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Sunny opened his eyes, squinting in the blinding sunlight as he heard voices carrying from downstairs.
Sighing, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, attempting to wake himself up at least a little.
He never considered himself a light sleeper. In fact, he was the exact opposite, but insomnia was a bitch. He wound up staying up until around 3:00 in the morning drawing in his sketchbook under the light of his desk lamp, determined to finish what he was working on before going to bed, and then finding himself completely unable to sleep when he did finally crawl into bed to try, only falling asleep at around 4:00 am. Even then, he hadn't managed to fall into the same deep sleep as usual. He was exhausted, but he and his partners were going out for a 'special day' today, and he couldn't just bail. They were all so excited, and so was he, he couldn't ruin it by falling asleep.
He got out of bed begrudgingly and put on slippers, going downstairs and sitting at the kitchen table in his usual spot next to Basil, resting his head on the blonde's shoulder.
"Morning Sunshine! How did you sleep?" The gardener asked, resting his head on his sleepy boyfriend's.
Sunny simply hummed in response. All three of his partners were always easily concerned by his habits, encouraging him to work towards a better schedule and better habits to improve his physical and mental health, but the blonde, easily being the most neurotic of the four, was also the strictest with enforcing healthy habits onto his partners. The hypocrite had just as many unhealthy habits, which funnily enough, included ignoring his own needs for the sake of helping the others.
Regardless, he didn't want to admit that he had stayed up late to the others, they would postpone their date in favour of making him sleep, and he didn't want that.
"Here's your coffee hun, black, just the way you like it," Aubrey piped up, sliding his favourite mug over to him.
"Thanks, Aubs," The black-haired boy spoke, lifting his head to drink the hot beverage. Maybe that could help wake him up.
"Oh hey, Sunny! You excited about today, bud?" Kel chimed in, returning to the kitchen and ruffling the younger's already atrociously messy bed hair.
"Mhm. Do we have a game plan here, or are we just 'winging it' again?" Sunny replied, subtly reminding the athlete of the many times that he'd been so excited about the idea of going places with them that he led them out with no planning beforehand. Sure, none of them minded walking around until they found something they wanted to do, Kel had been doing this ever since they were little, so far before they all got together, but Sunny was tired today and wanted to conserve energy for the actual things they would be doing.
Besides, quite a few times they'd gone out without a plan (moreso back when they were younger) they'd wound up getting themselves lost, and he didn't feel like letting Aubrey and Kel get into another dumb fight over which direction they came from, where they should go, etc, or letting Basil work himself into another panic attack thinking they would all die from something or other, or letting himself collapse from exhaustion at any point while they were out.
"Oh! Right! Uh... Yeah, we uh-" Kel stuttered.
Basil giggled and shook his head, deciding to answer for him.
"We had a few ideas, we just wanted to wait for you to get up so you could help us figure everything out and maybe give us a few ideas of your own if you had any."
"Yeah, that! Thanks, Base!" Kel added, grateful that he didn't have to explain himself anymore.
Sunny nodded in understanding.
"We were thinking about going out for breakfast, but someone decided he was hungry and couldn't wait that long even though he's always hungry, and someone else decided that since the two courses of action to solve it were either to make him wait or wake you up, both were too mean and he made breakfast instead," Aubrey chimed in, gesturing to Kel and Basil as she informed the youngest. Sunny didn't need any clarification to figure out who was who in that scenario considering Kel occasionally ate enough for the four of them combined while Basil was rarely hungry and often had a difficult time eating due to health issues, but the looks from both of them as they were indirectly mentioned only further confirmed what he already knew.
"That's alright, it's a lot nicer eating breakfast here rather than out. It's cheaper, quieter, and private, and I like Basil's cooking a lot better than I could ever like any cafe food. I'm biased, sue me," Sunny spoke.
"Awee, thank you, Sunshine!" The aforementioned gardener piped up, placing a plate in front of his boyfriend before kissing him on the cheek appreciatively.
"Valid, Basil's cooking is amazing. I'm aware I have low standards considering I grew up eating canned shit and frozen dinners, but even I know quality when I taste it," Aubrey added.
"As someone who grew up with Hero's immaculate cooking skills, I can vouch for Basil's cooking being real high quality. You are a fucking blessing, dude," Kel agreed, ruffling the blonde's hair and kissing his forehead.
"Thank you both as well, I'm glad everyone likes it so much! Though it's a whole lot easier when I'm cooking for special people! Only the best for my loves," The now very flustered boy in question replied, not used to all the positive attention.
"How the hell do you just go and say the cheesiest shit and still make it sound like the most adorable thing?" Aubrey groaned, burying her face in her arms as she found herself caught between admiring the other's wholesome statement and rolling her eyes at just how 'cheesy' it had sounded.
"Dunno, but it's cute so I'm not complaining," Kel answered for him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Basil replied, giving an 'innocent' smile.
"You do so, don't give us that look. Though I'm not exactly complaining either," Sunny rolled his eyes, amused by the mischievous look on the other's face.
"Exactly. You all love me, don't pretend like you don't~" The blonde teased.
"Yes, we do. I don't think any of us can even attempt to pretend not to," The black-haired boy replied, finally deciding to start eating his breakfast, "Anyways, where else were you guys thinking of going?"
"We had a few ideas, Basil suggested a walk down one of the park's trails, and Kel and I thought we could all go spend an hour or two at the arcade, since we couldn't go out for breakfast maybe we could go out for lunch, and I think that's all we got so far. Any more ideas?" Aubrey listed.
"All that sounds good, we have all day, so we have time to do a bunch of stuff. We don't have to be outside all day, either. Maybe we could come home later in the afternoon, take it easy, order in, and watch some movies to unwind a little bit," Sunny replied.
"So maybe we could go out for a walk through the park first to ease us into it a little, get some lunch, go to the arcade for an hour or two, come home, and then relax and watch some movies?" Kel suggested.
"Sounds perfect, I'm in!" Basil piped up.
"Yeah, sounds good. That way we can all chill for the rest of the day and Basil doesn't have to get up and cook if he's still drained by the time dinner rolls around," Aubrey agreed. It wasn't like the other three didn't or couldn't cook, the blonde just insisted on doing it himself most of the time. He liked to feel like he was contributing (as if he wasn't doing more than enough already), and unlike the others, for the most part, he actually enjoyed cooking and didn't want to 'burden' the other three with doing something they didn't feel like doing.
"Alright, sweet! I'm gonna go finish getting ready, then," Kel sprinted upstairs to do so, with Aubrey following along behind him as Sunny attempted to speed up eating his breakfast so he wouldn't hold the others up any more than he already had.
Basil noticed this and giggled, "Sunny, slow down! I'm glad you're excited for today but you're going to choke! None of us are leaving without you, and none of us are even ready yet, so just take your time and actually enjoy your breakfast, why don't you?"
"Sorry, just trying not to hold everyone up too much, I still have to get ready after this too," Sunny apologized, doing as the other said and slowing down.
"It's alright, Sunshine. It's not like anything we're doing needs to be done by a specific time, we want you to enjoy today too! We're all excited, but we can wait a few extra minutes if we need to, don't rush yourself for our sake," The gardener assured.
The younger nodded and finished his breakfast, moving to take his plate to the sink before Basil did so for him.
"I've got it Sunny! You go get ready," The older insisted, rolling up his sleeves as he filled the sink with water, preparing to wash the dishes so that it wouldn't need to be done when they got home.
"Okay, thanks, Base."
"Oh, Sunny?" The other called just as the black-haired boy moved to go up the stairs.
"Mhm?"
"While you're up there, could you quickly check up on Kel to make sure he hasn't gotten distracted? I'd wait and send Aubrey, but I think they'd just start bickering again and get all of us distracted trying to get them to cut it out," The blonde sighed.
He never liked to doubt or underestimate any of his partners or make it seem like they were incompetent or needed constant guidance and supervision, but they had all learned from experience that sometimes a bit of underestimation was necessary to keep them all from overestimating each other. None of them faulted Kel for his ADHD tendencies, in fact, Basil had them too, none of them were strangers to the behaviours, they just needed to check in on each other now and again. Enough to keep everyone on track, but not so much that it feels more like babying or belittling them.
"Check on Kel, then get ready. Got it," Sunny affirmed, giving the other a nod.
"Thanks, Sunshine!" Basil responded, turning back to the dishes as Sunny sprinted up the stairs.
When he got upstairs, he detoured to Kel's room as he was asked and knocked, waiting for a response.
"Yeah?" Kel questioned.
"It's Sunny, just checking in. You almost ready?" He clarified.
"Oh, Yep! Just need to deal with my hair quickly so it's not all over the place. Be done in a sec!" The athlete called through the door.
"'Kay, that's good. I gotta go get ready now," Sunny replied, heading off to his room.
After a few minutes of rifling through his dresser, he found a black polo shirt and a pair of khakis he deemed suitable enough for the occasion, quickly got changed and looked in the mirror.
Eh, good enough. He'll probably look slightly better once he gets rid of the tangled black mess of hair on his head. Tossing and turning for a few hours trying to get to sleep did not do him any favours. He leaned closer to inspect the heavy bags under his eyes (or at least his one remaining eye), huffing in annoyance once he realized he couldn't really do anything about them. Sure, Aubrey had makeup, but certainly not to match his pale complexion. If anything, it'd make him look worse. He wondered why he could never actually manage to look nice for these types of things. Or in general.
But mostly for these types of things.
Heading to the bathroom (unlike Kel and Aubrey, he preferred to keep a comb in the bathroom rather than his room, he found it just took up space in his room), he fixed his hair, brushed his teeth, and made his way back downstairs, finding Basil still in the kitchen, drying off his hands since he'd finished washing the dishes.
"Hey, Base. I'm ready now. You want me to take over so you can get ready now?" The younger asked.
"Oh! If you wouldn't mind, then yes, please. The dishes are all washed, they just need to be dried and put away," The blonde responded.
"Got it. You go get ready, I'll take care of it. Might wanna go check on Kel and Aubrey while you're up there, though," The black-haired boy instructed, taking the towel from the other.
"Nah, I'm here! Aubs is still in her room, though. Dunno what she's doing, so you might wanna check up there," Kel joined in, entering the room.
He'd put on a plain white T-shirt and a pair of grey cargo shorts. He'd also managed to fix whatever was going on with his hair, deciding to stick half of it in a small ponytail and leave the rest hanging loose as usual. Overall, the outfit made sense, it was always harder to get Kel in any form of formal wear, casual or not. He'd always protested that it was too stuffy for him. The athlete being, well, an athlete, preferred his hair not to be in his face, though still insisted on keeping it roughly shoulder length, so he just opted to put it up in some way, shape, or form. Occasionally even letting Aubrey stick a headband or a few pins in it. It was Kel's honest effort to look nice while also accommodating his preferences, and it worked well.
"Ah, okay, good! I'll go check in with Aubrey and then get myself ready. We'll go as soon as we are," Basil spoke, quickly rushing up the stairs while Sunny approached the dish-drying rack beside the sink to begin his chore.
"Here, I can help, Sunny! You dry, I'll put 'em all away. I know you have a hard time reaching the top shelves, don't worry, I got you," Kel teased, patting the younger on the head.
The short boy in question grumbled and glared at the taller.
Okay, so maybe he had to use a step stool to reach the higher shelves, but so did Basil! He wasn't the only short one! And besides, he wasn't even that short! He's 5'6, thank you very much. And Kel was 6'0! That's right, Sunny wasn't short, Kel was just tall.
...And no he was not in denial.
...He wasn't defensive, either.
The black-haired boy just huffed and picked up a mixing bowl, ensuring he dried it off thoroughly before handing it off to Kel to put away and grabbing a new dish to rinse and repeat over and over again.
Luckily there weren't too many dishes, just the stuff Basil had used to make breakfast and the stuff they had all used to eat breakfast.
Basil came down with Aubrey in tow just as Sunny and Kel were finishing up. The two turned to acknowledge their partners as they did.
"Sorry it took a little bit, you two, Aubrey tried to do her hair but it wasn't cooperating, so she asked me to help her with it," Basil apologized.
He had chosen to wear a mint green quarter-length sleeved t-shirt underneath a pair of short light blue overalls, choosing a pretty baby blue daisy hairclip to rest in his fluffy blonde locks.
Meanwhile, Aubrey was wearing a black tank top underneath a light blue crop top, a pair of light blue jean shorts, and a cropped denim jacket. Her long pink hair was styled into a French braid and had been completed with a blue bandana tied to act as a headband of sorts.
"It's alright, Base, we just finished up here. You two look nice," Sunny replied, hanging the dish towel back on the bar over the sink where they normally kept it.
"Thank you! Glad to see we weren't holding anyone up," The gardener spoke, slightly flushed at receiving the compliment.
"Thanks," Aubrey responded. Turning away in an attempt to hide the fact that she, too, was blushing slightly. The girl always attempted to act cool, but her boyfriends didn't let that fool them. Underneath her tough exterior, she, just like Basil, had no idea how to take compliments she was given, turning into a flustered mess if given too many at once.
"Alright then! We all ready to head out, then?" Kel asked.
Receiving confirmation from all three of the others, they all made their way to the front door, Basil ensuring he grabbed Aubrey's purse as well as his, Sunny's, and Kel's bags, passing them off to their respective owners so that they wouldn't be left behind. Sure, Sunny just had a computer bag, Kel had a messenger bag that was technically a hand-me-down from Hero, and Basil just had a small backpack that he carried around, but they helped carry things like wallets, phones, keys, water bottles, snacks, arcade prizes, or anything else they just happened to pick up along the way.
Sunny stood beside the door, already having slipped his black and white sneakers on. His head felt a little fuzzy.
"...Nny? Sunny? Helloooo?" Kel called.
The black-haired boy blinked and shook his head, looking up at the others.
"Hm?" He answered.
"We're all ready to go now, you good?" The athlete replied.
"Oh, sorry. I'm fine, don't worry. Just spaced out for a sec," Sunny dismissed, turning to open the front door.
"Are you sure you're okay, Sunshine?" Basil questioned.
"Mhm, I'm fine, promise. Let's go," He brushed off the concern and exited the house, walking down the driveway to stop and wait for the others at the end. As he did so, he missed a brief look of slight concern and suspicion shared between the other three as they, too, filed out of the house, with Basil stopping to turn and lock the door before placing his keys into his backpack and sprinting down the driveway to join them.
"Okay, guys! Let's head out! To the park!" Kel exclaimed, leading the way down the sidewalk.
They all started on their way to the park, chiming in with random bits of conversation here and there. Meanwhile, Sunny couldn't pay attention to any of it. He managed to follow along behind the others, staring at their feet and vaguely being able to register when they turned, stopped, started, etc, but their voices sounded almost as if they were underwater in a way. He could hear who was speaking and when and could pick out roughly what they were feeling as they conversed through vocal intonation, but what exactly it was they were saying was lost on him.
Luckily for Sunny, being selectively mute for the first sixteen or so years of his life, occasionally slipping back into it, his partners never found a silent Sunny suspicious, and none of them were ever hurt or offended when he didn't chip into conversations. They never forced him to join in, if he wanted to contribute, he would do so of his own volition. This meant that he was able to continue zoning out for most of the walk there, fortunately zoning himself back in as they approached the park so that he could act as though he'd been paying attention the entire time before one of the others attempted to address him.
The four entered the park, taking a moment to move over to a bench so that Basil could dig through his backpack, retrieve his camera and hang it around his neck. Once his backpack was back on, they set off down one of the forest-covered trails.
Fortunately for Sunny -he was having a pretty decent stroke of luck today, wasn't he?- the trail wasn't an insane, exhausting hiking trail, it was just a decently sized trail with very few easily manageable bumps along the way.
Unfortunately, Sunny doesn't at all consider himself an athletic person. He'd always hated being active in any capacity, but the crash and burn he'd gone through for a few years in his teens had not done him any favours. He was slowly getting better, but considering that he still didn't exercise of his own volition and he worked as a commission artist -with a part-time convenience store job, he still wanted to contribute a consistent amount to their household- the only times he did anything active were when he had to walk to work or walk around restocking (his partners said that last one didn't count), or when his partners (mainly Kel) dragged him into it. He knew he was wildly out of shape, but luckily the other three never judged him for it or forced him to go beyond his limits.
Rather, they helped him slowly get better and frequently checked in with him when they did anything active to ensure he was okay and that his health issues weren't getting in the way.
This brought him to unlucky point number two - Guess he spoke too soon when he started thinking he was lucky- he had health issues, was out of shape, and was tired. He realized now and then when Basil stopped to take a picture of a wildflower, a random animal, etc, he would stop and look at whatever it was they were looking at, look back at the others and then realize they had taken off again, leaving him sprinting to catch up. He was already a little winded and was starting to get dizzy. His slightly blurred vision wasn't helped by the fact that he only had one eye to see from, to begin with.
"Hey, Sunny, you good? Need a break?" Aubrey asked, slowing down a little when the conversation had reached a lull.
"We're coming up to a rest spot now, I need a bit of a break myself, so let's go sit down and make sure we have some water," Basil piped up before Sunny could answer. The gardener knew his boyfriend well. Sunny wasn't going to make everyone else stop for a break just because he needed one. He knew he needed one, but he wasn't going to let everyone else worry about him, so the only way to get him the break he needed was for someone else to say they needed a break. Especially if it was Basil, who had various health issues like he did and needed breaks now and again.
"'Kay, sounds good. Let's go sit down then," The black-haired boy replied, taking Basil's hand and 'helping him get to the bench' (Translation: Letting Basil guide him to the bench because he was having a bit of trouble seeing straight).
Once they were sat down, Sunny instantly lay back in the grass, squinting his eye shut and throwing an arm over his face to shield himself from the harsh sunlight.
"Sunny, here!" Kel called. Sunny uncovered his eye, turning his head to see Kel holding out his water bottle for him to take, already in the process of drinking his own.
The black-haired boy sat up straight, accepting the bottle and giving a small "thanks" before instantly downing about three-quarters of it.
"Jeez, dude. Thirsty much? You're acting like you haven't so much as seen any water for at least a week," Aubrey teased.
"Hey, he can have as much as he wants, I have extra bottles just in case. At least he's keeping himself hydrated," Basil defended, taking Kel's water bottle from him and placing it in one of the mesh pockets on the sides of his backpack.
"Yeah, leave me alone. You can't drag me outside and expect me not to get thirsty. Especially when it's this hot," Sunny chimed in, handing his now empty water bottle back to Kel.
"Please, no one dragged you out here, you agreed to this. I wasn't making fun of you, either. I just thought it was funny that the one who avoids water like the plague is sitting here drinking it like you're going to spontaneously combust if you don't finish the whole damn bottle in the next 5 seconds," Aubrey shot back, rolling her eyes playfully at the youngest.
"I don't care about drinking water, I just don't like being in the water. Leave my aquaphobia out of this," Sunny pouted.
"Alright, alright, cut it out, guys. Are we all good with the break now? We good to keep going?" Kel cut in, throwing his bag back over his shoulder and standing up.
"I'm good to keep going, how about you two?" Aubrey asked, standing and stretching, retrieving her purse once she had.
"I can keep going. Base?" Sunny answered, placing his bag back over his shoulder and accepting Kel's hand as the older pulled him up.
"Mhm! I'm alright now, let's keep going," Basil confirmed, keeping up with the little story he'd created about being the one needing the break to avoid suspicion from the black-haired boy. He stood up, placed his backpack on his back, and took Sunny's hand so they could all set off again.
The older three had been supervising the youngest, taking care to ensure he didn't notice them doing so -which wasn't that hard, as one of the behaviours they had been wary of was his inattention- since throughout the morning, he had been acting off, and they were worried.
As a result, they'd decided to help him as best as they could, but since Sunny is Sunny and won't admit that anything is wrong, they would be sneaky about it.
Basil had already planted the first seed by requesting a break, pretending that he -as someone it wasn't out of the ordinary for- was having trouble, and now that the break was over, he could take the black-haired boy's hand and guide him to ensure that he was close by in case his fainting spells happened to come back.
For Sunny, he was just holding hands with Basil as usual, standing close by just in case the gardener needed some extra support. He got to feel like he was helping.
For his partners, they were keeping Sunny close to monitor him, make sure he didn't get lost, and catch him if he winds up fainting.
Meanwhile, Sunny was doing better.
Sort of.
He could see now at the very least. He was still exhausted, but he felt less like he was going to pass out on the spot. The brain fuzz had cleared up a little, but he still felt a little dissociated.
He'd gone back to being quiet, staring at the ground with an almost vacant look, which was a little worrying, but if they said something, it would throw everything out the window, so they kept quiet and kept a close eye on him.
They made it through the rest of the trail, making a full circle and returning to the park where they started.
Sunny hadn't even noticed they were off of the trail until they arrived at a restaurant the four frequented. He blinked and snapped out of it as he was hit with a gust of cool air conditioning as they stepped into the building. He was confused as to how exactly they managed to get there so quickly, but he tended to black out entirely when he was tired enough, so he figured that was what happened. It wasn't like he could ask his partners, they would only get worried, and he didn't want to do that to them. They were all supposed to be having fun together, so he would just have to play along and act as if he were paying attention the whole time.
He allowed himself to be seated along with the others and opted to look through the menu.
Idly flipping through the pages, he settled on an order of fries and a wrap that Basil and Aubrey had recommended.
When the waitress came to check on them, they ordered their drinks and placed their menus down, conversing while they waited.
"So what games are you guys thinking of getting your hands on at the arcade?" Kel asked.
"I still need to beat Basil's ass at one of those shooter games. Little fucker gets anxious as shit and just starts getting trigger-happy but he still manages to beat me every goddamn time. I don't understand how," Aubrey complained, earning a guilty chuckle from the blonde beside Sunny.
"I don't understand either. I get scared and overwhelmed with all of the enemies ambushing me from all directions all at once so I just start going crazy with it," He explained.
"Yeah, no shit. I saw you freak out and win a round by shooting in every direction with your EYES CLOSED," The pink-haired girl shot back incredulously.
"That one was because you decided that the specific shooter game we would play would be a zombie apocalypse shooter and I got scared. That wasn't my fault," The gardener pouted.
"Fair enough, but I don't understand why you're complaining about it, you won,"
"What about you, Sunny? What're you gonna play?" Kel cut in.
"Probably some of the classic arcades. Oh, and one of the racing games. I like those," The black-haired boy replied.
"Good plan. I might just join you on the racing games, I wanna see how good I've gotten," Kel replied.
"We should do a few multi-players and co-ops while we're there. I mean it isn't really too much of a date if we're all off doing our own thing," Aubrey added.
"Agreed, but I think I'll have to sit the shooters out. I'm gonna have to leave those until I improve my depth perception on my own time here," Sunny joked.
"That may be for the best. Rest in peace, Sunny's depth perception, I'm sorry that I murdered you. Your sacrifice was not in vain," Basil joked back.
"Jesus, you two, let's maybe take it down a notch here," Aubrey huffed, half-amused and half-exasperated at the youngest two for their morbid sense of humour.
Oh well, at the very least the two could look back on what all four could collectively call a traumatizing clusterfuck of a night and laugh about the events that transpired.
And thank god Basil stopped feeling immensely guilty for that night enough to laugh and poke fun at the situation.
Many positive things were happening today! That was a plus!
"No, we shall not," Sunny responded.
"As great as it is that we're all getting over this, let's maybe not confess to an almost-murder in the middle of the restaurant here-" Kel whispered, equally amused but not willing to risk someone overhearing and getting them all in trouble.
It was already enough of a mess dealing with the situation as soon as it had happened. Luckily, Sunny's mother hadn't taken any action against Basil, and they all knew Sunny would have fought like hell if she'd even expressed that she had been thinking about it, but it was a mess dealing with everyone who had heard the news, especially for those who'd seen the two unconscious, battered boys being rushed into an ambulance at around two in the morning. Even more so once they'd been discharged from the hospital only to see the two -still scratched up and covered in bandages- acting closer than ever like nothing had ever happened.
So Kel was right. Let's not alert random strangers in the restaurant that accidental crimes had almost occurred years ago.
"Oh, oops. Yeah, that wouldn't be fun," Basil laughed nervously, lowering his voice a few notches.
"Okay, so maybe we will take it down a few notches," Sunny agreed, quieting as well.
"Thank you. Love you both, but this restaurant is amazing and I don't wanna get banned from it because we accidentally said something we shouldn't in front of the wrong people," Aubrey smirked, flipping through her menu.
"Noted," Sunny responded.
The waitress came back to deliver their drinks and take their meal orders. Once she'd left, they continued to converse until their food was delivered.
Once they'd finished eating, they'd paid (Aubrey almost fought everyone else for the bill since lunch was her idea, but her boyfriends had all given up so that she didn't start a fight for it, so it was paid for quickly and with no problems) and set off on their way again.
When they reached the arcade, they paid for a few tokens each and dispersed to the different cabinets. Aubrey was too eager to start her little one-sided competition and true to her word, dragged Basil off to a shooter to challenge him.
"You said you wanna take a turn on the racing games, right? That one's open, I'll race ya!" Kel suggested, taking Sunny's hand and leading him to the game.
The two started up their game and waited for the countdown. Once it was up, they were off. Due to their respective favourite activities, they both had lightning-fast reflexes (even with Sunny's still ever-present fatigue), but unfortunately for Kel, who loved video games, but loved spending time outside playing sports a lot more, Sunny did the exact opposite. The youngest spent a lot of his free time playing video games, and he'd always been the best at video games in their group, so Kel was defeated. The athlete didn't go down without a fight, but he went down regardless.
But hey, he was happy to have at least got second.
"Oof looks like you still got it! Good job, man!" Kel exclaimed, holding out his hand for a high five, which Sunny returned.
"Thanks, you were real close there though. That was a good race," The black-haired boy replied.
"Yeah, closer than usual! Thanks, man!" The older responded.
"Alright, where to next?" Kel pondered out loud, looking around as Aubrey and Basil approached, having finished their match. By the looks on their faces, from Aubrey's frustration to Basil's mischievous glee.
"Oh, hey you two! Guessing results were the same as usual?" Kel greeted.
"Yep," Aubrey grumbled, annoyed that she'd lost yet again to the blonde, who seemed quite pleased with himself at the moment.
"Ooh, Aubs! The air hockey table's open! You want to play a round?" Kel offered.
"Oh, you're on. Let's go before the table's taken up again," The oldest accepted, quickly moving with the other toward the air hockey table.
"Alright, well while they're doing that, what do you want to do, Sunny?" Basil asked.
"Wanna see who's better at Tetris?" Sunny suggested.
"Awe, you know me too well," The gardener smirked.
"Hell yeah, I do," The black-haired boy returned, grabbing his hand and leading him toward the multiplayer cabinets.
Most people immediately assumed that Aubrey and Kel were the competitive ones out of the four of them because they were always finding some way to compete with each other, and in some ways, they were right. But that meant everyone also assumed that because Sunny and Basil were usually trying to break it up and calm them down (along with Basil's aversion to any sort of fight or confrontation and Sunny's seemingly indifferent attitude toward a lot of things in general) that they weren't competitive at all.
That is where they were wrong.
The younger two were quiet and passive, yes, but when it came to competition they could both be shockingly intense. That's what made them a bit scarier than the older two. The older two were loud, sure, but their competitions were all in good fun. They would argue and demand a rematch if they lost on occasion, but they treated competitions as their way of bonding.
On the other hand, Sunny and Basil seemed innocent enough going into a competition, acting as though they would do their best but ultimately be happy regardless of the outcome. However, as soon as the competition began, their demeanour changed entirely. Once it started, they were both 100% serious, giving their absolute best with 100% focus. Kel and Aubrey weren't even sure if they realized the shift or if they were pretending they didn't just to mess with them considering they went completely back to normal as soon as it was over regardless of the result.
They started up their game and the competition began.
By the time they reached the middle of level 4, the older two had finished their game and had come to watch them compete against each other. By the looks of it, both were doing quite well, both with neatly stacked blocks across their screens, with only a few rogue pieces here and there. the ex-delinquent and the athlete found it amusing to find their partners with laser-focused glares painted on their faces as they moved the controls with precision. Leave it to the two of them to get this heated over a strategy-based game.
The two spectators didn't want to throw them off by breaking their focus, so they simply watched between their screens as they kept going.
Suddenly Sunny got unlucky, messing up a block's placement. It looked like it would throw off his entire game, but Basil's luck was taking a turn for the worse as well. His placement was still neat and tidy, but he wasn't getting the piece he needed to quell the steadily rising lines of blocks.
It seemed to be getting tense as the blocks fell faster and the boys started frantically attempting to find spots for them. Even Kel and Aubrey were getting invested until finally...
"Damnit!" Basil exclaimed as he reached a game over.
Meanwhile, Sunny threw up his hands victoriously.
"Damn, that was tense," Aubrey finally spoke, letting out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. Apparently, the mood was contagious.
Basil, not realizing that the older two had been standing there the whole time, squeaked and whipped around, just barely managing to hold back from swinging reflexively at whoever was behind him. She even got Sunny to jump.
"Jeez, Aubrey! Don't sneak up on me like that, you scared me!"
"When did you two get there?" Sunny asked, attempting to act as though he hadn't also been spooked.
"Sorry, we got here in the middle of the level and stuck around to see how it would go," Aubrey replied.
"Yep, nice one, by the way, Sunny. You're on a roll today, huh?" Kel added, ruffling Sunny's hair.
"Thanks. I've only won two games though, and just barely this time. I just got lucky that the game wasn't giving Basil what he needed, really," The black-haired boy responded, deciding to conveniently leave out the fact that he slipped up and misplaced a block because he blacked out for a minute and he had to rush to fix it once his eyes readjusted.
"I mean sure, the game didn't like me, but you did well all on your own, Sunshine!" Basil reassured.
"Alright, what are you guys thinking of doing next?" Aubrey asked.
The four went on and spent about another half-hour around the arcade playing games, Sunny and Kel took turns playing a few rounds of Space Invaders, Basil taught Aubrey how to play pinball, Sunny played a round of Pac-man and then won a few prizes at the claw machine, but they decided it might be time to go after Kel challenged Sunny to a game of DDR.
They took a bit of a break in one of the booths near the food counter since Sunny was a little fatigued after the match, but they started to notice that it may have been more than just a little loss of energy. Usually, he recovered decently fast whenever he was just winded, but the black-haired boy seemed to be having a bit of trouble now. Pair that with his odd behaviour all day and they were more than a little concerned.
Still, he brushed it off as usual and insisted they get going, so they did, internally agreeing that they would just have to keep a much closer eye on him until they got home and could properly rest.
Sunny was quickly beginning to regret his decision to get going before he was ready, his head was spinning and he knew he was fucked, but he couldn't turn back now, so he was determined to at least make it through their front door before he passes out. He would rather pass out on the hardwood floor in his own home than the concrete sidewalk in the middle of the city, thank you very much.
Unfortunately, he'd spent the last few crumbs of luck at the arcade, so of course that wasn't happening.
He didn't even realize it was happening until he vaguely heard panicked muffled voices fading out as he lost consciousness.
"Sunny?" Basil called, noticing that the youngest was a little unsteady on his feet.
They weren't expecting him to collapse on the spot in place of response.
"Sunny?! Hey, are you okay?!" The blonde exclaimed worriedly, catching the black-haired boy before he could hit the ground.
"Shhhit. Damnit, Sunny. Why the hell can't you ever say anything?" Aubrey cursed, attempting to figure out what they were supposed to do now.
"Uh, okay, will he be okay for now, or do we need to take him to a hospital ASAP?" Kel questioned.
Basil felt for a pulse, watched for his breathing, and then felt his forehead.
"He's alright, I think he's just exhausted. We can figure out what to do when we get home, we'll just have to carry him."
"Okay, good. We can do that. Can you get him on my back, Base? You're both strong, but I think I'm the only one of the three of us who can carry a grown-ass man on their back without also getting tired, regardless of how light he is," The athlete responded.
Basil nodded as he and Aubrey traded off Sunny for both of their bags. Aubrey took Kel's bag and Basil took Sunny's before they helped get the unconscious boy onto the taller's back.
"There we go, now let's get home, the sooner we do, the sooner we can figure out what's up with him."
The three kept going on their way home, once they arrived, Basil unlocked the door, kicked off his shoes, handed off the two bags he was carrying to Aubrey, and led Kel to Sunny's room where he opened the door, pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of comfortable shorts, pulled back the covers.
Kel laid Sunny in bed gently and pulled off his shoes, briefly leaving the room to return them to the front door.
When he came back, he helped sit Sunny up straight so Basil could help him get changed before they laid him down again and tucked him in, laying a wet cloth on his forehead for good measure.
They kept the door open so that they could hear the youngest when he woke up, or if something was wrong, but they closed the blinds, turned off the lights, and kept the door cracked slightly so that it would be dark enough for Sunny to sleep comfortably.
Once Sunny was cared for, the two went back to the living room and crashed on the couch.
"How is he?" Aubrey asked.
"Still fine, just tired. We got him changed, put a cold cloth on his head, and tucked him into bed. He'll be okay, he just needs a nap," Basil sighed, already exhausted from the eventful day, and now the stress from worrying about his partner.
"Okay, that's good. We do need to have another talk with him, though. We can't keep letting him do this. I know he doesn't like to worry anybody, but I don't think he realizes that we can tell when something is up and that it just worries us more when he doesn't say anything about it. Like we've known him since we were little, how does he think he can get away with hiding shit from us?" The pink-haired girl ranted.
"Alright, alright, take a deep breath, Aubs. We're all worried, and it is upsetting to see him ignore his own needs like this, but we need to find a better way to word it. If we just tell him that what he's doing is more worrying to us than just outright telling us, then he'll feel guilty. We should be transparent with him about the problem, yes, but it's Sunny. We need to be careful with the wording here or he'll wind up hating himself for it. When he wakes up, we should just wait a bit and let him unwind first. Let him wake up and relax for a bit and then we'll talk later, he's had a long day already and we don't need to stress him out while he's recovering," Basil instructed gently.
"Sounds good, you think it'd help to go get some snacks for movie night if he's still up for it?" Kel questioned.
"I think that would be nice, I could-" The gardener attempted before Kel cut him off.
"Nah, I'll go. You're better at the heart-to-heart stuff than I am, and Aubs is good at aggressive affection. 'Sides, it was my idea, so I'm not gonna make either of you go to the store after all this, we're all tired, but I still got a lot more energy left in me."
"Hm, I'd argue that you're just as qualified to stay here and help with Sunny, but if you insist, then that's fine with me. You do have more energy than both of us combined, that's for sure," The blonde relented, standing and giving the older a hug.
"More energy than the three of us, more like. Thanks, hun," Aubrey got up from her place on the couch and collapsed into the hug as well.
"No prob, I'll be back, then," Kel replied, keeping his arms around them for a minute before separating and making his way to the front door.
"Be safe, love you!" Basil called.
"I will, love you too!" The athlete assured, exiting the house.
The remaining two instantly collapsed on the couch.
"Alright, what do we do now while we wait?" Aubrey mused.
"Mm, I dunno," Basil responded.
"Wanna go change and then play cards?" The pink-haired girl offered.
"Sounds good," The gardener agreed as the two retreated to their rooms to change.
Once that was done, they came back down to the living room and sat on the floor as Aubrey began shuffling a deck of cards in her hands.
They decided to say 'screw it' and play a few simple games of Go Fish since it didn't require too much thought or strategy behind it.
After a few rounds, Sunny sleepily made his way into the room, crashing on the couch.
"When did we..." Sunny cut himself off with a yawn, "...get home? What happened?"
"I'd say about 25 minutes ago, a while after you fainted from exhaustion," Aubrey answered without looking up from her cards, a subtle hint of passive-aggressiveness creeping into her otherwise casual tone.
"I did what now?" Sunny questioned, sitting up and giving his partners his full attention.
"Fainted. How else do you think you got to sleep considering you don't do it on your own?" The pink-haired girl clarified, quieting down upon receiving an unimpressed look from Basil.
"Shit. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" The black-haired boy panicked.
"Sunshine, it's okay. Settle down now," Basil assured, putting his cards down and moving to the couch to calm their boyfriend.
"But-" Sunny attempted.
"Ah- No. Don't apologize, you can't help it. Sure, it scared us a little, but we just worry about you. You know that," The blonde cut off.
The youngest sighed and relaxed into Basil's arms, allowing the older to wrap his arms around him.
"M' sorry, I thought I had it under control. I thought I could make it home before anything happened."
"Hey. What did I just say? No more of that. You don't need to be sorry for needing help, hun. Quit trying to deal with it yourself and hide it from us, it doesn't work, we always know. When you need help, you come to tell us and we'll help you. It's that simple. It doesn't annoy us, it doesn't bother us, we don't think any less of you for needing help. We're happy to help you. We don't like seeing you upset or hurting, so make sure you talk to us," The blonde comforted.
"Yeah, dude, we've known each other since we were all little, what makes you think you can hide anything from us? I swear you asked for help more back when we were little and you barely spoke at all. It's like once you learned you had actual functioning vocal cords you started talking more but stopped telling us shit," Aubrey joked.
"I'm not that obvious, am I?" Sunny asked.
"Well, I certainly can't speak for the rest of the world, but if you're specifically talking about being obvious to us, then sorry, Sunshine, but yes, yes you are," The gardener giggled.
"Extremely fuckin' obvious," The pink-haired girl agreed.
"Damnit," The black-haired boy pouted.
"Wrong answer," Basil spoke.
"Huh?"
"I believe what you meant to say is 'I promise I'll try to come to you more when I need help'" The older clarified.
"Oh. Um... Yeah, I'll try to do that," Sunny promised, burying his face into Basil's chest. It was a little embarrassing to be coddled like a child by his partners like this, but he knew they meant well. They were just looking out for him.
"Good. See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" The blonde praised, running his fingers through Sunny's hair.
"How'd you manage to tire yourself out this much anyway? I mean, it's not like you haven't done it before, but you slept in today and we took a break on our walk, so what's up with that?" Aubrey questioned.
"I didn't 'sleep in' so much as I accidentally stayed up finishing a sketch and then couldn't fall asleep afterwards," The black-haired boy replied hesitantly, kind of embarrassed to admit he'd worried them all for such a dumb reason.
"Sunny..." Basil sighed exasperatedly. Aubrey facepalmed.
"I know, I know... I didn't mean to. You know I hate leaving things unfinished. I wasn't expecting my insomnia to kick in on top of that," The youngest attempted to defend himself.
"I know, you can't control your insomnia. You could've come to me, I have a bunch of methods to help, you know how bad my insomnia gets. I have teas, essential oils, I have lots of things. Don't take melatonin, though. You'll start relying on it too much," The blonde advised.
"Yeah, I know how bad your insomnia gets. That's why I usually don't leave my room at night. You were asleep, I'm not letting you risk not getting back to sleep just because I can't," Sunny pouted.
"Honey, why do you think I have all of those sleep remedies? If I can't get back to sleep helping you sleep, you know what I can do? Take the sleep remedies," Basil deadpanned.
"Oh yeah. But still, I don't wanna ruin your sleep," The youngest responded.
"You better. I know I don't like being woken up, but if it's because any of you are having trouble with something, including getting to sleep, then you are waking me up and I am helping you with it," The gardener demanded.
"Okay, okay. Noted, waking you up next time," Sunny relented.
"Good. Are you still up for watching movies, or are you still tired? You can go back to sleep for now if you're still sleepy, we need to wait for Kel to get back from the store before we can watch anything," Basil offered.
"Oh, is that where he went?" The black-haired boy asked.
"Yeah, he thought it would be nice to have snacks to eat while we watch some movies. He should be back soon, though," Aubrey explained.
"If we're waiting for him to get back, then I guess I could try to take a nap for now so I can last through the movies," Sunny decided.
"Alright, you getting back in bed, then?" Basil questioned.
"Mm, maybe, I dunno," The youngest replied.
"Well if you stay out here, then Kel would just wake you up when he gets back," The gardener pointed out.
"But I don't wanna get up, you're comfortable," Sunny complained.
"Fine then," Basil spoke.
Sunny felt the other shifting around for a few seconds.
Suddenly, Basil stood up, bridal carrying Sunny in his arms, causing the other to make a surprised noise and scramble to cling to his partner.
The blonde carried the sleepy boy to his room, followed closely by Aubrey, only stopping beside his bed while Aubrey flipped the sheets back for them. He placed Sunny down in his bed and climbed in beside him while Aubrey walked around the other side of the bed and occupied his other side.
"There, better?" The pink-haired girl asked, pulling the sheets up to cover all three of them.
"Mhm," Sunny replied, feeling himself drift off again as they did.
"Alright, come on and go to sleep now. We can watch movies later once Kel's back and we all get some rest," Basil responded.
The three closed their eyes and drifted off quickly, wanting to be re-energized -or at the very least awake- for the rest of the day.
Kel got back around fifteen minutes into their nap, putting away the snacks and looking around. Alright, well it seemed Aubrey and Basil weren't in the living room anymore, that was odd. Especially since he hadn't gotten any texts or calls from either of them.
Well, that could wait, he supposed. He figured he should check up on Sunny, first. If he wound up finding the other two in the process, that was just a bonus. If not, then he could find them after.
He made his way into Sunny's room and was immediately greeted with a solution to all of his previous questions.
Basil and Aubrey crawled into bed with Sunny at some point and here they were, fast asleep curled up around the youngest.
They seemed to be comfortable at the moment, and Kel knew they were all exhausted, so he didn't wake them up. Instead, he left for his room to change into something more comfortable and came back, getting into bed with the three of them. Luckily, it never took long for him to drift off as well, falling asleep alongside his partners.
Sure, they liked to do things together, but spending time together was never limited to random activities or dates. They never minded putting plans on hold to take a small break. Even breaks could be fun if the four of them were together.
As long as everyone was happy and healthy, they would always have everything they needed.