit it right back out. He forced himself to swallow the earthy water and set his mug back down.
"G-Good, r-right-t?" Basil beamed at him. Sunny smiled back and nodded, his stomach already churning.
"BASIL! CAN YOU HELP ME WITH THIS?!" Sunny heard Polly yelling from upstairs.
"I'll b-be r-right-t b-back," Basil said as he went to go help Polly with whatever she needed. As soon as Sunny heard Basil ascending the stairs, he took his mug and quickly ran over to the sink. Pouring out the whole thing would be too suspicious, so Sunny carefully poured out what he thought was an acceptable amount to have drunk while Basil was gone.
"W-What are y-you d-doing-g?"
Sunny's head whipped around. How long had Basil been standing there? Sunny hadn't heard him come down the stairs. He looked at his mug and it was empty. He hadn't meant to pour all of it out.
OMORI...?
"Y-You d-d-didn't-t-t... l-l-lik-ke.... d-d-didn't-t-t.... l-l-lik-ke...?"
Basil couldn't even finish the sentence.
He'd fucked up. He'd hurt Basil again. Why did he keep hurting Basil? Why couldn't he do anything right? The mug slipped out of his hand and bounced in the sink (not breaking, luckily). Sunny's legs gave out and he fell against the counter.
He was awful. He was the worst. Basil had been so happy and he ruined that. He felt the special sunflower tea rise up his throat. He slapped his hands over his mouth, willing it to go back down. He couldn't move his legs, he'd never make it to the bathroom in time, and he felt he would instantly perish of humiliation if threw up all over Basil's kitchen floor. He squeezed his eyes shut. He wished he was anywhere but Basil's house right now. He'd even take WHITE SPACE.
"Here."
Sunny opened his eyes. His vision was blurry and his hands and face were wet. He must've been crying. He blinked and saw a trashcan in front of him. He gagged, his hands still over his mouth.
"It's ok-kay."
He felt a hand rubbing his back.
Basil's hand. And that was Basil's soothing voice. He was barely stuttering. He couldn't get sick in front of Basil. He just couldn't. He gagged hard again.
It was inevitable. He grabbed the trash can and finally let his body get it over with. He wished he could just disappear. Out of all the times OMORI could take over his body, this somehow wasn't one of them?! When he felt absolutely mortified?! If the trash can wasn't vomit-y, he'd put his head directly in it to hide himself. He was still hyperaware of Basil rubbing his back. His face felt incredibly hot. What must Basil think of him? He couldn't stop himself from bursting back into tears. He put the trash can down and hid his face in his hands.
He gasped when he felt arms around him.
Basil was hugging him.
Basil was hugging him despite the fact that he had just dumped out his special tea and thrown up in front of him.
He stopped crying and Basil pulled back. He heard a shuffling noise and saw their sunflower notebook. Basil had already written in it, [What happened? Are you okay?]
Sunny sniffed hard and wiped his face.
[I'm sorry,] he wrote under Basil's words. [I knew you were excited about the tea and I... don't like tea. It makes me sick. And I've tried all the teas that probably exist because my sister loves tea, and I got sick every single time. But I didn't want you to think it wasn't good, because it probably is the best tea in the world, but I'd never be able to tell and I didn't want to upset you. You were... so excited about it. I didn't want to disappoint you.]
It took a long time to write, and in that time, Basil had gotten him some napkins, poured a glass of water, and emptied the trash. After he finished washing his hands, he sat back down next to Sunny. He didn't seem upset at all; in fact, he just looked concerned. It was confusing Sunny. Sunny nudged the notebook over to Basil. He watched anxiously as he read the reply, but Basil looked just as confused as Sunny did. Sunny watched his face get more and more confused until Basil looked him dead in the eye and said, without stuttering, "What?"
Suddenly Sunny felt... SCARED.
Basil was pitch black.
(OMORI can sense your need to CALM DOWN.)
WHAT WAS WRONG WITH BASIL?!
In a blind panic, Sunny wrapped his arms around Basil, willing whatever was wrong to go away. He couldn't lose Basil. He just couldn't. He would protect him from everything.
Basil squirmed, trying to free himself.
He didn't want Sunny.
Sunny let him go, feeling SAD.
"Sunny, please! Just TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Basil screamed. Not a single stutter.
Sunny was AFRAID. For just a moment, he was still. He didn't know why, but he picked up the notebook.
[Please don't leave me,] Sunny wrote. He didn't feel like himself when he wrote it. He felt...
[I'd never leave you. I've been scared you will leave me.] Basil's cheeks flushed.
(OMORI SAW THAT.)
Sunny was so relieved that he laughed, and Basil laughed with him.
They were the same.
[Next time just tell me when you don't like something,] Basil wrote back after they finished laughing. [It's not your fault you don't like something I do. That's not going to make me stop being your friend. I should have asked you first if you liked tea. I just assumed you did because I'd never met anyone who didn't. That was my bad.]
The rest of the day and night went smoothly. They sat on Basil's bed and played more Animal Crossing, Basil giving Sunny helpful tips and bringing over some rare-colored flowers so Sunny wouldn't have to worry about flower breeding, which was apparently a Big Deal. (Basil had written an entire notebook page about how he bred blue roses, the most complicated flower to breed in the game. Sunny was glad he didn't have to do any of that because he was busy organizing his island, having just unlocked terraforming.) Then they started watching a cartoon Basil assured Sunny he would like if he gave it a chance. Sunny loved any kind of animation but he was mostly an anime watcher, but Basil was the opposite, so he gave it a try. It only took a few episodes to get Sunny hooked on Steven Universe, and Basil looked overjoyed that Sunny was enjoying it.
[I won't spoil it, but season one is long and after you get past that, it gets even better!] Basil had written to him.
Sunny started nodding off around two in the morning, so Basil suggested he take his meds and go to sleep. Polly had blown up an air mattress for Sunny to sleep on in Basil's room.
"G-Goodn-night," Basil said after Sunny was all tucked in.
'Goodnight,' Sunny signed back, knowing Basil would know what it meant, and considering the smile Basil gave him, he was right.
That night, OMORI quietly texted Mari with Sunny's phone.
<2:30 am>
Sunny: GOAL HAS CHANGED TO BASIL
Mari texted back almost immediately.
<2:31 am>
Mari: OMORI, LET'S HAVE A PICNIC.
<2:31 am>
Sunny: AGREED.
Then they both deleted their messages, the only way to get rid of them permanently on both sides so Sunny would never know.
Notes:
So that whole "tea" thing was based on the fact that I myself do not like tea. It doesn't make me sick, I just don't like it, and my sister really did have me taste test like, a million different kinds of tea bc she loves tea and has SO many different kinds. That happened when I was still in high school lol Anyway, then my beta came over and stayed for a month and she LOVES tea, drank like at least two cups a day, and I never realized that my sister's loose-leaf tea strainer looks like a giant sunflower until my beta was constantly using it lol (my sister bought her one as a holiday gift since she was here for Hanukkah) and I got the idea about Basil making special sunflower tea and Sunny not liking it but didn't want to hurt Basil's feelings...
I think we all can agree that Basil grows his own teas lol. Well, it's canon in my fic, at least.Oh boy, the next chapter though.... ehehehe~
Also realized the day after Basil's bday is this fic's 1 year anniversary and that's so wild to me. It's almost been a year since I started writing this. Thank you all so much for reading and enjoying my fic. A very special thank you to my beta, because I don't know where I would be without her. This fic for sure would not have lasted. I'm still always surprised and honored when she tells me how good my writing is considering she was an English/lit major and is in the process of getting her own books published, and I can't even read (well I can, it's just hard bc ~A.D.D.~) [what up, I'm MissNewGoomy, I'm almost 29 and I never fucking learned how to read]
I'm not going to rush myself with the next chapter, although it would be nice to get it out on Basil's bday, but my own bday is in two weeks (Basil and I are Aquarius buddies~) not that my bday prevents me from writing, I just don't wanna stress.Anyway, thanks for sticking with me, new and old readers alike! And as always, please ignore the notes after this one, they are my notes from my first chapter and they pop up after each new chapter I publish and I haven't been able to fix that.
Chapter 12: SUNNY
Notes:
Can you believe I published chapter 1 of this fic over a year ago? It was the day after Basil's Birthday. Can't believe a whole year has gone by. Thank you for being patient, everyone! I promise there is so much good stuff in store! :)
TW: mentions of unaliving attempts (nothing graphic at all but still wanted to tw just in case)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
---
'Til the day is won and done
Gonna rage on into the sun
---
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE.
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER.
Those words were the first thing OMORI ever saw. All he ever knew was the white void in which he lived. He could hear echoes of voices and wondered where they came from. Little by little, things began appearing.
A single black lightbulb hanging down from the sky.
A comfy white rug.
And then, a laptop.
OMORI turned on the laptop and was shown a completely different world. A world of colors and sounds, though it was really hard to hear even with the laptop at max volume. He couldn't speak, but he could understand what the people on the screen were saying. It easily became his favorite thing, just watching this unknown world through the laptop. Sometimes he would see hands appear, and it didn't take long to realize that he was looking out of the eyes of someone else. Someone apparently named "Sunny" who couldn't talk either, but used his hands to communicate to others. He had a SISTER whom he would follow around a lot. He had a MOM and a DAD who seemed to be the ones in charge.
OMORI became obsessed with Sunny's life (it wasn't like he had anything better to do in this timeless white void) and watched Sunny grow up. Sunny did a lot of things during the day, but there was always a weird time at night when Sunny got onto a strange, soft box and then everything went dark, until he got off the box the next morning. Apparently, this was called "sleeping."
OMORI tried to sleep a few times, but it was pretty boring. He guessed it was different for Sunny, since whatever Sunny was, he wasn't like OMORI. OMORI didn't sleep, OMORI didn't eat, OMORI didn't bathe, and OMORI couldn't do whatever it was that happened in the bowl thing in the bathing area. All these things got a bit repetitive, but OMORI liked when cool things happened to Sunny. And every day he wished for Sunny to have an amazing day so he could see something he'd never seen before.
The first EMOTION OMORI ever felt was ANGER. Sunny had taken a book, one that was important to THE SISTER. THE SISTER had gotten angry at him. Sunny didn't have a voice, so he couldn't tell THE SISTER why he was taking away the book. But OMORI knew why. He could hear Sunny's thoughts, even though Sunny didn't have a voice.
<Why don't you understand me?!>
{I understand you, Sunny!}
Suddenly, OMORI felt heavy. His eyes squinted at seeing color through his whole vision for the first time.
Something was wrong.
"SUNNY?! MOMMY, COME QUICK! SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH SUNNY! HE JUST COLLAPSED!"
He...
He was Sunny?!
It was complete sensory overload. He was suddenly smelling things and feeling things he never had before. And everything was SO LOUD and there was SO MUCH of it! He HATED it. He wanted to go back to WHITE SPACE. How did he get back to WHITE SPACE?!
"SUNNY?! OH MY GOD, SUNNY?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
I'M NOT SUNNY, I'M OMORI! I'M OMORI! I DON'T LIKE IT HERE!
"What were you doing before this happened?!"
"Sunny took my piano book and wouldn't give it back and I need it for practice and I was yelling at him-!"
Was that what crying sounded like? OMORI looked over at THE SISTER. He had seen her do that before. He didn't like it. It was boring.
A strange numbness engulfed him and OMORI found himself back in WHITE SPACE. He was so relieved to just be back and not wherever that had been that he just lay flat on his back, watching the black lightbulb.
...Until he got bored and sat back up to see if anything had changed on the laptop. He was a little scared that he would be sucked back into that other world, but he had to know if that had even been... real, if others were reacting to Sunny differently. Because if not, maybe he had just imagined it...?
But they had DEFINITELY noticed. MOM and THE SISTER were accompanying him to the transport box, which OMORI had never seen happen at night. Night-time was supposed to be for the soft rectangle that Sunny "slept" in. OMORI hadn't know that other things could happen at night.
That was the first time Sunny was taken to a HOSPITAL. OMORI was fascinated. It was a place he had never seen before, and there was so much going on OMORI couldn't even take it all in. He watched as the people in white did all sorts of weird things to Sunny. The screen began to blur, like it always did when Sunny cried. He wished Sunny would stop crying so he could see what the people in white were doing to him. Sunny's thoughts became loud again; he was scared for some reason. OMORI agreed that living in that world was awful and he would be scared, too. He HAD been scared when he was in that world. FEELINGs were terrible.
The next EMOTION OMORI felt was SAD. Sunny was watching a long, yellow transport box and THE SISTER was waving to him. The screen blurred as Sunny cried, and OMORI wished he could see what was happening. If THE SISTER just didn't go on the yellow transport box, then Sunny wouldn't be crying. Why were they doing this to Sunny?
<Don't leave me!>
{How could you do this to Sunny?!}
Without warning, OMORI was in Sunny's body for the second time. Once again, the sudden weight of everything knocked OMORI to the ground, and just like last time, he was assaulted with senses he didn't have in WHITE SPACE.
"SUNNY?!"
He saw THE SISTER obstruct his view. But this was good, right? Now THE SISTER wouldn't get on the yellow transport box and Sunny wouldn't cry anymore!
His visit to Sunny's body was short that time, as he quickly felt that familiar numbness surround him until he was back in WHITE SPACE. He quickly sat up and watched his laptop monitor. Once again, THE SISTER and MOM took Sunny to their own transport box and back to the HOSPITAL. This time, however, when they got close to the hospital, the monitor began to fritz. OMORI whacked it a few times, but the picture just got worse and worse, and a voice that wasn't a voice grew louder and louder inside WHITE SPACE.
/SCARYSCARYSCARYSCARYSCARYSCARYSCARYSCARYSCARYSCARY-!/
The laptop screen became full of static and made a screeching sound OMORI had never heard before. The black lightbulb was oozing darkness. OMORI covered his ears, but he couldn't drown out the horrible noises. Maybe if he shut the laptop off for a bit, things would go back to normal?
WELCOME TO BLACK SPACE was now written in white on the black background of the laptop screen. OMORI didn't know what that meant; he just wanted all the noise to stop and to go back to just watching Sunny's life. As soon as he pressed down on the laptop's power button, the black lightbulb shattered and everything turned black with white outlines. He was on a rug just like the one in WHITE SPACE, but the laptop was gone. He looked up and saw a single white wire with nothing attached.
He hated this place. He had to find his way back to WHITE SPACE somehow. He stood up and looked around.
There were a few black doors. OMORI had never seen a door before, except the ones in Sunny's Life. He walked over to one and turned the doorknob, just as he'd seen others do.
Empty. Or, full of black space. OMORI shut the door and walked to the next one. It, too, was empty. The second he opened the third door, however, all the screeching and noises that had been in WHITE SPACE before he was sent here came pouring through the doorway. OMORI covered his ears and ran inside, hoping this meant he could get back to WHITE SPACE, although if this was WHITE SPACE now, he might prefer BLACK SPACE for the quietness.
The door did not lead to WHITE SPACE. Instead, it was the HOSPITAL, but not exactly as OMORI remembered it. Something was WRONG. He no longer thought HOSPITALs were interesting; he just wanted everything to go back to the way it was before this happened...
And just like that, he was back in WHITE SPACE. It was still noisy, but OMORI didn't care. He never wanted to go back to BLACK SPACE ever again.
OMORI didn't touch the laptop again until the NOISE finally stopped and his boredom overpowered him. The laptop booted up and he could see Sunny's Life again. Sunny was in the HOSPITAL, and although it didn't look as scary or creepy as the BLACK SPACE version, OMORI still didn't like it anymore.
Then one day, OMORI was overcome with a new feeling. He had been watching Sunny open the brightly-wrapped gifts that had been sitting under a large tree for quite some time now (OMORI had been wondering what was inside all those gifts and why everyone was leaving them alone, but it seemed today he would finally figure out that mystery). Sunny pulled out a smaller box that had a picture of a strange device on it. The box said "GAMEBOY" on it, which was a word OMORI didn't know. However, he didn't have much time to think about it because a sudden warm, excited feeling engulfed him. It was such a good feeling that OMORI was almost dazed.
<I'm so happy!!!>
This was HAPPY?
OMORI liked HAPPY. He never wanted to stop feeling that emotion coursing through him.
That feeling spanned most of the day as Sunny opened more presents and played with his new toys. He watched fondly as Sunny played with the strange rectangle called a GAMEBOY. He wondered what it felt like, considering it was making Sunny so happy.
As soon as he thought this, his vision blurred and then, for the third time, he was in Sunny's body. But OMORI was prepared this time. This time he WANTED to experience this. He didn't let the heaviness of this other world pull him to the ground again, and he didn't let his senses overwhelm him. Somehow, he knew how to operate Sunny's body, how to breathe and blink and move. It was like his own body, only heavier.
OMORI looked down at the GAMEBOY. He saw strange things moving on the screen. He pushed some buttons and that made other things happen. OMORI frowned. This wasn't as fun as Sunny made it out to be. The happy feeling that had been with him had already left. Frustrated, he let the device fall. The loud clunk of the device hitting the floor startled him; whenever he dropped something in WHITE SPACE, it was always cushioned by the soft rug. Why was the ground here not soft like the rug?
"Sunny!" THE SISTER gasped, and OMORI whipped his head up at her. "I saved up my allowance for months to buy you that! You were just playing it so happily! Why did you do that?! It's broken now!" She was looking down at him with an unhappy face. Her eyes were glossy, which meant she was about to cry. OMORI hated crying. Mostly when Sunny was crying, but he wasn't fond of THE SISTER crying either. He didn't want to be here anymore.
And just like that, his body felt so much lighter and he found himself back on his soft, white rug. He missed the HAPPY feeling. Maybe he could only feel that here in WHITE SPACE.
He hoped Sunny would feel that way again.
But after that incident, Sunny's emotions began to flood WHITE SPACE constantly, but he was never HAPPY. And when the SADNESS or ANGER became too much, OMORI would find himself involuntarily back in Sunny's body.
OMORI's goal had always been to protect Sunny. This was mostly out of self-interest rather than regard for Sunny himself, because whatever Sunny was feeling, OMORI could feel. If Sunny was feeling bad in any way, OMORI took over and fixed the problem; anything to make the horrible EMOTIONS go away. He didn't like that he had to do that, but it was the only solution he knew. There were times when Sunny felt so MISERABLE that it was all OMORI could feel, and the only way to stop feeling that way was to end his life. OMORI didn't know what happened when someone died, but it had to be better than what Sunny was made him feel at those times.
After the first time OMORI tried to end his life, Sunny was forced to swallow small candies every day, and somehow those candies made the emotions less intense. OMORI wasn't being pulled out of WHITE SPACE nearly as often anymore, which he liked. He wanted to stay in WHITE SPACE and not have anything to do with Sunny. It did leave OMORI feeling bored, though, and he always found himself reopening his laptop to see what was happening to Sunny, just for something to do. However, even that got boring. Most of the time the screen just showed THE SISTER sitting in front of a big, black thing, hitting what looked like giant teeth. The sound was muffled, but if Sunny listened very hard, OMORI could hear pretty sounds.
One day he made the mistake of wishing he could hear those sounds better and found himself back in Sunny's body. This time, however, he was flooded with such beautiful sounds that he could completely understand why Sunny would want to sit here and listen to them all day.
"What do you think, Sunny?" THE SISTER turned and asked, and the beautiful sounds stopped. OMORI's enjoyment ceased immediately. He wanted the sounds back! Sunny's body was heavy, but he managed to stand up and walk over to inspect the large black thing that made the pretty sounds. He pressed one of the giant teeth and was startled when a noise followed immediately after.
Was this the answer?
OMORI began pressing all the teeth, but the sounds weren't pretty.
"Sunny, what are you doing?" THE SISTER asked. OMORI ignored her, using his hands to press all the teeth. Which ones made the pretty sounds?
"Sunny, stop! You're pressing too hard! You're going to break something!" THE SISTER said, and she grabbed his hands.
OMORI immediately jumped back. He had never felt something like that before. THE SISTER had touched him. That was what it felt like when another person touched Sunny's hands, and he didn't like it.
"Sunny...?" THE SISTER asked, looking worried. Why did THE SISTER always have to make that face when he was controlling Sunny's body? He didn't like it. All he wanted was to hear those beautiful noises again.
Maybe it was something only THE SISTER could make happen on the big black thing with teeth. He pointed to it.
"Oh, do you finally want me to teach you?" THE SISTER said, her face becoming nicer-looking. He didn't know what "teach" meant, but it had made THE SISTER stop looking bad, so OMORI slowly nodded his head. He knew that meant "yes" to the people in Sunny's world. Maybe "teach" meant that she was going to make the pretty sounds happen again?
"Yay!" THE SISTER clapped her hands together, and OMORI jumped at the noise. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to startle you! I'm just so excited that you finally want to learn! Come, sit!" THE SISTER moved over on the sitting block and patted the empty space.
OMORI noticed something written on the big black thing with teeth. He pointed at it.
"That says 'OMORI,'" THE SISTER said. "It's the company that made this piano."
So the big black thing with teeth was called a "piano." And OMORI...
...was his name.
He felt strange. If his name was on it, then didn't that make it belong to him? Was he meant to have this piano and hear the beautiful sounds from it? He ran his fingers over the etched letters.
O-M-O-R-I
This thing in Sunny's world was meant to be his.
"Sunny? Don't you wanna learn? Why are you so fixated on the name of the piano company? They're not in business anymore, you know."
OMORI didn't know what that meant. He just knew that this thing that produced pleasing sounds when played by THE SISTER had HIS name on it.
Not Sunny's.
His.
OMORI turned to THE SISTER. He pointed to himself and then to his name.
"I don't understand," THE SISTER said. "Do you want to learn the piano?"
OMORI shook his head (slowly, since he didn't like the way it felt in Sunny's body). He didn't even know what that meant.
"Oooooh, I see," THE SISTER said, her face changing in a way OMORI didn't understand. "You want your own instrument, don't you?"
Instrument... Was that what this big black thing with teeth and his name on it was called? Not just "piano?" If so, then yes, he wanted his own. He nodded slowly, wondering how he could get the INSTRUMENT back to WHITE SPACE. He turned back to look at it.
It would look perfect in WHITE SPACE.
Suddenly OMORI felt a sensation he never had before. He couldn't move or breathe. He'd never had a breathing problem before; in fact, he didn't even know what breathing really was, just that he did it, so to suddenly not be able to, especially in Sunny's body where everything felt extremely amplified compared to WHITE SPACE, his mind went into shock. His vision blurred and then turned WHITE.
He was back in WHITE SPACE, but it had felt more like he'd been pulled back than all the other times he'd returned. In fact, whenever he wanted to go back to WHITE SPACE, he appeared back. But that time he hadn't wanted to. He'd still been admiring the INSTRUMENT with his name on it. He sat up and looked around.
There was something new in WHITE SPACE, but it wasn't the INSTRUMENT. OMORI crawled over to it. It looked like one of those rectangles that Sunny opened sometimes, those things that had other thin rectangles inside with information on them. OMORI picked it up. He opened the hard outside. There were indeed more thin rectangles inside, but there was nothing on any of them.
What was he supposed to do with this? He chucked it off his rug. That was when a red arm picked it up and put it back on the rug.
OMORI had never seen THAT before.
WHITE SPACE was changing.
Maybe something interesting was happening with Sunny. OMORI crawled over to his laptop and opened it up.
It was turned off. OMORI stood up and looked around several times.
SOMEONE HAD BEEN HERE.
And OMORI knew. He just knew that it had been Sunny.
Sunny had been here, messing with things. OMORI supposed that was fair, since he could take over Sunny's body. Maybe Sunny took over his body when that happened, and just like OMORI, he was finally learning how to navigate a strange world that didn't belong to him. However, it was clear that Sunny was "in charge." After all, OMORI really didn't have emotions. Sunny was the one who decided how he felt. Sure, OMORI had things he liked and things he didn't, but most of that was based on what made Sunny feel HAPPY or SAD. He liked things that made Sunny feel HAPPY because that was the best feeling, and he didn't like things that upset Sunny, because SADNESS and ANGER were awful feelings.
He wondered if Sunny knew about him. He knew about Sunny, after all. Thinking about it was making him... feel... like he needed to close his eyes.
And for the first time, OMORI slept.
When OMORI woke up, he tried to turn on his laptop so he could see what Sunny was doing. To his surprise, the screen had changed.
Wait, he recognized the screen, kind of. Sometimes Sunny would play with a big white box that glowed. Now his laptop looked like the same screen. Was that glowing box Sunny's version of a laptop? And now that he had visited WHITE SPACE, it changed to something Sunny would understand? Not that OMORI minded, because now it looked like he had a bunch of new things to try. There was even an icon that just said SUNNY, and when OMORI clicked it, he once again saw through Sunny's eyes. This time, though, there was a pull-down menu of options.
-HAPPY [H]
-SAD [S]
-ANGRY [A]
-LEVELS [TAB]
-THOUGHTS [F1]
-EXIT [Esc]
OMORI tried them all. HAPPY showed a bright yellow overlay on the screen, SAD showed a bright blue one, and ANGRY showed a bright red one. It wasn't hard for OMORI to figure out that the more of the color he saw on an object or a person, the more of that emotion Sunny felt towards it or, more commonly, towards that person. Pressing [TAB] showed all three overlays at the same time. There was even an opacity bar. Of course, OMORI didn't know what that word meant at first, but by moving the slider, he watched the colors get brighter or fade. OMORI pushed [F1] and a string of text appeared in a box at the bottom left of the screen. OMORI scrolled back as much as he could and began to read.
It was fascinating. He was understanding Sunny in a whole new way, learning the words for things he hadn't known before. The soft box was called a "bed," and apparently during the time when OMORI only saw darkness, SUNNY was seeing things OMORI couldn't. He learned that these were called "dreams" and sometimes there were very bad ones called "nightmares." That did explain the emotional spikes OMORI would suddenly feel before Sunny opened his eyes. It was how he always knew when Sunny woke up without having to look at his laptop.
The transportation box was called a "car" and only "grown-ups" could "drive" them. The big yellow car that made Sunny feel sad was called a "bus" and took a person to "school." There were so many things with so many names. OMORI wanted to learn as much as he could. That way, the next time he took control of Sunny's body, he would know how to navigate Sunny's world in a functional way. He started paying attention to Sunny's Sign Language classes. When Sunny was writing, he tried to mimic the letters on the new "sketchbook" that had appeared in WHITE SPACE, but he found that all the letters were already on his laptop's keyboard, so he mimicked those instead.
And so OMORI learned to write, but only in capital letters. He didn't see the need to learn the lowercase letters since they weren't on his keyboard, and his name on the "piano" was in all capitals, too.
He was still curious about that piano with his name on it, but with all this new information to go through, OMORI hadn't felt the need to take control of Sunny's body for a long time.
Not until one day when he saw Sunny watching THE SISTER playing the piano and he felt sad instead of happy. This caught OMORI off guard because Sunny always felt happy watching and listening to her, as did OMORI, which was why it was what he looked forward to every day. OMORI looked at the box of Sunny's thoughts and saw, [I wish I could play something, too. Then we could play together]. Now OMORI knew what THE SISTER had been talking about the last time he had controlled Sunny's body. THE SISTER wanted Sunny to play with her, and Sunny now wanted the same thing. So why was Sunny sad?
Maybe Sunny didn't know that THE SISTER had offered. Maybe that had only been said to OMORI, but THE SISTER didn't know that.
It was his fault Sunny was feeling sad and passing that feeling onto OMORI. He had to fix this.
No sooner had he thought this than he was back in Sunny's body. It felt... different. He had learned that "human" bodies grew over "time." How much of Sunny's time had passed since that day? OMORI remembered it like it had just happened, but Sunny'd had a lot of bedtimes since then. Sunny's body had definitely "grown" since the last time. He stumbled in Sunny's heavy body, but managed to stand up. He tapped on THE SISTER's shoulder. She stopped playing the beautiful "music" and looked at him.
'I WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU,' he signed. THE SISTER looked HAPPY. OMORI knew he would be able to get right back to WHITE SPACE with no problem. He watched as THE SISTER hugged Sunny and yellow lit up on the LEVEL spectrum. And OMORI felt it. He had done that. He had probably messed it up in the first place, but he'd fixed it and now Sunny was happy and it felt so good.
That was when he decided he would fix any problems Sunny had. That way, he would always be HAPPY, and OMORI would be, too.
...But that wasn't how it turned out.
OMORI knew the rules of HAVING A PICNIC WITH MARI. It was a phrase used for EMERGENCIES only. After the PICNIC was agreed upon, it was to take place the next day after Sunny went to bed. Despite what Sunny thought, OMORI knew how to plug his computer back in and use it in a way so that Sunny would never know. Pulling out the keyboard keys was something he did to condition Sunny into thinking that the computer was only used if some keys ended up under his pillow.
He turned on the desk lamp and logged into a secret account on a secret chat website Sunny didn't know about. THE SISTER already had a chatroom set up, and as soon as he logged in, he saw THE SISTER had begun typing.
picnic_with_me: What do mean your goal changed to Basil?
user404notfound: THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT BASIL. EVER SINCE SUNNY MET HIM, HIS EMOTIONS HAVE BEEN OUT OF CONTROL. NOW A NEW ONE HAS APPEARED. THINGS IN WHITE SPACE HAD BEEN STATIONARY UNTIL BASIL. NOW THINGS ARE CHANGING, JUST LIKE WHEN SUNNY FIRST CAME TO WHITE SPACE. HOWEVER, DESPITE ALL THE NEGATIVE EMOTIONS BASIL BRINGS, SUNNY'S DESIRE TO KEEP HIM IN HIS LIFE IS WHAT IS NOW MOST IMPORTANT TO HIM. THEREFORE, MY GOAL HAS CHANGED TO BASIL. IT SEEMS HIS HAPPINESS IS WHAT MAKES SUNNY HAPPY. HIS EMOTIONS DEPEND ON BASIL, AND THEREFORE I DO AS WELL.
OMORI wrote it all out for her. They had agreed that there would always be evidence of what they talked about, so instead of a phone call, THE SISTER would just save the conversation as text.
It took THE SISTER some time to reply.
picnic_with_me: Okay, first, what do you mean by "A NEW ONE HAS APPEARED?" Is there a new emotional state? Is that what you're telling me?
user404notfound: YES. SUNNY DOCUMENTED IT BUT DIDN'T TELL ANYONE. I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM IN WHITE SPACE, BUT I WAS FROZEN IN HIS BODY FOR A WHILE. I BELIEVE THE NEW EMOTION IS "FEAR." I HAD NEVER FELT THAT WAY BEFORE. SCARED. AFRAID. TERRIFIED. AT LEAST, NOT THAT INTENSELY. SUNNY COULDN'T HANDLE IT SO I WAS FORCED TO TAKE OVER, BUT THE WAY IT MADE ME FEEL... I COULDN'T MOVE. I JUST WAITED FOR SUNNY TO PULL ME BACK INTO WHITE SPACE, AND WHEN I GOT BACK, I FELL ASLEEP.
OMORI always fell asleep after Sunny had a big EMOTIONAL outburst that caused him to have to take over. Sunny's world ran on a type of energy that OMORI didn't have, so when he got back to WHITE SPACE, he was forced to rest.
picnic_with_me: Okay, well, that's good to know. Second, what do you mean that Basil has become the most important thing to Sunny? I thought I held that spot.
user404notfound: I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT EITHER. ALL SUNNY THINKS ABOUT NOW IS BASIL. IT'S QUITE BORING.
picnic_with_me: Well, Basil is his first real friend in... ever? Things will adjust. He's not used to socializing with other people.
user404notfound: SUNNY IS ALSO FRIENDS WITH KEL, BUT HIS THOUGHTS TOWARDS HIM ARE DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT. SUNNY JUST SEEMS OBSESSED WITH BASIL. I KNOW HE TOLD YOU ABOUT STRANGER. STRANGER LOOKS LIKE BASIL AND HE CAME FROM BLACK SPACE. I HAVE BEEN USING BLACK SPACE TO PROTECT SUNNY, BUT IF BASIL AND STRANGER ARE LINKED, ALL MY WORK COULD BE RUINED. I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE DEALING WITH HERE.
Again, THE SISTER took awhile to reply. Waiting was incredibly boring.
picnic_with_me: I... think I might know what's going on. If it's what I'm thinking, then Sunny has to figure it out for himself. But I can... push him in the right direction. And if that's not what it is, then it won't matter, so don't yell at me for trying to "interfere" with Sunny or Basil. I just need some more information, but if I'm right, you'll find out when Sunny does.
OMORI didn't like the sound of that.
user404notfound: DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT WILL UPSET SUNNY OR BASIL. I WILL STEP IN AND STOP YOU IF SUNNY REACTS NEGATIVELY.
picnic_with_me: Yeah, I know. But I'm also counting on that. Sunny likes to bottle up his emotions until they explode. That's why I count on you to help let us know when things get bad. As his older sister, I feel like I always have to keep an eye on him, but I'm not there anymore. Maybe Sunny just found someone else to rely on, and it's scary to him because it's new. You've been doing a good job so far of taking over and telling me exactly why Sunny has been getting upset so that I can fix it. I appreciate that.
user404notfound: IT'S MY JOB. SUNNY MIGHT HATE ME FOR DOING IT, BUT IT'S BETTER HE HATES ME THAN YOU, BECAUSE I LITERALLY DON'T CARE WHAT HE THINKS OF ME.
Even though it was your fault Sunny became so hurt that I almost killed you... OMORI thought. OMORI only cared about Sunny for selfish reasons, and he'd let that be known before. If what would make Sunny the happiest in that moment when raw emotion flooded though OMORI was for someone to die, OMORI would kill without hesitation. It had only happened that one time, and now Sunny was on "medication" that was supposed to help regulate his emotions and keep OMORI at bay, so it was unlikely to ever happen again. However, because of how severe that ONE TIME had been, OMORI had learned that threats worked to get what he wanted.
What Sunny wanted.
picnic_with_me: Right... Anyway, it's getting late. You should put Sunny's body to bed. My questions were mostly answered. Anything else to add?
user404notfound: NO
picnic_with_me: Alright, then. You have permission to be excused.
Omori logged out of the chatroom, deleted any search history, and turned Sunny's computer back off, unplugging it only when the light stopped blinking. Then he got back into bed and closed Sunny's eyes.
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE.
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER.
Notes:
Sorry this chapter took so long, it was really hard to get into OMORI's mindset and delve out his character. Hopefully this will make other chapters involving OMORI easier now that I have his character down.
Also, Happy Birthday to my amazing beta! I literally could not have done this without her. Anddd she's coming back to visit mid March!!! She will keep me motivated ^^
Also Happy Birthday to Mari, who has the same birthday as my beta lol
And an early Happy Birthday to my good friend Plush who has helped me brainstorm ideas for this fic! Hope all this OMORI was satisfying for you ^^Thank you for reading! And as always, please ignore the notes after this one, they are my notes from my first chapter and they pop up after each new chapter I publish and I haven't been able to fix that.
Chapter 13: Full Moon
Summary:
Sunny gets the true Halloween experience.
Notes:
Absolute special thanks to Roseknight, my amazing beta and wonderful friend <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
___
Call up your friends and neighbors
Tell 'em a new day has just begun
___
As the weeks went by, it began getting colder and the gym teachers let any students who wanted to walk during class do so inside the gymnasium. Sunny did not like the cold. He wore several layers of clothing even before putting on a hoodie, so when they were allowed to walk inside, he took that offer. However, this meant he was in closer proximity to Aubrey and Kim and their group of friends. Sunny had previously been fine walking by himself (he felt bad for taking Kel away from the sports he liked to play and insisted it was okay for Kel to join his friends during gym class), but now with Aubrey and Kim too close for comfort, he once again clung to Kel.
They did their best to ignore them, but sometimes Aubrey or Kim would make comments at them. Sunny thought about sticking his leg out to trip them a few times, but Kel always made sure he was on the side that passed the two girls, keeping as much distance between them and Sunny as possible. Maybe he could sense the animosity growing inside Sunny. Or maybe he just knew Aubrey and Kim might try to do something to Sunny, and that could cause OMORI to rear his head like when he put gum in Aubrey's hair and pushed her violently into the lockers after seeing what they did to Basil's locker. Whatever the reason, Kel always made sure he was between them. It seemed like he was understanding Sunny better and better each day. That was why it really came as no surprise when Kel asked if they could go trick-or-treating together.
"It's two weeks away now, so I thought I'd ask," Kel continued, "and also Hero told me that Mari is going to force you to do it, and we live right next door so it would be convenient."
After Sunny stopped walking, ice gripping his heart, Kel went on to say, "Yeah, I figured you might react like that. That's why I want to go with you. If you start feeling too emotionally drained, I can carry you back home if necessary."
Sunny felt only mildly relieved at that.
Trick-or-treating? Was Mari out of her mind?! There was no way that going out in the cold in a costume and asking strangers for candy would elicit anything less than some kind of OMORI takeover. And with his new EMOTIONAL STATE being AFRAID, he absolutely couldn't risk it.
"...so I thought it was probably time I should talk to Basil."
Sunny's attention snapped to Basil's name.
'What?' he signed, a word Kel had learned just from sight since Sunny signed it a lot around him.
"I don't want to rush him," Kel said quickly. "I'd never force him to do anything uncomfortable, but I am your friend, too. He's not the only one. And that's why I'm asking now."
Sunny was quickly trying to put two and two together. He didn't understand how missing a few sentences because of his terror of Halloween had led to Kel asking to finally talk to Basil. Kel had said before that he wanted to reconnect, but when Sunny has brought it up last time, Basil had freaked out, so Kel said he would respect Basil's wishes and let him come to him when he was ready. So why push now? Sunny signed 'what?' again.
"Oh, well, I assumed if you were being forced to go trick-or-treating, you'd want Basil to be there."
Oh. That hadn't even occurred to Sunny because he had been too busy freaking out. If Basil was there... He would definitely feel more relaxed.
But what if Basil was just as terrified of trick-or-treating, if not more so, due to the threat of running into Aubrey or Kim or someone else from school?
"Again, I don't want to rush him if he's not ready," Kel said, "but I thought it might be more beneficial if we talked first so it wouldn't be a huge shock on Halloween."
Warmth towards Kel flooded through Sunny. He really was being extremely respectful of Basil's boundaries. Sunny gave Kel a small smile and signed, 'I'll talk to him.'
"'I' and 'talk,'" Kel said, acknowledging the words he understood Sunny signing. "So you'll talk to him for me?"
Sunny nodded, and Kel gave him a very enthusiastic one-armed hug.
"Yay! Thanks, Sunny!"
Suddenly there was wolf whistle from behind them and they turned around.
"Aww, Sunny and Kelly, sittin' in a tree~" Aubrey and Kim mocked them, their hands together.
"I'm gonna tell Basil you're cheating on him~" Aubrey smiled sinisterly.
"Ugh. Go away, you two!" Kel rolled his eyes at them, ushering Sunny to walk faster.
After school, Sunny made his way to the Garden Club shed like usual, finding Basil already inside. Basil had been getting there early for a while now, so Sunny was used to it. He opened the door, put his bag down, and closed the door behind him. Basil was watering some plants, but looked up when Sunny entered and gave him a smile in greeting. Sunny smiled back at him. He turned back to his bag to get their notebook out. He wasn't sure how to casually or tactfully bring up Kel without giving Basil a panic attack, since Basil always seemed to get very nervous whenever Sunny wrote about anything Kel-related, even good things like Kel defending him against Aubrey and Kim. Truthfully, he didn't know why Basil was so hung up on Kel when Kel was proving to be a pretty good friend.
[Hey, don't freak out, but I'd like to bring up the subject of Kel and you?]
Rather than turning white with fright as Sunny expected, Basil's face was growing increasingly red, his forehead shining with sweat. It didn't seem to be in anger. Sunny could smell another secret. He didn't know what it could be, considering Kel had just said they'd grown apart, and also Kel was just a good guy in general.
[What do you mean by that?]
That hadn't been the answer Sunny was expecting, but maybe he had just been too vague.
(OMORI WOULD REMEMBER THAT.)
[Well, he's proven to be a good friend to me, and he seems to really want to reconnect with you. He wanted to go trick-or-treating together? And he assumed I'd want to go with you, and he lives next door, so he wanted to come with us? To be honest, I hadn't even thought about trick-or-treating... I haven't gone since... well, a long time ago. I don't really want to, but Kel said Hero told him that Mari was going to force me. So basically, it's unavoidable that you're going to have to interact with Kel, because if I have to go trick-or-treating, so do you. I mean, I won't force you. (But please don't let me go through that alone?)]
Sunny's writing became smaller and smaller. He would never want to pressure Basil into doing something he wasn't comfortable with, but the thought of going out in a costume for a long amount of time was daunting. (And tiring; Kel had boundless energy, but Sunny, despite all his walking during gym period, still had the physical stamina of potato.) There was just no way he would last even a half hour out there with Kel, going to strangers' houses and having to walk up to them and say "trick-or-treat!" which was hard to do when you were mute-
[Okay]
Basil had leaned over him and written it really fast. Sunny hadn't even realized he had slumped down so his cheek was against the table while Basil wrote. He whipped his head up, surprised that Basil had agreed that fast, and accidentally knocked his head into Basil's.
"S-Sorry, I...um...w-wasn't-t f-f-fin-n-nish-sh-ed."
Sunny watched anxiously, but was calmed by Basil's occasional smile as he went on.
[I want to go trick-or-treating with you. And Kel can come too, but I don't want to talk to him before then. I just... I need some time to prepare myself. And Halloween is two weeks away, so, uh... I think I'll be ready then.]
Sunny felt an immense amount of relief. There was absolutely no way he would survive trick-or-treating without Basil.
[Thank goodness. I would probably actually die if you didn't come with us.]
Basil's ears turned pink when he read Sunny's reply. Sunny wasn't sure why.
[Well, um... What are you going to dress up as?] Basil wrote.
[I don't know,] Sunny wrote back truthfully. [I'm not good with that kind of thing. I'm gonna tell Mari that if she wants me to go trick-or-treating, she'll have to pick out the costume. And nothing too fancy. Or embarrassing.]
Basil snickered at that last part and wrote, [Maybe we can have matching costumes or something. If we're gonna be a group, it would make sense. Also then Kel could just speak for us and the adults would know that we're a group and we won't have to say anything. Not that you could, but like, they won't expect us to if Kel does, you know?]
Basil seemed really flustered as he wrote. Sunny wondered if he was actually excited to go trick-or-treating. It would make sense if he hadn't gone in years and had previously gone with Aubrey, who used to be his friend. Possibly even Kel as well.
Well, if Basil was excited about it, then Sunny would do his best to make sure he had a good time.
Halloween turned out to be on a Sunday, which explained why Mari was adamant about him going trick-or-treating; she and Hero would be here, and Hero was willing to drive Mari and himself back to campus late.
Trying to pick out a group costume when he was the go-between for Basil and Kel was exhausting. At first, Basil wanted to be a witch and have Sunny be his cat familiar. Sunny shut that down immediately. He really wished he didn't have such a bias against cats, but because of MEWO, he just didn't like them. Kel wanted to be three famous basketball players, as he already had the jerseys, but Basil told Sunny he would feel like a poser, dressed up as a celebrity he didn't know.
[Well... I could be a vampire! I don't really have many options because I can't buy a new costume, but I've been a vampire before, so I can reuse the costume. You can be one of my victims! lol], Basil had written to him on Friday when they were talking about Halloween in the shed after school. Sunny just agreed; he honestly didn't care as long as it wasn't a cat. He'd have to tell Kel that they were to be vampire victims when he got home. Hopefully that would finally satisfy the group costume debate and Sunny could relax.
But when he got home, Mari had a werewolf costume for him. Apparently, Hero said that Kel had decided they could all be werewolves and so Hero had bought the costumes. That was news to Sunny.
"Well, vampires and werewolves kind of go together," Mari said with an apologetic look. "You guys have all of tomorrow to figure out how to make it work. I'm sure you'll think of something!"
Sunny was at his limit. Two weeks of being the middleman had finally made him snap. He opened his phone and started a group chat.
<5:38 pm>
Sunny: I'm sorry, but I can't take this anymore. Basil wants to be a vampire and Mari just informed me she has three werewolf costumes for us bc SOMEONE told his brother that we were all going to be werewolves. Fight it out yourselves.
<5:43 pm>
Kel: oh dude, sorry! I only told Hero that we were trying to get a group costume thing going, and he said "What about a pack of werewolves?" and I said "That could work." I didn't think he would take that to mean "go buy three werewolf costumes".
<5:47 pm>
Sunny: Basil told me at Garden Club that he has a vampire costume and we could be his victims.
<5:49 pm>
Basil: We don't have to use that idea! If Hero already got the costumes...
<5:53 pm>
Kel: Ooh a vampire! I remember when you were that for Halloween! You sure it still fits you?
<5:54 pm>
Basil: It was just an idea! We can be werewolves.
<5:57 pm>
Kel: that was a quick reply lol. Basil, if you wanna be a vampire, then be a vampire. You looked really good that year! I remember because you came to school in your costume and a bunch of girls tried to give you their number 😜
<5:58 pm>
Basil: KEL PLS
<6:00 pm>
Kel: You just HAD to be a vampire the year Twilight came out lmao
<6:02 pm>
Basil: I swear I didn't do it on purpose! Aubrey laughed at me all day... But uh... I DID just watch an anime where the vampire guy kind of looks like me, so that's why I thought of it...
<6:03 pm>
Sunny: OWARI NO SERAPH?!
<6:04 pm>
Kel: OMG you two are weebs? No wonder you get along so well 😂
<6:07 pm>
Basil: Uh... well, Sunny, you were the one who told me about it, and when I looked it up I thought Mika looked a lot like me, so I kind of binge-watched it?
<6:08 pm>
Sunny: please be a vampire for Halloween.
<6:10 pm>
Kel: LMFAO Sunny you answered that so fast
<6:12 pm>
Sunny: I really like that series
<6:36 pm>
Sunny: Basil?
<6:39 pm>
Basil: If you two can come up with something that sort of matches, I'll be a vampire...
<6:40 pm>
Sunny: Kel can be a werewolf basketball player and I'll be a werewolf vampire victim
<6:41 pm>
Kel: Wow that was fast thinking
<6:43 pm>
Sunny: You get to be a basketball player and Basil gets to be a vampire and I get to be a vampire victim. We're all happy. No more stressing.
<6:45 pm>
Kel: That works for me 😁 Basil?
<6:46 pm>
Basil: yeah I'm good with that
<6:48 pm>
Kel: Great! See you at Sunny's on Sunday around 3!
Sunny sighed with relief, flopping back on his bed. He had been nervous about the group chat, but it seemed Basil had been okay briefly talking to Kel, which boded well for Sunday. The costumes had been sorted out, and he could finally relax and actually start to feel excited for Halloween for once. Usually he would just eat some of the candy his parents bought and play a scary video game until the trick-or-treating was done and Mari wanted to watch a cliché Halloween movie.
But not this year.
He was actually going to wear a costume and go out with friends and have assorted candy given to him by adults he didn't know.
The true Halloween experience. And tomorrow he and Mari would be going to a farm in the next town over to pick out and carve pumpkins, go on a haunted hayride, and even go in a haunted house, which he definitely absolutely one-hundred-percent was not scared of doing.
It would be a lot of being out in public. He really wished Basil would be with him, but Hero was treating them, so he would be with Kel. It would be nice to have some one-on-one time with Kel, considering Kel always had basketball practice or games on the weekend. And Basil was always over at Sunny's, or he was at Basil's. For two introverts, they spent an awful lot of time together, even if it was in silence as they both did other things. Sunny would sit on Basil's bed and play games on his Switch while Basil tended to the plants in his room or read a new gardening book he got from the library. Sometimes they played games together or watched shows or movies. Sometimes they just sat and did their homework together. Sunny had never thought he'd feel so comfortable around someone that he could just do things in their presence.
Maybe he'd feel that way about Kel, too, if they hung out more.
...Except that Kel really was too high-energy and drained Sunny's social battery easily.
He liked Kel, but he liked Basil more.
He hoped that wouldn't make Kel feel bad.
It wasn't like he had to tell either of them.
Sunny's phone buzzed and he sat back up.
<6:52 pm>
Kel: That group chat was a great idea! It was nice to just see Basil talking, even if just in a chat. I think we'll get along just fine again! Also, can't wait for tomorrow night! You're gonna get the TRUE HALLOWEEN EXPERIENCE!! 🎃👻🍬
Sunny sighed. He wondered what he should do to pass the time.
...Maybe play a little more Animal Crossing. After all, there was a Halloween event going on.
The next day came sooner than Sunny was ready for. He found himself panicking, not knowing what he should pack. He didn't really want to bring his backpack with him, but what if he needed something? Something to write on? Something to drink? A change of clothes?
"Sunny, you don't need to bring anything but your phone," Mari sighed after Sunny frantically signed to her his worries. "I'll have some water bottles and tissues in my bag. You're going to be fine."
But Sunny couldn't calm down. There was so much on their itinerary, and even though he would have Kel there for emotional support, Kel would want to do EVERYTHING and Sunny was already feeling tired. He wondered if maybe he could somehow get out of going.
"And you are NOT getting out of this," Mari said, as though reading his mind. Sunny slumped his shoulders in defeat.
"Aww, c'mon, don't be like that! You're gonna have so much fun!" Mari smiled at him, clapping her hands together. Sunny gave her a forced smile. He knew this was important to Mari for some (probably Hero-related) reason, so he would do his best to grin and bear it, and if anything happened with OMORI, Kel would be there, which was comforting. As long as Kel didn't leave him, he would be fine.
There was a knock on the door and Sunny jumped. Mari laughed and Sunny scowled at her.
"Sorry," she giggled, wheeling herself to the door. "You just reminded me of a scared cat."
Sunny didn't like that. Mari didn't know the full extent of his dislike of cats. She knew MEWO existed, but not why Sunny couldn't stand cats.
Sunny couldn't bear to tell her.
Luckily, Sunny's mind was wiped when Mari opened the door and Kel rushed forward, shouting, "SUNNY, THIS IS YOUR HOUSE?!"
Sunny had never seen someone so excited. It was... just a house, right?
"CAN I SEE YOUR ROOM?!"
"Kel! That was so rude!" Hero scolded him immediately, and Kel stilled.
"Sorry," he apologized with a sheepish smile at Sunny.
Hero gave him a stern look before his face softened as he turned to Mari. "Sorry about my brother."
"It's fine," Mari laughed it off. "I also have a little brother."
"Can I still see your room?" Kel asked, looking longingly at Sunny. "I keep imagining what it could look like. Sunny's Mysterious Room!"
Sunny had no idea why Kel was getting excited about his room. It wasn't much different from anyone else's, right?
Well, Basil's room was pretty cool. Suddenly Sunny felt embarrassed. His room was so plain! He should have posters of things up or something! He'd let Kel see it anyway since he looked extremely excited, but Sunny felt bad that he would soon be disappointed. He motioned for Kel to follow him, and he gleefully went up the stairs behind Sunny. Sunny led him to his room. He thought of the sunflower on Basil's door and wished he had put something on his. Even Kel's room had been cool, though he had only been over that one time and didn't remember much except falling asleep in Kel's bed, which had been embarrassing.
"Wow, your room is so plain!" Kel exclaimed when they entered. Sunny felt lame but thought the comment was well-deserved.
"We'll have to do something about that." Suddenly Kel looked serious, and Sunny felt confused. "You moved here a few months ago, so this is to be expected. You like sunflowers just like Basil does, right? We should paint sunflowers on your wall! Oh, and you definitely have to hang this up." Kel had a bit of a smug grin as he pointed to the whiteboard on Sunny's desk, the one Basil had written his address on. Sunny's face felt like it was on fire. He didn't know why, but something about the way Kel smiled at him while poking the whiteboard made him feel embarrassed, like Kel had just seen something private. Sunny grabbed the whiteboard and shoved it in his desk drawer.
"Wow, your face is so red," Kel teased him. "You look like Hero when-" He broke off. "Uh... Nevermind! Anyway, we definitely need to decorate your room! But right now, we have fun Halloween things to do!" Kel grabbed Sunny's arm, and before Sunny could process his words, Kel dragged him back downstairs.
"Ready?" Hero asked as they descended the staircase.
"Ready!" Kel beamed, thrusting Sunny forward.
"I've got everything you might need," Mari said to Sunny, holding up her purse.
Not unless you have Basil in there, Sunny thought to himself before mentally smacking himself.
No, I can't think like that! Kel is my friend, too! He really did want to put more effort into his friendship with Kel. After all, Kel was really nice to him, and was always understanding of his boundaries and of OMORI.
But...
But he wasn't Basil.
Was it okay to like one friend more than another? He'd never actually had friends before, so he didn't know. He was certain Kel would be upset if he learned that Sunny preferred to be with Basil.
So tonight, no thinking about Basil, he decided. He would focus on Kel. In the car, he texted Basil that he and Mari were doing some last-minute Halloween stuff and he wouldn't be able to answer his phone. Basil preemptively said good night to him and mentioned that he was excited for tomorrow. Sunny smiled at the message before putting his phone on silent and stashing it away in his pocket. However, knowing that he wouldn't be talking to Basil for the rest of the night left a hollow feeling inside him that he couldn't explain.
"We're here!" Kel exclaimed, shaking Sunny and pointing out the car window.
"We come here every year and he's just as excited every time," Hero chuckled to Mari as they pulled into the parking lot.
Kel was brimming with excitement, almost getting impatient as Hero took Mari's wheelchair out of the trunk of the car and helped her in.
"Don't go running off," Hero scolded him. "Stick with Sunny, okay?"
"I'd never leave Sunny behind!" Kel gasped, as if insulted Hero would even dare suggest such a thing.
"Well, I know you and I know you like to run off," Hero challenged him with a smile.
"Not this time," Kel said, and Sunny found himself being squished into Kel's side as he put an arm around his shoulder. "I promised to give Sunny the True Halloween Experience. I won't be leaving his side."
That definitely was a comfort to Sunny. It would be really embarrassing if he got lost and had to type out a message on his phone and show it to an adult because he couldn't speak. He'd rather stay lost and let nature reclaim him.
"C'mon! Let's go get our faces painted!" Kel exclaimed, grabbing Sunny's arm and rushing forward.
"Kel, I have to pay first!" Hero called after him, and Sunny almost tripped when Kel came to an abrupt stop.
"Whoops, right," Kel chuckled sheepishly, and Hero rolled his eyes.
Sunny only let his face be painted because Kel insisted. He refused to be painted like a cat and instead got a pumpkin on one of his cheeks, which was the most low-maintenance thing they offered. Kel asked for Frankenstein stitches, and Hero and Mari didn't participate because "they were adults." This made Kel pouty, but his mood lifted when he spotted the entrance to the corn field maze.
"C'mon, Sunny! The maze is a tradition!" Kel told him excitedly, pulling Sunny along. "They change it every year so no two mazes have ever been the same!"
"Text me if you need rescuing again!" Hero called behind them, and Kel's ears turned pink.
"That only happened a few times," Kel grumbled. Sunny smiled a little. The way he interacted with his brother was so different from how Sunny interacted with Mari. He wondered if it was because she was a girl or if because-
-he wasn't 'normal.'
"BLAAAAAAARGH!"
Someone in a costume and a scary mask jumped out in front of them. If Sunny had a voice he would have screamed, but instead he acted on instinct and turned to run back the way they came.
There was another person in a scary mask behind them, holding a chainsaw.
Sunny dove into corn stalks, fighting his way through. He felt someone grab his arm, and he thrashed violently, trying to get free.
"Sunny! Sunny, it's okay!" came Kel's voice, and Kel's head appeared through the corn stalks. Sunny was panting and sweating, his heart thumping in his ears. "They're just paid actors. They won't hurt you. It's supposed to be scary, remember?"
Sunny was still panting, but his mind was clearing.
Right. This was a Halloween-themed event. Nothing was going to actually hurt him. It was just some jump scares, like in all the Halloween movies he had watched with Mari.
Feeling stupid and embarrassed, Sunny let himself get dragged out of the corn and back into maze by Kel.
"Sorry, it's his first time," Kel apologized to the two people in masks.
"Are you sure he's okay?" the person holding the (now obviously fake) chainsaw asked in a muffled voice.
"Are you okay, Sunny?" Kel asked, brushing corn stalk debris off his shoulders. Sunny took a deep breath and nodded.
"Do you want to keep going?" Kel asked, and Sunny could see the concern in his eyes.
Sunny felt extremely stupid. This was a normal Halloween activity! If he couldn't handle this, then...
...how could he ever hope to fit into society?
Sunny nodded, feeling determined, but he kept holding onto Kel's arm. He was going to have to get used to this kind of scary if he wanted to be as normal as possible.
"Alright, then let's keep going!" Kel beamed at him. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you! Basil would kill me if I did, after all."
Just hearing Basil's name made Sunny feel calmer. He didn't know why Kel had said that, because surely Mari would be the person to end Kel if something happened to him, but knowing he was that important to Basil made him feel more relaxed.
Right. He'd have to survive, because tomorrow he was going trick-or-treating with Basil, so no matter what the night brought, he would endure it.
Sunny braved the maze and managed to find the exit faster than Kel. He had simply realized that there was a jump scare for each dead end and listened for the sound of breathing before turning.
Plus, it was a maze for children, apparently. Sunny had no idea why anyone would subject a child to this, but maybe growing up isolated had kept him from learning not to be scared of things so much. Regardless, Sunny felt accomplished when he made it out of the maze. Kel even patted him on the back.
"You should be good for the haunted hayride," Kel said, and Sunny's stomach dropped.
It was going to be like this all night, wasn't it?
Overall, the night was fun. Sunny endured the scares and painted a sunflower on a medium-sized pumpkin. He was exhausted by the time they got back. Sunny dropped his pumpkin by the door, took his meds, and went straight to bed. He fell asleep thinking back on what had happened and wishing Basil had been there, which turned into dreams about painting pumpkins with Basil and holding his hand through a haunted house.
Mari wanted everything to be perfect, so she started helping Sunny into his costume around two in the afternoon. She insisted on doing his make-up so it would look more "real," not that Sunny really cared about that. It wasn't like they were entering a contest or anything. A little before three, Hero and Kel arrived and Mari helped Kel with his make-up. Sunny began to text Basil.
<2:48 pm>
Sunny: You still okay to go trick-or-treating?
<2:53 pm>
Basil: Yep! Just finished putting my costume on! Polly is going to drive me over. See you shortly!
Sunny smiled and relaxed. Knowing Basil would be with him was a huge comfort. Last night had gotten easier as it went on; Sunny didn't have to interact with anyone other than his party members, but tonight there was going to be a lot of people and Sunny was glad to have both Kel and Basil there. Kel could be their social cushion and Basil would be his emotional support. Sunny snickered, thinking of Basil wearing a shirt that said "Emotional Support Basil" as they walked around together.
He signed to Mari that Basil was on his way.
"Ooo, I wanna learn how to sign Basil's name!" Kel said, looking over at Sunny only to have his head snapped back into place.
"Kel, don't move," Mari scolded him, still putting make-up on his face. Sunny's ears burned. He realized that he and Mari had been signing Basil's name as "cute flower" for almost two months. It seemed very important that neither Kel nor Basil ever find out. It was also too late to change his name; even his mom called Basil "cute flower."
There was a knock on the door and Sunny heard his mom yell, "Basil's here!"
Sunny exited the kitchen and then stopped in his tracks.
Basil had done an almost perfect cosplay of the character Mikaela from Owari no Seraph, one of Sunny's favorite anime. He'd mentioned it to Basil only once when he was talking about his favorite anime (Basil was more of a cartoon person and got Sunny very invested in Steven Universe). He hadn't even known Basil had decided to watch it. He would have loved to watch it together. Why would Basil hide this from him?
Something... felt...
wrong...
But it wasn't like Basil was hiding it from him on purpose. He had his own life that didn't involve Sunny. Just like Sunny had Kel, although Basil had known about that.
"S-S-Sunny-y?" Basil asked with concern, waving his arm in front of him. Sunny startled and hit his head backward against the wall. It wasn't very hard, but enough to hurt annoyingly for the rest of the day.
"Sunny, are you okay?" Hero asked in a more serious tone, his doctor instincts taking over.
Oh, right. Hero could translate ASL. Not as a second language like Sunny and Mari could, but he was still very good.
"'I'm fine,'" Hero translated out loud. "'Can you ask cute flower why he never told me he was watching anime wait Hero did you just say cute fl- Basil's name literally-' Oh? Did I? My bad. Mari only taught me the sign the other night, sometimes I forget it's his name. Did you pick that out yourself, Basil? Kel's is-" Hero made a small basketball shooting motion. "He refuses to be called anything else. He's so stubborn. It looks so weird out of context."
The entire time Hero talked, both Sunny and Basil's faces went red. Sunny felt mortified when Basil's eyes met his.
"I w-was n-n-not all-l-lowed-d t-to kn-n-now m-m-my n-n-name m-mean-nin-ng."
"'Mari picked it,'" Hero translated. "Yeah, that does seem like a Mari nickname."
"Oh," Basil said, and Sunny felt relief wash over him. All that dread of Basil thinking he was lame for such a cutesy nickname was over. All that panic for a simple two-second reaction! Sunny should've known everything would be okay with Basil around!
Basil and his...
...very attractive cosplay.
Sunny had seen pictures of cosplayers before. He'd always wanted to go to an anime convention, but they were way too expensive (and overstimulating). And the only cosplay he could probably pull off would be Mob from Mob Psycho 100- in fact, if he just showed up in normal clothes, people would probably think he WAS cosplaying Mob and he wouldn't even have to try. But that was just another reason not to go.
But if Basil started to like anime, that was different story. Owari no Seraph was an all-time favorite of his. That was why Sunny had mentioned it in a conversation back when they were still getting to know each other. And he had written in their notebook that Basil looked a lot like one of the characters. But that was all. Basil had said his vampire costume was old, so he'd expected a black cape. He had not expected to actually see Mika walk through his front door.
Basil was crafty. Sunny knew he'd used to scrapbook, but this was on a whole different level.
"'You really look like him,'" Hero translated. "That reminds me, Basil, are you sure about the red contacts?"
"Y-Yeah," Basil said. As Hero went to retrieve the contacts, he went on nervously, "I... aha... I-I've a-alw-ways-s w-wanted t-to c-cos-p-play."
Sunny felt like a mindless zombie after that. Mari finished Kel's make-up and Basil exchanged some words with both Mari and Kel. Mari insisted on pictures; Basil got a little flustered when Mari asked to take a picture of him biting Sunny and turning him into a vampire, so Mari let it go, but Sunny couldn't stop imagining what it would've looked like. In fact, it was all he could think about when Basil whispered he was scared of being separated and took his hand. It wasn't like they hadn't held hands before, but this felt...
Different.
He's just dressed up as a character you like, Sunny told himself.
So why was everything different now?
He was...
Happy.
Too HAPPY.
ECSTATIC.
Sunny couldn't believe what he was feeling. He didn't have a word for it. It was scary, but he was HAPPY. That was for sure.
Sunny couldn't concentrate on Halloween anymore. He felt like a spell had been cast on him. He just couldn't stop staring at Basil-
Basil's cosplay.
His heart was pounding in his ears, his face was hot like he had a fever, and he had an urge to ask Basil to bite him for real, which he knew must be insane. He was glad Basil and Kel knew what they were doing, because his brain had turned to mush.
Kel rang the doorbell or knocked on the door of each house, and when someone answered, he grinned up at them and said "TRICK OR TREAT?" very enthusiastically. Basil pulled Sunny behind him, and they made sure to stick right to Kel's side so that they were also given candy without having to repeat the magic words. Once in a while Kel would ask if they were okay and Sunny and Basil would nod, Sunny still practically drooling over Basil-
Basil's cosplay.
They came across a house that was clearly having a party inside. There were flashing lights emitting from all the windows and a heavy bass noise that meant loud music was playing. It seemed strange, because the house looked extremely run-down.
"Sounds like someone is having fun in there!" Kel exclaimed gleefully, running up to the door. He knocked loudly as Sunny and Basil trailed behind. The door opened and the blast of music hit them like a sonic wave.
"Ugh, Kel?" It was Aubrey. "You still trick-or- OH MY GOD IS THAT BASIL AND SUNNY?!" Aubrey broke out into laughter.
"KIM! GUYS! YOU GOTTA SEE WHO JUST SHOWED UP AT MY DOOR!"
"Sorry, didn't know you lived here," Kel said quickly, trying his best to back away and shield Sunny and Basil. But he wasn't fast enough, and in seconds, a crowd of people was clustered around the door and windows to look outside.
Sunny felt Basil let go of his hand.
"He's running!" Kim snorted. "Tell me someone got a pic!"
"I did!" someone called from inside. Laughter rang in Sunny's ears. He was torn between running after Basil and the sudden mad desire to run into the house and start beating the shit out of-
"Sunny, c'mon!" Kel urged, grabbing his wrist and forcing him away from the house. It wasn't until the house was out of sight that Sunny finally snapped back to reality. The fury was gone, and he suddenly felt out of breath. He had a strange feeling that everyone inside that house had just escaped a terrible fate.
"I think I know where Basil might be," Kel said quietly, pulling Sunny along a quiet street. Sunny noticed that Basil's candy bag was in Kel's hand. Basil must've dropped it. "We used to go to the park all the time when we were kids," Kel continued as they walked, Sunny still not feeling all there. "We had a secret spot behind these big bushes. Basil would go there whenever his parents- um... whenever he was upset."
Sunny's ears perked at Kel's slip-up. Basil almost never talked about his parents. In fact, when Sunny had tried to ask him about them before, Basil had started having a panic attack, so he had stopped.
Sunny barely noticed the other trick-or-treaters as they walked through the neighborhood and finally reached a park Sunny hadn't known had been so close to his house. It was surprisingly deserted aside from a group of teenagers smoking in a corner that paid them no mind. Kel led Sunny to the back where big, leafy bushes marked the end of the park and the beginning of the forest.
"Back here," Kel whispered, parting some bushes. After slipping between some thick trees, they came to a small open area. The sunset reflected off the surface of a small pond with a wooden deck. Immediately, Sunny's ears perked to that familiar sound that made his stomach clench.
Basil crying.
Basil was curled up on himself right where the deck began. As soon as they made it through the trees, Basil looked up in their direction. His red contacts practically glowed in the dark. He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't, tears still streaking down his face. Kel let go of Sunny's wrist, and the second he was free, Sunny rushed over to Basil and fell to his knees, pulling him into a hug. Sunny felt Basil go still, but then he returned the hug. In fact, it almost felt like he was trying to squeeze the life out of Sunny, who didn't mind in the slightest.
"Fuck those guys," Kel said, and the other two snapped their heads toward him as he sat down nearby. Sunny wasn't sure he had ever heard Kel drop an F-bomb before. "I think your costume looks super cool, Basil! Even if I don't know who you're dressed up as. We hit up most of the houses, anyway. They can have their big, loud party. We get to have our own private one right here!" Kel put Basil's candy bag in front of him, along with Sunny's (Sunny hadn't even realized he dropped his). "Why don't we sort through our candy and trade the ones we don't like for ones we do?"
Basil unhooked his arms from around Sunny, and Sunny reluctantly (reluctantly?) pulled away. To Sunny's surprise, Basil wiped his face and smiled, nodding his head.
"Cool!" Kel said, clapping his hands together. He took his basketball jersey off, put it on the ground, and dumped his candy bag out on top of it. "Here, you can use my bag to dump your candy on so it doesn't get dirty from the ground." Kel laid his bag perpendicular to his jersey for Sunny and Basil. They started exchanging candy, and Sunny found himself giving Basil everything he wanted regardless of whether Sunny himself liked it. He almost insisted Basil take all his candy. He didn't know why, but he just wanted to give Basil everything.
When they finally began walking home, Basil took Sunny's hand again and Sunny had to keep reminding himself to stop staring.
Basil just looked good in that cosplay.
Really good.
"Oh yeah!" Kel said as they headed back, "I forgot there was a full moon tonight! A full moon on Halloween is rare, and perfect for werewolves!" Kel then proceeded to howl at the moon and growl like a dog. Basil laughed, which was music to Sunny's ears.
Basil was happy. Kel was happy.
Sunny was happy.
OMORI was intrigued.
Notes:
Sorry this took literal MONTHS to come out. I've been super busy with irl stuff. Things are getting better, though, and I hope the next chapter won't take nearly as long ^^; I have already started writing it. Also, the place Kel and Sunny go to is based on a real place my dad used to take me when I was a kid right before Halloween. Also, yes, Sunny is a huge weeb. I watched Owari no Seraph with my beta when she visited last year and it was SO GOOD and Mika really does look like Basil, so I thought I would just slip that in there lol
In other news, I am a twitch streamer now. I was mostly doing this really hard pokemon challenge called Kaizo Ironmon (created by iateyourpie on twitch) which I do plan to continue until I've beaten it. This week, however, I will be streaming Yugioh Tag Force 6 in honor of the passing of Kazuki Takahashi. (May or may not stream tonight (July 12th, the day this chapter is being published) as I woke up a bit ill and am still not feeling great.)
I don't know who I would be today without Yugioh, especially 5D's which has been my favorite anime of all time since I watched it when it was coming out back when I was in high school. Heck, I don't think I ever would have met my amazing and wonderful friend and beta for all my fics Roseknight if it hadn't been for 5D's. I owe Kazuki Takahashi my life, may he rest in peace.If you're interested/if you wanna help support me financially since technically streaming is now my actual job (I'm too mentally ill for anything else honestly) please check me out at twitch.tv/missnewgoomy
I would be very honored and grateful! ^^ AND I do plan on streaming Omori at some point bc I want all the steam achievements and I have like, around 20 more to go. And I never did finish the Hikkikomori route. So I will be streaming that at some point.
Thank you all for continuing to read my fic. I feel so blessed that people actually like the content I create. I appreciate each and every one of you <3
And as always, please ignore the notes after this one, they are my notes from my first chapter and they pop up after each new chapter I publish and I haven't been able to fix that, and trust me I have tried.
Thank you for reading and hope to see you in my stream sometime! :)
Chapter 14: Weekly Forecast: Expect Some Delay
Summary:
It isn't a normal school day.
Notes:
I couldn't think up a good chapter title I'm sorry
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
---
I hope you know there's no stranger strange enough
Tell all your friends and neighbors
---
When Sunny walked over to Basil's locker, the words "VAMPIRE BOY" were written in big letters across it. Sunny PRAYED Basil hadn't seen it yet, but Basil was never not at his locker by the time Sunny got there, so of course he had. Sunny had been in school long enough to know what Aubrey and Kim's graffiti looked like, and nothing they wrote was ever good. Though he didn't know why "Vampire Boy" was supposed to be demeaning. Vampires were awesome. He had played many, many games about vampires and they were always cool, no matter if he was the vampire or fighting them. Sunny recalled how Basil had looked dressed up like Mika. How could anything that looked that good be bad? Sunny opened his bag and took out a sharpie. He drew a sunflower next to the words. He wanted to draw Mika, but he could draw a sunflower easily in the minute before he had to get to class.
He hoped the sunflower would cheer Basil up.
He wondered where Basil went after he saw his locker. He would have run off somewhere he could be alone.
The Garden Shed, maybe?
Sunny didn't care if he was late to class. He had to make sure Basil was okay. He ignored the first period bell and quickly took the side stairs down to the first floor and exited out the side door. There were still a few stragglers rushing to get to class, but Sunny paid them no mind as he sprinted to the back of the school. He checked the lock of the Garden Shed by turning the doorknob and accidentally stumbled right inside. His ears perked to the sound of a gasp. Sunny looked and saw Basil huddled in a corner, eyes red and tears streaked down his face. As soon as their eyes met, Basil rubbed his face with his sleeve. Sunny stepped forward but Basil turned away, hugging his knees and sniffing. Sunny was painfully reminded of the first time he'd visited Basil in the hospital.
Had he done something wrong?
Sunny sat down and took their sunflower notebook out of his bag. He found the next blank page and wrote the date in the top left corner before writing on the first line, [Are you mad at me?]. He slid the notebook and pen over to Basil. Basil sniffed again and Sunny saw him glance down at the notebook. It felt like an eternity before he picked it up. He didn't once look back at Sunny as he wrote, and Sunny could hear the anger in each stroke of the pen. He winced when he heard the paper tear. Was Basil really that upset? What could he have done to make him that mad?
The notebook was thrown back at him and the pen rolled across the floor. Basil hid his head and Sunny heard him let out a big sob. He scrambled to open the notebook.
Basil had taken up the entire page with large, angry pen strokes.
[IT'S YOUR FAULT I WATCHED THAT STUPID ANIME AND NOW EVERYONE IS CALLING ME VAMPIRE BOY!!!]
Sunny turned the page and found that Basil's writing had indented the next pages of the notebook.
[I'm sorry they did that,] Sunny wrote, [but for what it's worth, I like Vampire Boy. It's only an insult if you let them make it one. I think it makes you sound powerful. If you were a real vampire, you'd have them lying at your feet in seconds. Basil the Vampire would be badass.]
He slid the notebook back to Basil, but Basil didn't move.
"J-J-Just l-l-leav-v-ve m-m-me al-l-lon-n-ne," Basil sniffed, hiding his head again.
Sunny wondered how much trouble he'd get in for skipping a class (or possibly a whole day), but he couldn't- wouldn't- leave Basil here to cry alone. He didn't want to have to visit Basil in the hospital ever again. So Sunny moved the notebook in front of Basil and scooched over on the dirty floor to sit next to him. Basil stiffened when Sunny pressed his shoulder against his, but Sunny wanted to make sure Basil knew he wasn't going to leave him.
He let Basil cry it out. Slowly, Sunny's arm made its way around Basil's shoulders and eventually Basil was left leaning into Sunny, sniffling hard and occasionally hiccuping.
"Y-You're g-gonna get in t-trouble f-for s-s-skipping-g," Basil finally whispered to him. Sunny shrugged against him. Like he could have even concentrated in class, knowing Basil was upset and not in school! He'd deal with the consequences later.
They sat there in comfortable silence. Eventually, Basil let out a little snore and Sunny realized he had fallen asleep against him. Carefully and as quietly as possible, Sunny took out his phone with his free hand. According to the time, they had missed two periods. They should have been in third period Science by now. They were missing a lab day.
He should probably tell someone, right?
Sunny typed out a quick text to Kel, knowing he would be suspicious when their lunch table was empty and/or Sunny didn't show up for gym.
<10:23 am>
Sunny: I'm with Basil in the Garden Shed. He was upset over what was written on his locker, so I stayed here with him.
A few minutes later, Sunny's phone buzzed with a reply.
<10:27 am>
Kel: Oh thank GOD!!! Aubrey and her gang printed out a TON of pictures and have been taping them around the school. I've been taking them down as I find them and alerted some of my friends on the basketball team to take them down too if they see them. I hate to recommend skipping, but I don't think you guys should come in today. If anyone asks, I'll tell people that you guys ate too much candy last night and are home sick.
Kel texted again before Sunny had even finished reading his first reply.
<10:28 am>
Kel: If we're lucky, Basil will never find out about this. He'll never want to hang out with me again! 😰 😰 😰
That confused Sunny.
<10:31 am>
Sunny: Why would this affect you?
<10:33 am>
Kel: Bc I'm the one who took you guys trick-or-treating! I'm the one who accidentally rang Aubrey's doorbell! If it wasn't for me, Aubrey never would have seen you guys, and this wouldn't be happening 😭
<10:35 am>
Sunny: Well, he blamed me for the vampire costume, so I think you're fine.
<10:36 am>
Kel: Woah, what??? Is he actually mad at you???
<10:38 am>
Sunny: He was. I don't know if he still is. He cried so much he fell asleep on me. Guess he wasn't so mad that he didn't let me comfort him.
<10:42 am>
Kel: Well, stay there. I'll do my best to contain the mess in here. I'll keep you updated.
<10:44 am>
Sunny: Thanks, Kel. I'll let you know if anything happens here.
Sunny put his phone down. Basil was still sleeping against him, the tear tracks on his face dry and shining in the light. Sunny wanted to wipe his cheeks clean, but it was suddenly very important to keep still and not disturb Basil. Sunny didn't know why, but he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He was very aware of how warm Basil's body was against his.
It felt nice. He wanted to pull Basil closer and-
-and what?
He had been feeling weird since yesterday when Basil first opened his door and appeared dressed like an anime vampire. Ever since then, Sunny had been having... weird thoughts. He wanted even more for Basil to think he was cool. After all, Basil was cool enough to cosplay, he liked cool things like anime and video games, and he actually made Sunny interested in plants. How could anyone not like Basil?
He really liked Basil. His chest fluttered with fondness. He would do anything to make him happy again. Basil's pain was his pain now.
Sunny didn't know how long he sat there, just watching Basil sleep, but it must have been a long time because suddenly his stomach let out a large growl, meaning it had to be lunchtime.
Unfortunately, Sunny's noisy stomach woke Basil up. Sunny saw his eyelids flicker and felt his body come back to life in his arms. Reluctantly, he let Basil pull away from him to rub his sleepy eyes. With Basil's warmth still lingering on him, he pulled their school bags over and searched for both of their lunchboxes. He handed Basil's over and heard a low murmur of "thanks" before he got his own lunch.
They ate in silence. Sunny wondered if Basil was still mad at him, and if he was, how could he make it up to him? Were they just going to sit in the Garden Shed for the entire school day, not talking? Not that Sunny could actually talk, but they could write to one another, like they usually did. But it seemed Basil had no intention of picking up their notebook and writing a reply. Sunny felt like their relationship had suddenly taken several steps backwards. The sight of the Halloween candy he had put into his lunchbox made him feel sick, and a fresh wave of anger at Aubrey and her friends overwhelmed him.
How DARE she ruin their Halloween?! He hadn't had so much fun on Halloween since he was a child, and Basil definitely hadn't since Aubrey had forsaken him. He wished he had a voice so he could shout at Aubrey and demand to know what her problem was and why she couldn't just leave them alone. She had never let Basil explain himself about the picture book and didn't know he was innocent of what she thought he'd done. Why had she been so quick to give up their childhood friendship over something that would have taken five minutes to explain? Sunny glanced over at Basil, who was eating an apple while looking miserably at the floor.
How could anyone not want to be Basil's friend? There was absolutely nothing bad about him, in Sunny's eyes.
He hadn't realized he'd been staring until Basil looked up at him. Sunny quickly looked away, his face feeling hot for some reason. Basil must have gotten some strength back from his nap and lunch because he burst into a fresh wave of tears, letting his apple fall to the floor. Sunny instinctively rushed over to hold him, but Basil pushed him away. Hard.
"Y-Y-You c-c-c-an't-t e-e-ven l-l-l-ook a-at-t-t m-m-m-me...!" he sobbed. "J-J-Just-t g-g-go a-a-a-aw-w-w-ay!" He curled up and hid his face in his hands.
But that isn't true! Sunny wanted to say. He had looked away because...
Because...
Because it felt weird to be caught staring at him.
He had no idea how to convey this to Basil and their notebook was on the floor by Basil's other side. Sunny didn't think it would be a good idea to try to grab it right now.
He didn't know what to do.
What could he do?
This...
This isn't making sense, Sunny realized. Had Basil forgotten they were friends?
Suddenly Sunny felt like all the air got knocked out of him. He couldn't breathe. He bent over, trying to remember how. His vision was starting to go blurry.
OMORI was trying to take over.
<NO! NOT NOW!> Sunny yelled in his mind.
He felt OMORI back off. His vision returned, and he could breathe again. His arms gave out as he gasped in big lungfuls of air.
"SUNNY!"
He heard Basil scream and felt Basil lift up his head. Sunny tried his best not to panic, but the heavy breathing wasn't helping.
I'm okay, he made himself repeat in his head. I'm okay, OMORI didn't come out, and I'm with Basil. Even if he's mad at me, he's still here. Basil's here.
When he used to try to calm down a panic attack, he would remind himself that Mari was alive. No matter what happened, Mari was alive and he loved her and she loved him. But this time, he thought of Basil. He didn't care how mad Basil was at him, he needed Basil in his life.
When Sunny could feel the strength return to his body, although still shaky, he pushed himself up and wrapped his arms around Basil. He didn't sob, but tears leaked from his eyes anyway. He felt Basil hold him back. Basil was hiccuping from crying, but Sunny could just make out the words between hiccups.
"Don't... leave... me...!"
Never, Sunny thought, wishing he had a voice so he could tell him.
He would never leave him.
They stayed like that for a long time, even after Sunny had no more tears to shed and Basil had gone quiet. Neither of them wanted to let go. They only jumped apart when there was a loud BANG on the side of the Garden Shed. They both jumped back in fright, and a second later an all-too-familiar voice rang out:
"HEY, ASSHOLES!"
Aubrey.
"WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"
Kim.
Basil whimpered- actually whimpered, and Sunny let his fury wash over himself. He didn't care about anything else.
They were going to pay for what they'd done to Basil.
"WHAT, CAN'T TAKE A DOSE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE, YOU PERVERTED FREAK?!"
"HIDING IN SHAME BECAUSE SOMEONE TOOK A PICTURE OF YOU WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION?!"
"SOUNDING FAMILIAR?!"
Sunny watched as his hands undid the lock on the Garden Shed door,
watched as his right hand pulled the door open
watched as Aubrey braced a baseball bat
watched as OMORI took out his knife
watched as Kel jumped between them
felt Kel's hand pushing him back into the Garden Shed as the two girls fled in terror
felt something slender being removed from his hand
felt himself floating away
and then sound returned to Sunny's world, and everything seemed to get brighter.
Both Kel and Basil were screaming his name, although Basil couldn't finish the first syllable without stuttering, and he was gasping for air, choked between stuttering, sobbing, and trying to call for Sunny. Sunny's first instinct was to rush to Basil, to take him in his arms and hold him, but the second he made a move Kel tackled him to the floor. Sunny was so confused he panicked and began flailing, trying to get out of Kel's hold and off the dirty floor.
And then everything was okay. He felt Basil's arms around him, smelled the now-familiar scent of Basil's fabric softener on the sweater he wore, and everything was okay.
When Sunny came to, not much time had passed. He felt strangely calm.
"Wow, you're like a Sunny-off switch," he heard Kel say, but his voice sounded strange, almost like Sunny was hearing it from under water. Then he heard Basil laugh, feeling it reverberating through his body.
He had passed out almost directly on top of Basil. And Basil had cradled him.
He felt absolutely humiliated. Mari used to hold him like this as kids whenever he had fainting spells, which they later found out were from OMORI taking over his body those early times. Had she told this to Basil in case it happened at school? Mari had used to sing to him so he would wake up calm, the same kind of calm he was feeling now, so she had to have told him, right?
But Basil wasn't singing (maybe he couldn't sing because of his stutter). If Mari had told him, he would have substituted the singing with music, and there was no music playing. Just Kel and Basil's voices, having a conversation that Sunny couldn't quite understand yet because he was just waking up. Yet he could still use his mind to think, and so to fill in the space, it panicked about Mari telling Basil something embarrassing about himself.
...Yet even if she HAD told Basil, Basil still chose to lay here, probably extremely uncomfortably, on the dirty ground, and hold Sunny while he slept. He could have easily asked Kel to take Sunny off him-
Unless Mari instructed them to do this. They were probably on the phone with her right now!
"Do you think we should call Mari?" Kel asked.
Well, that was a suspiciously-timed question. Sunny squinted at Kel. Was Kel reading his mind?
"Or maybe Hero?" Kel asked nervously.
Maybe he was some kind of wizard. Sunny yawned, still unable to fully wake up.
He blinked, and he was sure he'd fallen back asleep, because suddenly he was in bed in his room, and Hero of all people was there, but he couldn't find Mari. Or Basil.
It's okay, it's just a dream, he said to himself, but Hero's voice was getting strangely... real.
"...don't worry about it! It's just lucky I was an intern at the hospital..."
Sunny blinked again, and he was AT the hospital. He recognized it from when he had visited Basil his first week of school. Only, he was the patient this time, and Basil was visiting him. Basil was lying next to him in the hospital bed. His voice was low and hoarse, whispering in his ear, "Sunny, come back. Come back, Sunny. Please come back. I miss you so much. I'm so sorry. Please come back, Sunny." Sunny knew he must be dreaming, because Basil stuttered, and this Basil wasn't stuttering. Also his words made no sense. And there was the fact that he couldn't move. Not that he would want to move, anyway. He was comfortable and warm, and Basil was with him.
Slowly, the words started making more sense, and the more Sunny thought about them, the more he began to want to move, to reassure Basil that he was here, because Basil kept asking him to come back, but he didn't understand where Basil was asking him to come back from, because he was right here, wasn't he? So he lifted his hand and put it on Basil's face. Basil went silent. It was as if Basil had been frozen. He even seemed to be holding his breath.
"S-S-S-Sun-n-n-n-y?"
That was when Sunny knew it wasn't a dream anymore. This was the real Basil in his real hospital bed in a real hospital.
How long had OMORI taken over his body? What had happened that had taken so much energy that OMORI took over and forced him to rest?
Trying not to panic, he forced his head to nod at Basil. A second later, the life was being squeezed out of him. Basil had thrown himself on top of him and burst into fresh sobs. Sunny's arms felt heavy, but he was determined to put them around Basil. He would ask Basil what had happened later. Right now, he just wanted to lay in bed and hold Basil, knowing he was safe in his arms.
It didn't take long for a nurse to come in. Basil jumped out of Sunny's bed, wiping his face. Sunny missed the comfortable weight and tried to reach for Basil, but the nurse was blocking him, asking him questions he was too exhausted to understand. After several minutes of Sunny not responding, he rounded on Basil and started asking him questions. Basil stuttered and stammered over his words and the nurse sighed in frustration, which Sunny thought was completely uncalled for. He tried to sit up, but his body was too heavy. He wished he had something to write on, even though he wasn't sure if he could manage to write anything.
Basil seemed to read his mind. He ducked down and in a flash, the sunflower notebook and a pen were placed in front of him. The nurse went quiet. Sunny started pushing himself up even though his body still felt like gravity had increased tenfold. Basil must have seen him struggling because he leaned over and helped Sunny sit up. He didn't want Basil to let him go, but Basil pushed the notebook in front of him, opening it to a blank page. Shakily, Sunny took the pen and slowly wrote.
[What happened? How long was I out?]
Just writing those few words took immense effort, and he found himself breathing heavily.
Basil reached over to write back, but the nurse was already answering him.
"You were admitted on Monday," the nurse said. "Today is Friday."
Sunny almost fell over, but Basil held him up. Basil continued writing in the notebook, probably to tell Sunny about everything in more detail; at least, that was what Sunny hoped.
So he had missed an entire school week... It could have been worse, Sunny decided, because after The Incident with Mari, he had been in and out of consciousness for a month. And Mari-
No. Don't think about that.
"I'm going to call your mother and tell her you're awake," the nurse said. "Let me know if something happens." He pointed this comment at Basil, who nodded at him, still writing. The nurse left and Sunny felt Basil relax against him, as if the nurse had been causing him to tense up. Sunny rested his head on Basil's shoulder and Basil stopped writing. He must have just startled him because he continued only a few seconds later. Sunny wanted to close his eyes and just do nothing for the rest of forever, but he knew if he closed his eyes he might wake up another five days from now.
[I don't know exactly what happened, but Mari told me this has happened to you before? OM- Mari said this happens when you have a very big ANGRY OMORI episode? I told her about Aubrey and what she did. And while Mari was here, OMORI kind of... told her everything. He said you'd been having FEAR attacks and you weren't telling your therapist like you were supposed to. He told us about the changes that have been happening in WHITE SPACE. He's also been hiding knives around your house and hid one in your school bag because he thought if anyone tried to hurt you, he'd take over since he knows how to use a knife??? I had some questions about that, but Mari wouldn't let me ask him.
Aubrey and Kim are keeping quiet about the knife. I threatened Aubrey that I would tell her parents about the baseball bat, and Kel backed me up. I think I shocked her by actually fighting back this time because she agreed, and she and her gang haven't bothered me at all this week while you've been out, though Kel has been sitting at our table at lunch and a few of the basketball guys come around to give him a high five or fist pound every so often. And they would ask me about _you_! You're like, famous now or something. Maybe everyone is just scared you'll come at them with a knife. Kel accidentally told the basketball team about the knife, but they all promised not to speak of it and Kel seems to trust them, so... yeah... It's been a crazy week, I've been coming over here every day after school, trying to get you to wake back up. I knew OMORI was there and you weren't, but I called for you anyway. I didn't want you to wake up alone...]
It took two pages, front and back, for Basil to write his message. All that time, Sunny rested his head on Basil's shoulders, and at one point the nurse came back in and said some things that Sunny was slowly starting to understand. He asked his name, and Sunny signed it lazily, but the nurse didn't know sign language. Basil stopped writing when he saw him sign his name. Sunny smiled when he said, "That's h-his name."
He'd remembered!
A strange, warm feeling engulfed him. The nurse seemed to be waiting for his mom to show up, which Sunny assumed was fair because that was what happened when one landed oneself in a hospital. It hadn't quite fully dawned on Sunny that he was in a hospital because this one looked different, and he had gotten over that fear for Basil.
Hadn't he?
Apparently OMORI didn't think so. He'd gone CRAZY when Sunny thought back on those first days together with Basil. It wasn't a problem at first, but now it was bothering him that he couldn't remember why he had been so scared of hospitals.
The only answer he could think of was that OMORI did SOMETHING...? And anything OMORI did was bound to be bad.
Finally, he was able to read what Basil had written. His feelings of comfort vanished almost instantly.
OMORI hid actual KNIVES in his room, in his school bag?! He could have accidentally cut himself or someone else at any time! Knives were always locked up...
Knives... were...
NO! He fought to stay conscious. Knives were just always locked up! That was all he needed to know.
He was glad Basil and Kel were getting along (though it did give him a weird feeling he couldn't place; anxiety?), and he felt quite relieved that Aubrey and Kim were staying away from them and everyone was keeping quiet about the knife. He probably wouldn't be allowed back in school if their principal knew. Or he'd get sent back to a mental hospital, and he didn't think he could stand being away from Basil for so long (not to mention he liked those hospitals even less than normal ones).
He was, however, going to be in some kind of trouble with his mom and therapist AND Mari for keeping the FEAR attacks to himself. He'd been afraid that he would be taken out of school or not allowed to see Basil anymore, but it looked like, at the very least, Basil wasn't going anywhere no matter what happened.
He still didn't like that OMORI had put him on blast like that. He hoped OMORI didn't say anything weird. Like how much he liked staring at Basil. He knew that wasn't normal, and he didn't want Basil to think he was weird. Even though basically all of this proved how weird he was already, and Basil had still stuck around.
Before Sunny could write anything back, his mom rushed through the door. Basil hopped off the bed and his mom hugged him almost as hard as Basil had.
Then the reprimanding began. Sunny should have told her when there was a change in WHITE SPACE, especially when it involved a new emotional state, and did he know how much trouble he could have gotten in for bringing a knife to school, and what if OMORI had used it on anyone?! People could have gotten hurt!
All it did was make Sunny feel worse.
"If you don't want to tell me about these things, at least tell Mari!" his mom finally huffed, "or Basil." She glanced at him and his ears turned pink. "Just tell someone next time, okay?" she finished, running her hands through Sunny's hair like she always did. Sunny nodded at the hospital blanket.
"Good. I'd hate to have to increase your therapy appointments because you just didn't talk about what you're supposed to the first time. This can't happen again. You know that, right?"
Sunny nodded again, his eyes stinging with shame.
He felt Basil take his hand and looked up to see him looking at his mom.
"I've g-got him," Basil said, and Sunny felt that strange warmth bubble up inside him again.
That was right. Nothing bad would happen while Basil was around. He was so lucky to have Basil as a friend.
His BEST friend.
He's more than your best friend, OMORI thought as STRANGER inspected WHITE SPACE. STRANGER was no longer just a shadow of Basil. He could see some green coming through.
He had never seen green in WHITE SPACE before. It wasn't an EMOTION color.
So what was it?
Notes:
It seems like Basil cries in every chapter. Oops ^^;
Also my beta needs to STOP getting me into such good anime, because all I can think about is Assassination Classroom right now. Nagisa gives me Basil vibes~
I'm already half way done chapter 15. I know I say that every time and then it's over a month of waiting, but I still have so much of this story to tell!
Btw I've started streaming REGULARLY...ish on twitch! find me at twitch.tv/missnewgoomyAnd as ALWAYS, please ignore the notes after this chapter, I have tried everything and they will not go away. They were from the first chapter.
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 15: Under The Sun
Summary:
Even Omori has his secrets.
Notes:
I am SO sorry this chapter took like 2 years to come out, I promise this fic is not dead, I just had a lot of life happen in the past two years.
also tw: blood and suicidal ideology and attempts, pain fascination? I tried to tone it down as much as possible, but it is important to the story. You'll know when you've come to that part. My sincerest apologies if anyone accidentally gets triggered, that is not my intention at all.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
___
You're no stranger-
___
OMORI watched the PIANO longingly through the screen of his laptop as SUNNY learned the VIOLIN. It was the only thing he had ever wanted for himself, and he did not like the VIOLIN at all.
SUNNY had picked it out at a store and THE SISTER bought it for SUNNY as a PRESENT.
He decided to give the VIOLIN a chance since it did seem to make SUNNY HAPPY. However, the moment SUNNY began to practice, ANGER began to swell.
OMORI checked the LAPTOP for SUNNY'S thoughts.
[This isn't right! It sounds bad! I can't do this!]
The ground in WHITE SPACE shook and OMORI slammed the laptop shut.
These ANGER outbursts happened every time SUNNY practiced the VIOLIN. A few times, OMORI was pulled to the surface and found that THE SISTER was yelling at SUNNY. OMORI would just drop the VIOLIN and sit down at the PIANO. THE SISTER didn't seem to like this either, but OMORI didn't care. The PIANO was his. It had his name on it!
The first time this happened, THE SISTER actually calmed down and let him play on the PIANO for a few minutes before she told SUNNY to let her finish practicing. OMORI protested, but THE SISTER picked him up and took him out of the room. He didn't like being touched, so the moment she picked him up he went back to WHITE SPACE. He almost rolled around his cushy carpet just to get the feel off him, but he was so drained he fell asleep immediately. When he woke up, he noticed that the sketchbook had been opened. He closed it without looking at it. When he opened his laptop, the screen was like TV static.
Another time, he found himself getting yelled at by THE SISTER to get out of the room so she could practice peacefully, adding that SUNNY could practice in his own room. Once again, OMORI dropped the VIOLIN and skittered over to the PIANO. THE SISTER held her arm out.
"No! I need to practice! God, Sunny, just leave me alone!"
OMORI did not care about anything THE SISTER said. He didn't like touching people, but he wanted to play that PIANO; His PIANO. The next thing he knew, THE SISTER was on the ground crying and he was free to play his PIANO. He hit the notes hard so he didn't have to hear THE SISTER's blubbering.
"Sunny! Did you hit your sister?!"
He wished he could tell everyone to shut up, but SUNNY had no voice, so neither did he. It wasn't until MOM was directly yelling SUNNY's name in his ear that he decided to bail and returned to WHITE SPACE. Once again, he fell asleep immediately.
SUNNY began practicing the VIOLIN in his room, away from the PIANO and THE SISTER. OMORI didn't like that. He liked being away from THE SISTER, but he wanted to hear HIS PIANO. Every time SUNNY practiced, OMORI forced himself out and sat at the top of the stairs, listening to the PIANO music. He had never walked up or down THE STAIRS before so he wasn't about to try. However, THE SISTER would catch him, most likely due to the lack of VIOLIN noise, and yell for SUNNY to keep practicing. OMORI would return to WHITE SPACE, thinking the little bit of PIANO he got to hear every day was worth SUNNY being yelled at. After all, it wasn't OMORI's problem, it was SUNNY's. What did he care that SUNNY's thoughts became erratic, or that phrases like "What's happening to me?" and "Why does this keep happening?" kept popping up on the laptop screen?
Apparently, the people of SUNNY's world didn't like repeat offenses, because after a few days THE SISTER stomped up to SUNNY's room. OMORI tried to go back to WHITE SPACE but found he couldn't.
<<<No. She'll yell at me again. I don't want to go back!>>>
OMORI heard the thought and knew it was SUNNY. It seemed getting yelled at had scared SUNNY so much that he was somehow blocking OMORI from getting back. So OMORI decided to fix the problem.
When THE SISTER came back out of SUNNY's room, she was holding THE VIOLIN.
"Why did I even buy you this if you won't practice?!" She thrust THE VIOLIN into OMORI'S hands. He hated the feel of it, especially the strings. He flung it away at random, and it flew down the stairs.
"SUNNY!" THE SISTER screamed, and the noise was so awful that he flung THE SISTER down the stairs after the violin.
Or at least, that was the story everyone knew. That was the truth agreed upon in THE HOSPITAL when THE SISTER, now paralyzed from the waist down, realized the harm she had been doing to SUNNY. And so THE SISTER became the first to recognize a second person within SUNNY, even before a doctor did.
[W E L C O M E T O B L A C K S P A C E]
OMORI was shaken. He didn't know how he'd been sent to BLACK SPACE. He saw doors outlined in white and wondered what horrors were behind them. OMORI had created BLACK SPACE to keep SUNNY from things he didn't want to remember. Those things were buried in BLACK SPACE 2, as OMORI referred to it. BLACK SPACE was just an extra layer of protection so SUNNY never found out about the BAD things he had done.
After all, it was OMORI's job to protect SUNNY and keep him HAPPY.
"You did all this for Sunny?"
OMORI whipped around to find a white outline of Basil- STRANGER.
OMORI couldn't speak. He could speak to SUNNY, but not to STRANGER.
STRANGER opened a door. OMORI rushed over.
Mari was sitting at her piano in a white room. She was much younger and outlined in a light shade of purple.
"Oh, Omori!" she said happily. "Would you like to learn to play with me?"
OMORI grabbed STRANGER and yanked him away from the door, slamming it shut.
"Oh, so that's how it started?" STRANGER said.
OMORI let go of STRANGER immediately. So that was why he couldn't speak! STRANGER knew. He didn't have to say anything because STRANGER already knew.
STRANGER walked over to the next door. OMORI wanted to stop him, but if he touched him again...
Then he heard piano music.
"You and Mari look happy together."
OMORI ran over and shoved STRANGER away from the door, closing it as fast as he could.
"If you don't want to think about that, then you could think of something new."
This time STRANGER took OMORI's hand, and the next thing he knew, he was motionless in Basil's arms.
And when Basil wasn't there calling for SUNNY, STRANGER was there telling him, "EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY, I PROMISE."
OMORI did not like the FEAR attacks. He didn't know why SUNNY wasn't telling anyone about them. If OMORI didn't like them, surely SUNNY didn't like them either.
They mostly happened at night, before SUNNY went to sleep, and OMORI could hear his FEARs.
/What if something happens to Basil?/
/What if Aubrey does something to Basil?/
/What if Basil isn't at school tomorrow?/
/What if I never see Basil again?/
/What if I wake up and Basil has texted that he doesn't want to be friends anymore?/
/What if someone attacks Basil and I can't save him?/
/What if I attack Basil?/
/What if OMORI attacks Basil?/
OMORI was sick of Basil. Nothing else seemed to matter to SUNNY. As the FEAR attacks got worse, OMORI decided he had to make a plan in case any of the FEARs came true. While SUNNY was sleeping, OMORI took over and picked the lock on the cabinet where the knives were stashed. He made sure he didn't take enough to raise the suspicion of MOM who used them and then hid them around SUNNY's room. He carefully stashed a slender one in SUNNY's school bag in case he ever needed to use it to protect SUNNY. He never felt like he had enough, so when he had the chance, he took one or two from Basil's and Kel's houses. He knew how to hide things from SUNNY.
After all, he'd been doing it for years.
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE.
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER.
There was something new in WHITE SPACE- STRANGER.
Aside from black and white, the only color OMORI had ever seen in WHITE SPACE was red.
STRANGER was green.
STRANGER was green, and smiling, and looking around WHITE SPACE with interest.
"So," STRANGER asked, "do you know who hurt Mari?"
<I did>, Omori answered immediately. It seemed he could speak to STRANGER this time.
"Still won't admit the truth?"
OMORI looked at him blankly. It was the truth.
"Well, if you don't want me here, I guess I'll just have to be your neighbor."
Just like that, a white door appeared. "I'm BASIL, by the way. Nice to meet you, OMORI." He opened the door to more green, stepped inside, and closed it.
The doorway didn't disappear, and a SHINY KNIFE appeared at the bottom like a welcome mat. OMORI, without even thinking, grabbed the KNIFE and went through the door. He had every intention of killing BASIL with the KNIFE, but inside were hundreds, maybe thousands of BASILs. They all stopped dead and looked directly at him with red eyes.
"Hi, OMORI," they all said at the same time, and OMORI slammed the door shut, letting the KNIFE fall as he covered his ears.
He wanted it to stop. He didn't know what GREEN meant, but the last time another color had appeared in WHITE SPACE, THE SISTER ended up injured and he was blamed.
Now he protected SUNNY. And he'd keep protecting SUNNY, whether he wanted it or not.
"You're not Sunny, are you?" THE SISTER had asked one day when OMORI was listening to her play the PIANO. She looked at him and OMORI slowly shook his head.
"But you like my piano music?" she asked, and OMORI nodded very slightly.
"I can teach you to play, if you want," THE SISTER offered, and without really knowing what that meant, OMORI nodded yes.
Finally, there was something he wanted to do in SUNNY's world. OMORI began to learn how to keep time by waiting for THE SISTER to come home every day and start her practicing.
The problem was that SUNNY still liked THE VIOLIN and suddenly wanted a new one to perform a duet with THE SISTER before she entered "high school". SUNNY himself was home-schooled as the public schools in their small town didn't have ASL translators and their family couldn't afford to get one just for him. MOM and DAD often fought over this, among other things, OMORI later learned. It was one reason why MOM took SUNNY away from THE SISTER and DAD after The Incident.
OMORI still didn't know why SUNNY shoved THE SISTER down the stairs. All he knew was that a surge of anger rose up and OMORI was compelled to throw the violin down the stairs. Then he'd felt and seen SUNNY throw THE SISTER after it. Pulled against his will again, he was suddenly in BLACK SPACE. He looked up to see that WHITE SPACE was BLUE, meaning SUNNY was sad, but he couldn't feel it in BLACK SPACE.
"It's nice here, right?"
A purple figure that looked like THE SISTER smiled at him. "I'm MARI, your big sister!"
OMORI was confused. Did SUNNY create a version of THE SISTER down here? Why? This was his space, after all.
"Well, he created me when he found out THE SISTER knew about you, hoping you would choose me so he could be with his real sister. But then MOM and DAD started fighting, so I've been comforting him a lot."
MOM and DAD were fighting? Why didn't he know this? He was supposed to know everything about SUNNY.
"Hmm? So you kind of care for him like a brother?"
What? Was she reading his thoughts?
"Yes."
Oh.
And then a million questions about BLACK SPACE and SUNNY and MARI herself exploded into his mind.
"Don't you understand? None of that matters," MARI said sweetly. "You're finally down here with me! I've been waiting to meet you for so long!"
OMORI's feet were sinking. He tried desperately to escape, but he was stuck. Something caught his eye and he looked up to see WHITE SPACE flashing in all different colors, its entrance closing up. He didn't want to be stuck down here, he wanted to be back in WHITE SPACE, even if it was a mess at the moment. OMORI summoned his red hands and they pulled him free.
"You can't have both, OMORI!" MARI shouted as he barely made it back up into WHITE SPACE in time. SUNNY was waiting for him.
<You almost killed her!> The words echoed silently around what used to be WHITE SPACE.
{That wasn't-}
SUNNY was going to blame him anyway. They didn't need words that didn't exist to communicate. They just knew.
SUNNY smashed his laptop's keyboard before he collapsed, WHITE SPACE flashing red and blue. The next thing OMORI knew, he was waking up in WHITE SPACE like nothing had happened. His laptop was still smashed and his sketchbook was open. The pages were painted red, and OMORI's knife lay coated in the same red just off his rug. He knew immediately that SUNNY had stabbed himself to get out of WHITE SPACE.
OMORI could still watch SUNNY's life through the laptop. A lot of the time was spent in the HOSPITAL with THE SISTER. OMORI kept hearing "almost died" and "could have killed her" a lot, and he didn't know what those words really meant, only that THE SISTER had been close to something called "death" and was lucky to escape it. What would have happened to her if she hadn't?
It wasn't long before OMORI heard SUNNY's thoughts about killing himself.
OMORI had some concept of death now thanks to The Incident. What would happen if SUNNY died? Would SUNNY's world go on without him? Would OMORI still exist? Would he go to somebody else?
OMORI heard SUNNY's thoughts get louder.
<<<I SHOULD DIE I SHOULD DIE I SHOULD DIE>>>
WHITE SPACE turned such a dark blue that OMORI could only see the laptop. SUNNY had a knife in his hand. OMORI reached out and touched the screen-
They were ONE. Just like the night SUNNY pushed THE SISTER down the stairs, they were ONE; neither were in control, and yet both were. OMORI went into the kitchen and found the KNIVES, something he had been curious about ever since one appeared in WHITE SPACE. In WHITE SPACE, OMORI knew that SUNNY had stabbed himself to return to his world, so maybe stabbing himself here would transport him to WHITE SPACE?
When OMORI was conscious next, he was slow to get up. He found out SUNNY was in THE HOSPITAL when he loaded up his broken laptop. Once again, the interface had changed. Text scrolled over screen, phrases like "almost died" and "could have killed yourself".
So was that it? Dying was just nothingness?
The screen turned blue. In bold text, I WANT TO DIE scrolled over and over repeatedly. Blue leaked out of the laptop and OMORI tried to jump back, but in seconds all of WHITE SPACE had turned blue. OMORI was sucked to the surface, and he could feel it would be a long time before SUNNY decided to come back out. So OMORI lay there, looking up at MOM and feeling the hospital bed and the sharp thing in his arm. He was almost fascinated with the sensation he got when he tried to pull it out. He was immediately stopped by a "nurse". When he saw the nurses change his bandage, SUNNY's arm was red.
OMORI liked it. His face felt strange. Was he smiling? He was smiling. Something was dripping from his mouth.
"Sunny...?" OMORI heard MOM say. He slowly turned SUNNY's head towards her and shook it with the same slowness.
"You're OMORI," MOM said, and OMORI nodded.
"So Mari was telling truth. You pushed her down the stairs, not Sunny."
OMORI nodded. He felt something pull at his arm and looked back in fascination as a fresh bandage was applied.
OMORI still had little concept of time, but he did know he spent a large amount of it in SUNNY's body after that. No matter how many HOSPITAL visits he had, no matter how many different candies called "pills" which were supposed to be filled with "medicine" that "made you better" SUNNY was forced to take, the MISERY always came back, and OMORI was forced to feel the same way as SUNNY. It was unbearable every time, which was why he tried to kill SUNNY every time. SUNNY could have stopped him, but he never did. Even when SUNNY was removed from his "home" and had to stay in a "special" HOSPITAL, they found ways there, too.
THE SISTER blamed OMORI for everything, saying she never should have taught him piano. After the way SUNNY had felt and acted in the aftermath, OMORI agreed. In order to have a way to alert THE SISTER to any dangerous thoughts SUNNY was having without SUNNY knowing, THE SISTER set up what she called "a picnic." It would be their code word, and THE SISTER taught him how to make it look like nothing had happened on SUNNY's computer after it was used. She also encouraged him to take the letters off the keyboard once in a while to make sure SUNNY thought he didn't know how to use technology in their world.
For as much as THE SISTER seemed to regret her interactions with him, she still couldn't stay away. During SUNNY's "therapy" sessions, she tried to talk to OMORI and get him to come back out. OMORI would come out long enough to write "N O" on a whiteboard. He couldn't help it if he came out during SUNNY's EMOTIONAL outbursts, but he would never again interact with SUNNY's world without a purpose, and his sole purpose was to protect SUNNY. That meant burying every bad thing away in BLACK SPACE.
Then SUNNY went to "public school" and met Basil, causing an outline of him to seep out of BLACK SPACE. OMORI had warned SUNNY, but SUNNY refused to listen. Now STRANGER was GREEN and also using the name BASIL, and OMORI didn't know what that entailed for either his or SUNNY's future. However, if OMORI was sure of one thing, it was that the past couple months proved SUNNY would not give Basil up for anything. OMORI was loyal to himself first, then SUNNY, but SUNNY seemed to switch from relying on THE SISTER to relying on Basil, which made him someone OMORI also had to protect. The worse the FEAR attacks became, the more paranoid OMORI became. SUNNY's thoughts melded with his, and he decided to hide as many knives as he could for protection.
Then there was THE PINK-HAIRED GIRL. The first time OMORI met her had been when SUNNY flared with ANGER and wanted to stick the gum she had put on Basil's locker in her hair. With OMORI there, they did it, and then THE PINK-HAIRED GIRL shoved him, so he shoved back. Basil had then grabbed SUNNY's wrist, and since OMORI hated to be touched, he pulled himself back to WHITE SPACE immediately. SUNNY's desire to protect Basil brought out the worst parts of OMORI and OMORI knew it.
Now BLACK SPACE was changing, and there was a whole new entity and place. OMORI knew what MARI represented, but what about BASIL? If BASIL began to torment him, then they were going to have a serious problem. Dealing with SUNNY and his problems was bad enough. He hated feeling his moods and hearing his thoughts. He wanted to be left alone and to either feel HAPPY or nothing at all. As much as Basil had ended up uprooting OMORI's whole system, the HAPPINESS he brought to SUNNY was unrivaled. When SUNNY and Basil got along and nothing bad happened during the day, SUNNY's HAPPINESS glowed throughout WHITE SPACE, turning it yellow with almost a hint of pink. OMORI couldn't describe the feeling, even to himself, just that he never wanted it to stop. He imagined that it would probably be called an "addiction" in SUNNY's world if anyone found out the lengths he would be willing to go to so that SUNNY would feel HAPPY. Unfortunately, the FEAR attacks seemed to be a sort of "withdrawal".
When SUNNY had FEAR attacks, OMORI ended up frozen in his body. It soon became common for Basil to hold SUNNY's body until SUNNY came back. OMORI did NOT like the sensation at all. Most of the times Basil was quiet and just stroked SUNNY's hair, a tactile feeling at the top of OMORI's HATE list. Sometimes Basil would hum, which was just as annoying. Then there were the times he would be forced to watch one of Basil's "shows", or a bunch of songs OMORI did not like. In those moments he hated Basil and wanted nothing more than to get away from him. He did not understand why SUNNY found him appealing in any way. Basil smelled like dirt, which was a scent OMORI found disgusting. Not only that, but OMORI liked to be clean like he was in WHITE SPACE, and Basil was always dirty. Because he worked with plants every day, Basil always had soil either on his clothes or in his hair or under his fingernails or all three. OMORI was baffled by the opposite effect it had on SUNNY. It was as if anything that had to do with Basil was good, even if normally it would be bad. It didn't make sense.
It also didn't make sense to SUNNY. OMORI could sense when SUNNY was having confusing thoughts. Usually he could ignore it, but now that sensation was seeping into all the other EMOTIONS, including HAPPINESS, and OMORI began to worry when that would become a problem.
As it turned out, that time was now, and that was why there was apparently a room full of BASILs. This was not at all what he wanted.
If SUNNY didn't pull his act together soon, OMORI would be forced to do it for him.
For the sake of HAPPINESS.
Notes:
Once again, I am sorry this chapter took 2 years to come out. Writing OMORI was really hard for me bc I started having disassociation problems and not to give my full life's story, I'll just say I can kind of relate to Sunny now, and that's why writing OMORI is a bit easier for me now.
I also became an Aunt last year! My niece will be 7 months this week and she is the light of my life. I even helped my sister and brother-in-law when she was born by living there for a little while and taking up the post of night duty, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. I miss when she was still a newborn little bean but I also can't wait for her to keep growing up so I can do more fun things with with her! She started babbling but she has a hard time sitting up on her own bc her body is small but her head is big (she's healthy, the females in my bloodline always seem to be small babies, according to my mom).
Okay, I'll end my Auntie gushing there lol
I can't promise when the next chapter will come, but I can promise you that this fic is not dead or over in any means. I have a story to tell, I'm just having trouble telling it right now. I appreciate every single comment I get, and I thank you all so much for your patience and understanding!
And as always, if that weird message pops up after this one, ignore it. It was from chapter 1 and idk why it does this but I can't be bothered to fix it lmao
Oh! Also, someone wrote an AU of this fic, I'm going to drop the link here (chapter 2 just came out but I haven't had time to read it yet)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/53860720/chapters/136327045
I really like the direction this author took my fic ^^ also I encourage any and all fan stuff for my fic. I never thought I'd get any so everything means a lot to me <3
Chapter 16: Eclipsed
Summary:
The one where they all have Tamagotchis
or
The one where Sunny gets jealous over ~nothing what-so-ever~
Chapter Text
___
-to fallin' in love
___
When Sunny returned to school, nothing had really changed except the atmosphere. All Basil had said was that Kel had been sitting with him at lunch and Aubrey and her gang had been keeping quiet. In the week Sunny had lost, he had become a bit of a legend. Apparently, the respect of the basketball team meant the respect of most of the kids who played after-school sports. Sunny tried desperately to keep himself together, but walking down the hall, all eyes were on him and he was constantly asked for high fives. Or worse, he would be stopped and asked, "Hey, you're that new mute kid, right?" and then given an introduction he immediately forgot.
It was too much social interaction for Sunny. He barely kept himself together to make it to third period science. He practically ran to the back of the room and took the seat farthest in the corner. He put his backpack up on his desk to hide his face, the agony dragging him further and further down.
He needed Basil and he needed him right now!
"S-Sunny?"
He looked up and saw Basil's smile turn into a well-earned look of concern as Sunny grabbed him and pulled him close. He wished everyone else would go away.
He vaguely heard Basil ask someone to tell the teacher something about a panic attack, but it didn't register Basil was talking about him until he'd taken Sunny all the way to the back of the lab, away from the class.
"Breathe," Basil whispered, his hand tightly squeezing Sunny's. Sunny was already starting to feel better. Several minutes of deep breathing exercises went by as Sunny came back to himself.
He was with Basil. He was safe. At least for now. How would he survive the rest of the day like this? Sunny made the sign they'd made up to refer to their Sunflower Notebook and Basil got it out quickly.
[Too many people... I can't do this.] Sunny wrote pathetically, his handwriting shaky from his weak arms. His body had no strength. He didn't know how he was even going to stand up again. He felt his eyes sting, but he really didn't want to cry in class, even if no one but Basil could see.
[I'll text Kel and ask him to have his basketball friends talk to their friends about bothering you in the hall.] Basil wrote back rather fast and then he pulled out his phone and began to text. Sunny had almost forgotten that he was ambidextrous, but it was still odd to see Basil use his left hand. He also wondered if just a text to Kel would work. He didn't want to go to any of his classes, he wanted to stay like this with Basil and not worry about anyone or anything else. He looked up at Basil, but Basil was looking towards the front of the class.
Basil is missing class because of you.
It was suddenly very important that he pull himself together for Basil's sake. So what if a bunch of people wanted to say hi to him? He couldn't talk. All he had to do was get to the next class. He could endure some high fives and fist bumps. His body no longer felt like jelly.
[Sorry. I'm okay now. Thank you... I just got a little overwhelmed.]
[Are you sure you're okay?]
[Yeah. Just first day back anxiety. I wasn't expecting... all that.]
Lunch was different. Kel was sitting with them at their table, along with some other people Sunny didn't know but assumed were on the basketball team. Sunny tried to hide himself behind Basil. It mostly worked, except when Kel tried to drag him into a conversation. Sunny pointed to his mouth, as if to say, 'Did you forget I can't talk?' Then one of Kel's friends signed to him, [Hi, Sunny. My brother is deaf, so I know ASL.]
To Sunny's own surprise, that made him feel better. Kel was picking up sign language at a beginner's rate and Basil knew only a few words.
<Too many people,> Sunny signed. Suddenly he jolted at the familiar feeling of the Sunflower Notebook being pressed against him.
[Are you okay?] Basil had written.
"Hey, why don't we go back to our table for a bit. I think we're overwhelming Sunny," the guy who'd used ASL said.
Sunny's cheeks burned, but he nodded gratefully.
"It is his first day back," Kel agreed. "We'll be over there if you need us, okay? Sunny, Basil?" Basil nodded and waved goodbye to them.
"Name's Lincoln, by the way," added Kel's friend. "I get called Link a lot, like the video game character, even though Basil looks a lot more like Link than I do." He gave a little laugh. "You can sign it like this-" He made a weird twist involving his thumbs and pointer finger. "My brother made it up was he was little so it stuck. Later!"
Sunny gave a little wave, feeling his face heat up further. He felt a little dazed. Then he felt the Sunflower Notebook disappear from the side of his arm. He looked over at Basil and saw a stony look on his face. Sunny didn't understand why asking for some space at the lunch table would be a big deal, especially after the episode he'd had in their science class.
"Oh, Basil!" Kel suddenly said, grabbing both of their attention as he turned around and came back to their table. "We should connect our pet rocks before we forget!"
"R-Right!" Basil said, still looking cold. Both Basil and Kel took out two oddly shaped devices that Sunny vaguely recognized from childhood.
"I found mine the other day and remembered that Basil had one in the past, so I asked him if he wanted to run it with me," Kel explained at Sunny's questioning look. Basil's expression softened and something inside Sunny felt like it had been punctured. Before he could think of why he suddenly felt that way, Kel spoke more about the features of the vintage digital pet. He and Basil pressed the little buttons and their devices made beeping sounds. Basil didn't look at him the entire time.
"Sorry I don't have an extra to give to you," Kel said, scratching the back of his head. "Hero has one, but he wouldn't give it up. But if you want, we could go to Hobbeez after school and see if they have any! If, uh, you're up to it, I mean."
Sunny took the Sunflower Notebook, noticing Basil's eyes shift to him quickly before back to his pet, and wrote, [Let me see how I feel at the end of the day. Also what about Garden Club?] But even as he showed his answer to Kel, he knew he had to acquire one of these "pet rocks". The thought of Basil and Kel enjoying something together without him made his stomach burn for some reason. Maybe he was being a little selfish, but he wanted to be involved in anything Basil was. He'd beg Mari to somehow get Hero to let him borrow his pet rock. Nothing mattered except making sure Basil didn't get bored of him.
"We can go after we take care of the plants," Kel said, "it'll be fine!" He gave Sunny a thumbs up and then ducked down to concentrate on his pet.
Sunny sat back in his seat, putting the Sunflower Notebook down.
"WE?!"
Had Kel been going to Garden Club with Basil the whole time he was out?
No, he couldn't have, because Basil had visited him in the hospital every day right after school. Sunny felt the color returning to his face. Luckily, no one had noticed his mini-freak out. He really hoped every day wouldn't be like this. He didn't care if Basil got mad at him; he rested his head on his shoulder. He felt Basil stiffen, but then soften immediately.
Sunny smiled and closed his eyes. He felt like he was recharging.
"S-Sunny," he heard Basil say, and he felt warm inside. "Y-You n-need to e-eat-t."
Sunny shook his head. He didn't want to move.
"Mari taught me 'The Sunflower Song'", you know," Kel said, and Sunny's eyes shot wide open.
"W-What?!" Basil snorted as Sunny jumped away from him and opened his lunchbox.
"You mean Basil doesn't know?!" Kel chuckled back as Sunny stuffed his sandwich in his mouth. He gave Kel a wide-eyed headshake, which for some reason only made Kel laugh harder and Basil angrier.
"I-I-I w-w-wann-n-n-na kn-n-now!" Basil stuttered, turning to Sunny, who shook his head again. Basil pouted and turned to Kel.
<I'll kill you,> Sunny signed to Kel.
"Sorry, Basil. I was sworn to secrecy by Mari, back before you even knew Sunny."
Basil's pout got darker as he snatched the Sunflower Notebook and wrote, [I want to know this Sunflower song! It's Sunflower-related! And what did Kel mean, before I met you? Did you know Kel before you knew me?]
He slid the book to Sunny, who swallowed a very large piece of sandwich and wrote back, [Before I started school, Mari started college and met Hero. She found out he lived next to us and that he had a brother in my grade, so he was kind of forced on me. Not that I mind now, but... things were different back then.]
He didn't really know how to write 'I like Kel but I like you more' and it not hurt Kel's feelings, since Kel had permission to read and/or use the notebook when needed, but he also didn't feel very friendly towards Kel at the moment and didn't want to give him a compliment by writing, 'But I'm glad that happened now,' because that would be... weird.
Basil looked really confused. [So why can't I know about The Sunflower Song if Kel can?]
Sunny didn't know how to explain that the song was mortifying and the fact that Kel even knew it made him feel sick. It was a threat, not a happy song anymore.
After Sunny sat there without moving for several minutes, Basil gave an angry snort and went back to his pet.
"Just e-eat," he sighed, and Sunny felt relieved.
The rest of Sunny's day was uneventful, to his relief. Even in gym, Aubrey and Kim pretended like he wasn't there. Kel walked with him (inside, as it was now too cold for school regulations to allow them outside) around the gymnasium.
"Okay, so between my brother and Link, I've learned a lot of sign language while you were away." Kel started off their conversation with just as much enthusiasm as if the day had just started. Sunny really wondered where all that energy came from.
[Can you understand this?] Sunny signed.
[Yes,] Kel signed back, then chuckled out loud, "You look impressed. I learn things pretty fast. My brother is studying to be a doctor, you know. I'm more than just a basketball player!"
"Could've fooled me, 'three times four is thirty-four'," Aubrey catcalled as they rounded the volleyball players' corner.
"That was one time in fifth grade, Aubrey. Get over yourself," Kel scoffed at her. Sunny made sure to put Kel between himself and Aubrey while they walked.
"I can't believe I was ever friends with someone like her," Kel said when they were out of earshot. "The three of us used to play outside, like, everyday when we were kids. She and Basil were inseparable until Kim moved here in middle school. I don't know what Kim did to her to make her like this, but I'm glad I know now that Basil is innocent."
[Innocent?] Sunny signed, as he found the use of that word... strange.
"Yeah, you know, the whole scrapbook thing?" Kel went on. "Aubrey claimed Basil was taking secret, creepy photos of her and writing weird things in the book. It really *was* a present for them. He doodled himself in the margins as a narrative device. Basil even showed it to me."
Sunny stopped walking. It took Kel a few seconds to realize he was talking to no one. He turned around and walked back to Sunny.
"What's wrong?" Kel asked. "I know he's told you about the book."
[He never showed it to me,] Sunny signed.
"I think I understood that," Kel said, squinting at Sunny like he was the actual sun in the sky. "Well, you never shared with him about the Sunflower Song, so maybe you're even."
Sunny wanted to argue because he felt hurt that Basil showed Kel the scrapbook when Sunny hadn't even known he still had it. However, Kel was right; he had his own secrets from Basil, so it was only fair Basil had secrets from him.
But that didn't stop Sunny from feeling weirdly jealous.
[What happened to Garden Club the week I was gone?] Sunny signed. He had to sign it again slowly for Kel to understand.
"Ah! The Garden Club!" he finally exclaimed, and Sunny signed for him to [keep it down].
"Sorry, I was just excited I understood you!" Kel said in a lower voice. "Basil gave me a copy of the keys to the Garden Shed and I took care of the plants. He wrote very clear instructions. It was also a good workout, so I didn't mind."
[Where was Basil?] Sunny signed.
"Where was 'cute-flower'?" Kel laughed, and Sunny's face exploded (or at least, it felt like it did). He had so far managed to avoid using Mari's nickname for Basil in front of Kel, simply spelling his name out fast. "Is that Basil's secret nickname Hero and Mari wouldn't show me?"
[It's was Mari's idea!] Sunny signed, stomping his foot.
"Okay, okay, I won't say anything," Kel said, putting his hand over his heart the same way Mari promised him things. "But I can't promise I won't slip. Give him a different nickname."
Sunny didn't know how to tell Kel that Basil already know his sign, but thought it was something made-up, so he thought about it before making a gesture like picking a leaf off a flower.
['Basil',] Kel copied him. "Anyway, he went to see you at the hospital every day you were gone, which is why he gave me the Garden Shed keys."
By the time gym was over, Sunny felt a lot better. It still bothered him that Kel was in their space. However, Basil had visited him every day; maybe he hadn't hallucinated some of the things he'd seen. When he thought back, he really couldn't remember much about being in the hospital.
Just like-
No. Don't think about that.
When Sunny got to the Garden Shed, it was already open. He heard Kel say, "Oh my gosh! Remember my GameCube and how we played the original Animal Crossing together? I never stopped loving it, we need to add each other on Switch so I can visit your island!"
"O-Okay," Basil replied, and Sunny could hear the happiness in his voice.
His happiness.
No, that wasn't right. Sunny shook the thought from his brain. He liked Kel; Kel was his friend. Sunny was curious about seeing Kel's Animal Crossing island. He also wanted Kel to see his own island.
Also, Basil's island was amazing and deserved to be shared. It just felt... weird. They had made those islands together, and it almost felt like some sort of invasion of privacy. Sunny thought back, trying to remember if he had written Basil any embarrassing notes on his Town Message Board or drawn anything strange that Basil might have copied and brought to his island. What qualified as "weird"? He didn't know, and what if Kel blamed Basil for it and then Basil-!
"Sunny? How long have you- oh shit, he's gonna pass ou-!"
When Sunny blinked awake, his head was elevated on Basil's legs. He heard Kel tell him not to panic, which Sunny quickly realized he had done to the point of hyperventilating and passing out.
And he was going to have to tell them why. Now it seemed extremely stupid.
"Sunny, have you been doing your therapy homework?" Kel asked, which was not what Sunny had been expecting him to say. "You have to do it every day or it doesn't help. It's like missing a dosage of medication."
Sunny finally saw the resemblance to Hero in Kel's face, especially when he turned from sour to sweet.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lecture you after a panic attack, but you had a lot of them today. I know it's your first day back, and things are a little different. But don't forget, you brought knives to school and I'm honestly surprised Aubrey has kept her mouth shut. There's a good chance she might blackmail you, and you have to be ready to deal with that."
"K-Kel-!" Basil said in an angry tone. For some reason, it made Sunny feel relieved.
"Well, better he hears it now. Sunny, if you don't do your part, I have to tell my brother and your sister. It was part of the deal we made with OMO-"
Basil made a loud hissing sound and Sunny scrambled away. He felt better, anyway, and sat up on his own. There was a long silence in which both Basil and Kel looked terrified. Then there was a small beeping noise and Basil made a strange sound as he checked his pockets and pulled out his pet rock.
"Oh shit, mine, too!" Kel exclaimed, but all of Sunny's focus was on Basil.
He knew about the contract with OMORI, so why did Basil shush Kel when he mentioned it?
"A-Anyway," Kel broke the silence that was only interrupted by beeping sounds. "Maybe we should wait until the end of the week to go to Hobbeez. It's not like we even know if they have any."
"W-Web-s-site s-said s-so," Basil stuttered without looking up from his pet.
"The website can be unreliable," Kel went on, also looking down at his pet, "and... I really don't think Sunny is ready to... go out anywhere yet."
As soon as Sunny saw the way Basil's shoulders drooped, he knew he had to put aside anything and everything and get one of those pets.
[I'm fine now,] Sunny tried to sign, but neither friend was looking at him. Now it felt like a personal challenge. He stood up, grabbing both his friends' attention.
[I'm fine,] he signed again, a phrase he knew they both knew by now.
"Are you sure?" Kel looked doubtful. "It's one thing to have a meltdown in a classroom that kind of knows you versus inside a store you've never been to before and- I see you crossing your arms which I guess means we're going." Kel ended in huff, accidentally kicking up some dirt. "Stay close to Basil," he ordered, and Sunny finally relaxed as he heard the defeat in Kel's voice. He was going to do something right today! He knew that pet was important to Basil. He had also basically been ordered to stay by Basil's side, so everything turned out fine in the end.
When they ended up actually walking to the store, however, it was as if Kel had forgotten what happened in the Garden Shed. Sunny walked behind them as they led the way, holding up their pets and explaining the functions. Sunny forced himself to stay calm, but he felt an angry OMORI brewing. Kel had been right; he wasn't ready, not for anything.
Maybe he would actually have to do his therapy homework.
"S-Sunny? You okay?" Basil asked suddenly. Honestly, he wasn't, but he knew he had to push through.
"My fault," Kel said with a worried grimace. "Maybe a quieter walk is better." He fell behind Sunny and pushed him forward to walk next to Basil. Now Sunny felt anxious for a different reason, one he still couldn't figure out. He felt... awkward. He really wanted to hold Basil's hand, but Basil was using both to press buttons on his pet rock. They were kind of musical. Sunny appreciated the pleasing tones, even if they were a little sharp.
"That's right, Basil, keep training lil' Kelpsie. One day left before we get new eggs~"
Sunny saw Basil grin. It was clear there was some kind of thing going on, and he had to be part of that thing.
"C-Can we have a m-minute alone?" Basil asked, looking up at Kel. Some sort of unspoken agreement passed between them.
"Yeah, of course. I'll just be inside. The cashier knows my brother, anyway, and will want to talk. No biggie!" He smiled and waved before entering the shop. Basil sat Sunny down on a bench outside the door. He took out their Sunflower notebook and wrote, [Are you sure you're okay?]
[Yes, I'm fine] Sunny wrote back, starting to actually feel annoyed at how many times he'd been asked that today.
[Are you sure you really want a pet rock? They are shockingly expensive now and a big commitment.]
Sunny felt indignant at those words. He angrily scribbled back, [Do you not want me to get one? Is this, like, your thing with Kel? Well, too bad, because I'm getting one and I'll beat Kel's next pet before you!] Sunny didn't wait for a reply, though he heard Basil yell at him to come back; he wasn't leaving the store without that pet!
"And this is Sunny, the guy I was telling you about," Kel told the cashier, "and Basil is... Sunny, where's Basil?"
But Sunny had forgotten all about Basil; his eyes had lit up. Anime, manga, video games, board games, records, CDs, action figures, model kits, trading cards... Sunny didn't know where to begin.
"I can see someone just found his dream store," Kel snickered.
Sunny nodded and trotted around the store, taking in EVERYTHING. His room was kind of bare. It could do with some nice figures and posters. He blinked and was suddenly holding so much stuff that he fell over.
"Sunny?!"
Both Kel and Basil were kneeling beside him.
"Are you back to Sunny?" Kel asked. Sunny looked at Basil, who seemed just as concerned. He felt funny. He gave Kel a nod and tried to stand up.
"Your expression got all... funny," Kel explained, helping him up. "It was kind of creepy, to be honest, but you were smiling and you ran around the store and started grabbing things, and then you stood in front of us and keeled over."
Sunny looked over at the pile of merch he had left on the ground. Basil was trying to pick it back up. A very nice figure of Link from the newest Zelda game caught his eye and bubbles of shame burned in his chest as he realized what had happened. He turned away, motioning to Basil to stop; he didn't want the merch anymore. He turned and accidentally fell into Kel's chest, his face burning. He heard Basil drop the boxes.
"Uh... Maybe we should just look for the pet rock," Kel said nervously. Sunny nodded into his chest. "Basil, why don't you help Sunny look for it while I put those back, okay?"
Sunny was a little alarmed when Kel pushed him away and Basil started pushing him forward. Confused, Sunny looked back at Kel, but Basil turned his head forward.
"Y-You c-could have just t-told m-me you d-didn't want one," Basil managed to say. His stuttering had improved a lot. Basil definitely used to stutter more. Was it because he'd actually been /talking/ while Sunny was in the hospital? He thought back to lunch. There had been a lot of people at their table and Basil...
...had been talking to Kel. And playing with their pet rocks. He remembered Kel saying something about connecting them , and Sunny's desire to have one suddenly reignited.
"S-Sunny!"
But Sunny was already running. He'd show Basil that he really /did/ want one! He didn't need any figures or posters or any of that other junk MANIC OMORI picked out. He wanted a pet rock to connect to Basil's!
"Not again!" came Kel's voice in the distance, and then he heard a lower voice he didn't know say, "Yo, Kel! You know that crazy kid?"
Sunny stopped dead in his tracks.
Crazy?
CRAZYCRAZYCRAZYCRAZYCRA-!
"Oof!" Someone ran into his back. Sunny came back to his senses as he fell to his knees from the force. He turned around and saw Basil also on his knees. He was wincing as blood dripped down his nose. Had he done that?
He could feel MISERABLE OMORI tugging at him, but he forced him back again by thinking of Basil. Basil needed him. He had to stay.
Sunny took out the tissue packet from his jacket and yanked out a few, holding them out for Basil. Basil took them quickly and pinched his nose. Sunny's ears perked and he looked up to see Kel laughing at the counter as he talked to the cashier.
"Yeah! Basil's an old friend, and Sunny moved next door to us. He's mute, so Hero's been teaching me sign language. He actually goes to the same college-"
Sunny tuned him back out and focused on Basil. He looked a little sick.
'You okay?' he signed. Basil shook his head slowly.
"I'll be right back," Sunny heard Kel say before he rushed over.
"What's-? Uh-oh." Kel was suddenly next to them. "Nosebleed. Basil, are you gonna-?"
Basil very slightly nodded his head.
"Sunny, stay here, please," Kel said, almost like he was begging, and then he lifted Basil up from under his arms. He was as stiff as a board.
"We'll be right back," Kel said in fake calm voice. Then he rushed to the door, kicked it open, and left while saying in a rush, "PleasewatchmyfriendSunnyoverthereberightback-!"
"Kel! You can't just leave me here with- Oh."
The tone of the cashier's voice made Sunny get up and trot over to the door.
"Hey, stay here!" the cashier said as Sunny watched Kel rub Basil's back. His head was bent over the trash can outside.
Why was Basil getting sick? From the nosebleed? And apparently it must have been a thing back when Basil and Kel had been friends as kids, or how else would Kel have known what was going to happen? Something about that made him mad, but not in a way that triggered OMORI. He couldn't explain it, and before he knew what he was doing, he began cleaning up the rest of the merch MANIC OMORI had picked out. Looking everything over, it was all stuff he would have wanted years ago. But this wasn't years ago. They came to this store for a reason, and he was going to fulfill that reason.
It didn't take long for Sunny to clean up, even though he checked outside frequently. The two never moved, which for some reason only built more rage and desire inside him. He turned to the cashier and motioned for something to write on. He was given a pen and a piece of scrap paper.
[Do you have any pet rocks?] Sunny wrote.
"You want a pet rock?" the cashier repeated as if asking to make sure. Why would Sunny have written it if he didn't want one? Instead of rolling his eyes, he just nodded.
"You're lucky, we just got a trade-in. It's right here." The cashier pointed to something in the glass case. Sunny looked. It was blue and white and had some cosmetic damage, but it looked well enough. Sunny looked back up at the cashier and nodded, pointing at it.
"You know these are vintage and expensive, right?" the cashier said, and Sunny shrugged. "Well, they're actually coming out with new ones with updated features. If you like this, I suggest you look into those." Sunny nodded. If these were important to Basil, then they were important to him.
...Even if the vintage one was basically all of his pocket money.
"I can see the price shock in your eyes," the cashier laughed. "Are you sure-?"
But Sunny had already taken out his wallet.
"I'll even put batteries in it for you," the cashier said. "Free of charge." Sunny gave them a little smile and signed 'thank you'.
"I don't know sign language, sorry, kid," they said, and Sunny realized he was getting used to hearing that. He gave a thumbs up instead and the cashier said, "Oh, gotchu!"
As the cashier took the pet rock out of its case and put the batteries inside it, they said, "The new pet rocks come out on Shopping Day, after Thanksgiving. It would be fun to have more people to connect and battle with. Here's the promo flyer. At the very least, show it to Kel. I know he'll be interested."
Sunny pocketed the flyer and took out the credit card his mom had given him for emergencies. He'd explain later- and in a way, this kind of was an emergency. He couldn't let Kel-
Couldn't let Kel.... what, exactly?
It wasn't like Kel was stealing Basil away from him or anything. They might have been friends in the past, but Sunny was Basil's BEST friend.
...Right?
Was this a normal feeling to have? He wished he could ask someone that question, but the thought of even trying to ask gave him his answer.
He should be the one outside with Basil right now, dealing with whatever had happened. He paid for the pet as quickly as possible and left the store. Outside, Kel and Basil were sitting on the bench.
"Sorry, guess we've been out here too long," Kel apologized immediately. "I didn't mean to just leave you in there, I swear! But um... Basil gets sick when he has nosebleeds. He can't stand the taste of blood-"
Basil made a noise and hid his head, making a shoo-ing motion with his free arm as if to say "stop talking about it".
"Right, sorry," Kel said quickly. "Um, anyway, find anything good?"
Sunny made a wide berth around the disgusting public garbage can next to Basil, who was probably mortified to have thrown up in it, and sat between him and Kel. He pulled out his brand new (but used) pet rock.
"Oh my gosh, you found one!" Kel said excitedly. "Basil, Sunny got a pet rock!"
Basil looked up and Sunny turned to him to show him. He practically saw the life come back into Basil's eyes. Sunny had no idea that it would mean that much to Basil. He felt his cheeks begin to heat up. Basil had dried blood under his nose and tear tracks down his face. Sunny wanted to hug him. He felt MANIC OMORI pulling at him. He tried to fight the urges, but they were too strong.
Sunny hugged Basil.
MANIC OMORI licked the blood off Basil's face.
Basil screamed and shoved MANIC OMORI away so hard he hit Kel, and Sunny came back to his senses.
"What happened?!" Kel asked with alarm.
"He... He..." Basil was panting and looked like he'd seen a ghost.
Sunny was confused. All he did was hug Basil. Why was Basil rejecting him? Sunny suddenly wanted to go home, immediately, and he only had to think that once for NEUTRAL OMORI to take over and walk him home, ignoring Kel's questions until finally Kel ran back to check on Basil.
WELCOME TO WHITE SPACE.
YOU'VE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN REMEMBER.
Sunny lay on the white carpet, staring up at the black lightbulb. Here, he didn't have to think.
Here, he was safe.
And then BASIL appeared in front of him.
"Hi, SUNNY!" BASIL greeted him happily. Sunny sat up so fast that if he had been in his world, he would have passed out.
"Are you really that surprised to see me?" BASIL asked with a smile. "Surely you knew this was coming."
Sunny had no idea what that meant. He surmised that STRANGER had turned into BASIL, but this BASIL was...
"Yeah, I'm kind of different from everything else here," BASIL finished his thought. "See, I think OMORI should tell you THE TRUTH, but-"
Sunny was slammed back into his own body as it hit his bed. He turned over and took in his surroundings, panting slightly. He felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket. He took it out and saw he had over 30 messages from Basil. He quickly opened his phone. All the messages were barely a minute apart. Basil apologizing for pushing Sunny away, Basil pleading for him to answer, Basil begging him not to leave him.
Sunny couldn't get enough. He watched as more messages appeared, Basil promising him this and that.
I bet he's crying again.
MANIC OMORI grinned from ear to ear. Basil's pathetic pleas for Sunny were what strengthened him.
After all, how else would he know he was wanted?
An hour passed of MANIC OMORI watching Basil's texts get more and more pathetic until finally, the beeping sound of the pet rock in his pocket brought Sunny back to himself. He took it out of his pocket before promptly falling asleep, his phone still on with over a hundred unanswered messages.
Notes:
Hey so not to put myself on blast but turns out I relate to Sunny a little more than I feared and honestly no one's mental health has been well, but I'm getting treated for it now. A lot of things have changed since I wrote this. I don't write as much as I used to. A lot also depends on the health of my beta reader, and I don't want to put them on blast either. We've been through some stuff. But writing again does feel so good. Let this be a year of getting better.
Also I wrote this before the Tamagotchi Connection remakes came out, and I'm obsessed with Tamagotchis, if you couldn't tell by how I wrote a whole chapter about them. So sorry not sorry, Tamagotchis are going to be important to this story. I literally picked out everyone's Connection remakes from when they first teased it (there are way more shells now). Though, these are "pet rocks" and not Tamagotchis, so they can do all kinds of... interesting things :)
Stay Tuned for more!
And as always, please ignore the notes under this, they will always be on the newest chapter it seems.
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