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"––the meteorite is heading straight to Faraway Town and expected to land tomorrow at around one in the morning, so it is recommended to search for shelter immediately if you live anywhere near it. In other news this year's "Doggest Dog" award goes to a cat that accidentally––"
Sunny stopped listening to the TV, of course this happened the day after he started to move on from Mari's death, and the worst part was that he was stuck in a hospital with no one to spend his last day alive with.
Well, that wasn't exactly true, Basil was just down the hallway, and he did tell him yesterday that he still wanted to be his friend despite everything, and despite being a shut-in for 4 years, Sunny didn't want to be alone right now, so with newfound resolution, he walked out the room.
The hall was dark and desolate, it seemed like things had been knocked over and thrown off their place without care, spooky, but he had a mission, so he made a beeline to Basil's room and opened the door.
The place was as empty as last time (maybe he should've grabbed one of the flowers in his room for Basil), the blond moved his head up in surprise when he heard him enter, looking at him with reddened, wet eyes.
"O-oh! H-hi Sunny... D-didn't expect you here..." Sunny waved at him, unsure if he should get closer, Basil seemed to read his mind as he moved over in the bed to make a spot for him, an invitation which he gladly accepted.
They sat down in comfortable silence for a bit before Basil spoke again, "y-you saw the...?" he gave the TV of his room a quick glance, Sunny nodded, "ah..." he seemed to be searching for what words to say, Sunny simply looked at him until he found them, "y-you know... Just yesterday, I was about to... E-end my life... But now... I-I'm terrified... A-and I- I don't know- I w-want to live! Despite everything! I j-just..."
Basil had started crying at some point during his speech, his body shock with each sob that escaped his throat, Sunny didn't know how to help him, so he pushed himself against him in hopes that the physical contact works enough, at this, Basil practically launches himself at the boy, engulfing him in a hug which the other gladly returns.
They stay like this for what felt like years, and Sunny felt like the meteorite could fall right now and he'd be content to leave this world in the arms of his best friend, but it's not any sky rock that breaks the peace, instead the door is basically thrown open by Polly, the loud BANG making the boys jump and break the hug.
"Basil! Sunny!" She rushed over to them, not even looking surprised that Sunny wasn't in his room, and hugged them so tightly he felt like he was gonna suffocate, but it still felt nice, and he could tell that despite his clear confusion, Basil enjoyed it.
But her hug was also interrupted when Kel basically barrelled through the door, "SUNNY'S MIS– Oh! There you are!" he turned his head outside and yelled out, "GUYS SUNNY'S HERE!!!!" Two pair of steps could be heard before Aubrey and Hero entered the room, the latter looking extremely out of breath
"W-WHA- HOW- WHY- WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!?!" Basil screamed exactly what Sunny was thinking.
"WESAWTHEWARNINGANDFREAKEDOUTSOWEDECIDEDTHATWE'REGONNASPENDTHEBESTDAYEVERBEFORETHEWORLDENDS" Kel incomprehensibly explained, to which Aubrey translated;
"What this dumbass is trying to say is, we saw the news and realized that even if we're not sure if we forgive you two for, that, we don't wanna spend our last day being mad at you, so we're here to hang out"
"Yeah! That! SO LET'S GO!!!"
W-w-wait! B-but what about the doctors-!" Basil panicked
"Don't worry 'bout the staff, practically everyone's freaking out and the only people weird enough to work in the middle of all this don't really care if we fuck off to wherever" Aubrey reassured him, which made Sunny realize that she had her spiked bat with her, so she was probably right.
He got up and Basil followed him, Kel basically exploded from enthusiasm, "YEAHHHHH!!! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!! Now let's get out of this horror movie set-up!"
Hero chimed in, finally having caught his breath, "be careful where you step, there's sharp and dangerous stuff everywhere" an useful warning, considering neither of the hospital boys had shoes on.
"And grab some weapons if you can" Aubrey advised, "everyone outside's losing their shit"
"We are not hurting people, Aubrey!"
"I didn't say anything about hurting anyone!" the delinquent raised her hands in a surrender motion, "Just for self-defense! Who knows what'll happen on the way back!"
Hero had no choice but to admit that her logic wasn't flawed, "...I guess you're right, but don't grab anything too dangerous"
With that, they left the room
Damn, they weren't kidding.
It looked like an apocalypse movie out there, both people and cars zooming in a frenzy to any direction, street lamps broken or just down right missing (who the hell decided that stealing a lamp post was gonna help them and how did they even manage to break it), buildings destroyed and broken into, the whole deal.
"H-how long has it been since the warning?" Basil asked, fidgeting with his hospital gown, Sunny instead opted to fidget with the bisturi he'd stolen, it was a bit too small for his liking, but that was fine
"Like less than an hour or so" Hero answered him, and Kel commented, "that building wasn't on fire when we arrived!"
Being extra careful to not step on anything sharp or dirty (because ew), they made their way to Polly's car, just to see that it had been set on fire, "at least I didn't leave anything too important inside" the caretaker sighed.
The group was pretty bummed about the possibility of having to make the journey on foot, but they didn't have to walk for long before Kel called their attention.
"Guys look! An ice cream post!" He pointed to the other street and, true to his word, there was an ice cream post ahead, that's when they remembered they hadn't had breakfast.
"Hey there," the owner of the stand greeted them when they got closer, "want some ice cream? I have nothing better to do than sell this"
"Yeah! How much is it?" Kel answered
"It's all free, get as much as you want, it's not like money is gonna help ain any way, I just hope the ice cream helps you feel better despite all this"
"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
And that's how they ended up with one ice cream cone each, except for Kel who got two.
"This is cool and all" Aubrey started after licking some strawberry ice cream off her lips, "but we still don't have a car"
Kel smiled widely, "Don't you worry my dear Aubregine" "don't fucking call me that-" "this ice cream gave me an amazing idea!"
"And that idea is..." Hero prompted him.
"We simply take one!" he gestured to the many abandoned cars near them, making some of his second ice cream fall to the floor.
Aubrey perked up "fuck yeah, crimes!!"
"NO! We are NOT stealing a car!" Hero refused.
"Why not?? It's not like anyone's gonna miss it! They're the ones who left them behind!"
"Yeah! We're all going to die, you can afford to taint your spotless record a bit, Mr. Perfect!"
Hero knew he'd already lost this battle, when Kel and Aubrey agreed on something there was no force in or out of this realm that would stop them, Sunny was sure if they really wanted they could stop the meteorite themselves, and so began the search for the perfect car to steal.
Fairly quickly they found a car that worked, Aubrey used her bat to break the conductor seat's window and opened the door, then they realized that they didn't have the keys, but before anyone could give up hope the crime expert looked around.
Her eyes landed on Sunny, "give me your bisturi, I might be able to jack it" Sunny obeyed, and Aubrey put it in the key slot, after a few moments of concentration, the car turned on.
Aubrey let Polly take the driver's seat as Hero settled on her side, the other four tried to fit in the backseats, it was a bit more stretched than they expected, but Sunny and Basil were really small so they managed to pull it off.
From left to right it was Kel—>Basil—>Sunny—>Aubrey
"Make sure to put your seat belts on" was the only warning they got from Polly before she smashed the gas pedal full force.
"T-that... Was terrifying..."
"Terrifyingly awesome!!!" Kel cheered
Sunny had to agree with Basil on this one, he's pretty sure Polly had to have some kind of superpower to be able to break so many traffic laws in the span of a 10-something minute drive.
The conversation was cut short when they arrived at Kel and Hero's home and knocked on the door.
Their mother answered, "Oh! I'm so glad you're back safely!" she hugged her sons
Sunny zoned out of the family moment to take a look at his surroundings, and noticed with confusion that Faraway was basically the same as last time he saw it, a stark contrast to the outskirts where the hospital was, he zoned back in to hear his name being called.
"Sunny, Basil! You poor must be so cold with those hospital clothes! You're not even wearing shoes!!" Kel and Hero's mother looked them over, and now that she'd mentioned it, he was starting to feel the chill of the wind, even if it was summer.
"Oh I know! Why don't you put on something from my closet? I have a bunch of hand-me-downs from Hero that I never actually wore" Kel suggested.
"Good idea! While you boys do that, I could use some extra help in the kitchen, there's gonna be a party at the park later so we need a lot of food"
Most of Hero's old clothes were plain button-ups, but Sunny usually wears similar stuff, so it didn't really bother him.
While trying to decide between a navy blue t-shirt or a black t-shirt, he heard Basil go "huh?", the noise making him turn to look at the other holding the most emo-looking outfit he'd ever seen.
A black shirt with the logo of My Chemical Romance, ripped jeans, a pair of dark and red, fingerless gloves, and dark boots with a bit of heel, and if all that wasn't enough Basil put the clothes aside and grabbed a small back with decorative chains and fake piercings.
While the mental image on any of the brothers wearing these was hilarious to Sunny, he couldn't help but be surprised by how much he wanted to try them, it was like it was calling him, telling him to embrace his nature as the emo he was born to be, his friend noticed him staring, "Umm... They're not really my style... W-would you like to put them on?" he nodded so strongly his head hurt.
After changing in the bathroom, he looked in the mirror, the clothes were a bit too big on him, he hadn't managed to put the chains so he was just holding them for now, and the piercings were a bit loop-sided, but he LOVED how he looked in it.
Remembering that he couldn't spend the rest of the day looking at his reflection, he opened the door to see Basil patiently waiting on the other side while holding his selected clothes, he looked at him for a second.
"W-woah, y-you look really nice, S-Sunny" he managed to blurt out eventually, the newborn emo stepped out of his way to the bathroom, "O-oh, thanks, hehehe..."
The plant-lover entered and closed the door, which Sunny took as his cue to go back to the others downstairs.
His friends were in the kitchen, Kel and Aubrey fighting about something and throwing various ingredients at each other, while Hero and his mom light-heartedly scolded them, Kel and Hero's father, who was currently feeding Sally, noticed him first.
"Hey champ! I see you found something that fits you" he greeted him, making everyone's eyes turn to him, at seeing him, Kel started laughing so hard you could probably hear it all the way from Othermart, Aubrey switched between looking at Kel and him in confusion, and Hero's face morphed into one of absolute horror.
The parents watched in amusement as Sunny and Aubrey looked at each other, he simply shrugged, eventually Kel managed to stop laughing and took a few deep breaths, "you see, t-those are-" he struggled to not start laughing again, "those are from Hero emo phase" he lost the fight and resumed his laughing fit.
"Oh God....." Hero lamented quietly, trying to put his hands over his rapidly reddening face before remembering that they were dirty.
Aubrey was baffled, "YOU??!!?!!? AN EMO PHASE??!!!?!?" she pointed at him with the whisk she was holding.
The father laughed, "my wife reacted in a similar way, I say it's just a part of growing up!"
"Oh hush! I didn't react that strongly, it's not like he acted any different, he was just trying out a new fashion!" she returned.
"Well you didn't seem to think that when Kel started wearing it"
Aubrey turned her head so fast Sunny was sure he heard a crack, "HUH???????????????????????????"
"Oh yeah, the fake piercings were actually my addition, along with some chains, Hero didn't wear those" Kel remembered.
Sunny showed said chains, which he was still carrying, for Kel to see, "there they are! are you having trouble putting them on?" he nodded.
Aubrey looked deep in thought as Kel helped him with the chains, suddenly she gasped in realization, "wait you were the kid who's chain got stuck on a door and his pants got ripped off in the middle of the school hallway?!?"
Basil came through the door just at that moment wearing a basic grey shirt and some white jeans, "what"
"YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?????"
Seems like those stitches weren't a part of the design after all.
Faraway park was full of life, the only people who hadn't attended the party were currently in church praying or something.
Aubrey had gone to hang out with the Hooligans for a while, managing to rope Basil into it, at first he was understandably scared but he managed to hit it off pretty well with Charlene, Kel was in the middle of a match with his fellow basketbros, and Hero was helping clean up after the meal.
As for Sunny himself, he was currently laying on the grass, he felt a bit guilty about dirtying some one else's (super cool) clothes, but the small dot he could see in the otherwise cloudless sky reminded him that it didn't matter.
A piece of paper hit him in the face, followed by a "oh my gosh I'm so so sorry!!!"
He took the paper off his eye, and saw Mincy running towards him, she blinked at him once before her eyes glinted with recognition, Sunny?? I almost didn't recognize you! What happened? Ah, wait! That sounded insensitive"
Ah, yeah, he'd almost forgotten about the whole cyclops thing, or maybe she meant his new looks?
Sadly, he'll never get to know, as another person approached them.
"You okay, kid?" it was Angel's sister, the 'INSPIRATION HATH STRIKENTH' girl who's name he never bothered to learn, he sat up and gave them both a thumbs up.
"You look bored here all alone, want to draw with us?" The unnamed girl offered, and while he could probably stare at a dot in the sky slowly get bigger until it killed him, he didn't really feel like doing that, so he nodded.
He ended up making a drawing of the three of them drawing, he couldn't really depict it, but his drawing self was also making a drawing of them drawing, and that drawing's self was also making a drawing of them drawing, and it just went on in an endless loop, he showed it to the others.
"Woah, that's cool!" "it's really pretty!", Sunny was glad they liked it, he looked at the other's drawings, and gave them a thumbs up to let them know he liked them.
Kel ran to him, attacking him with the smell of sweat, "Ayo Sunny!! You wanna have a sleepover at our house?" Hero followed behind him
He looked at the sky, it was way darker than before, and there were less people too, seems like he got really into the drawing-in-a-drawing-in-a-drawing-in-a-drawing, he nodded, getting up and waving at Mincy and the other girl.
"Are you sure your parents will be okay with it? Actually- where even are they? We haven't heard a thing about them at all today" Hero worried.
Sunny shrugged, he hadn't really stopped to think about where his mom might've been, he hoped that she saw the broadcast and managed to get to safety, Kel noticed the tension and cut in, "well, doesn't really matter anymore! C'mon, we're gonna have the best sleepover ever!!!"
Lots of games, chatting, pillow fights, and typical Aubrey-Kel bickering later, it hit past midnight, and they couldn't sleep.
Well, Sunny probably could if he tried, but he wanted to cherish these last moments as much as possible by staying awake until the end, and Kel had drank so much Orange Joe he might survive the impact out of sheer caffeine, so they were all looking at the clock in silence as it hit 1 am, the news said it'd be around one, so they had to way to know for sure (they didn't wanna open the curtains).
"...So" Aubrey spoke, "does anyone have any last words?"
That's when it fully hit him, this was it, they were at the end, all of this was real, he took a deep breath to stop his thoughts from spiraling.
Surprisingly, Basil was the first to talk, "y-you guys have b-been the first and best friends I've ever had... I-I know I've messed up a lot, but e-even after all of it, I'm glad to have m-made so many happy memories with you guys!"
Kel awww-ed and Aubrey pulled him in a side hug, "I've made lots of mistakes too, and I won't ever be able to make up for them, but I want y'all to know that you're the best thing that's happened to me... Goddamn that was really fucking cheesy"
Kel's laugher was a bit stained before he went next, "...to be honest, I'm scared, I was trying really hard to ignore it and just have a good day, you know? But, I kinda feel like I haven't done enough, not now, and not back when Mari died, but I don't know what I could've done to make things better"
"Kel..." Hero looked at his brother, "you've done more than enough, you can't fix everything wrong in the world, no one can, but what matters is that you've always tried your best to make others smile, and I'm proud of you" he turned to look at the others, "all of you"
Kel's eyes turned glassy, but his smile was bright enough to illuminate the living room, then suddenly... "GROUP HUG!!!!!!!"
Aubrey and Basil made noises of surprise at being pulled into the hug, but neither tried to get away.
Sunny looked at his friends's faces, they were all laughing (even Aubrey had a smile on), here, surrounded by the best people in the world, he felt the happiest he'd ever felt in a long time.
There was so much he wanted to tell them, so much he wouldn't be able to say even with all the time in the world, so instead, he closed his eyes and simply said, "thank you"
"Holy shit guys Sunny's smiling-"
And then it was over.