Phytoremediation

It's better to be laughed at than wrong.

"Wh-What? How?"

"I pinned you. Your pieces can't move anywhere without me killing your king next turn." Sunny smirked a bit smugly.

Basil crossed his arms. Sure his smug smile was absolutely adorable, but Basil was still upset about losing.

"I want a rematch!" Basil demanded.

After being mated the exact same way 3 times, Basil gave in. "Fine, nevermind. I wanted to take you to the theatre today anyway..."

Sunny fell for the topic change, "Really? What are we gonna watch?"

"I dunno yet, even if we don't watch a movie it's always cool to see stuff in another city." Basil responded.

Though I honestly think I've been here more times than my current home city...

Sunny nodded, prompting them both to leave. Basil led Sunny out of the room and to the elevator with some excitement.

Basil also forgot to let go of Sunny's hand when he entered the elevator. Sunny also didn't say anything when they walked accross the hotel lobby hand in hand, Basil slightly swinging their hands while walking, happily humming before reaching the street, and realizing his mistake.

"Ah- sorry Sunny!" Basil said, blushing a bit pulling his hand away.

"It's okay." Sunny said quietly.

Basil's phone rang immediately upon exit of the hotel. "It's mom- I mean, Michelle."

Michelle's loud voice was immediately audible from Basil's phone.

"Helllooo darling! The men at the hotel should be unloading your stuff from your room, don't worry! Hope you're okay with busing home."

"What?" Basil said with confusion.

"All those icky protesters made the hall cancel my rally tomorrow, you're going home today boys, yayyy!" She made some weird emphasization on the "yay" that felt patronizing.

The two men they met at the hotel on their first day in Guangzhou came over with their bags, and also a violin case. Sunny looked at it concerned for the safety of his new multimillion dollar violin. They bowed an awkwardly deep bow like before.

"THANK YOU FOR STAYING HERE AT BIG SHUIWŌ WHERE SHUIWŌ IS THE WAYWŌ. HERE ARE YOUR BAGS MR. CHARRON AND MR. CHARRON'S HUSBAND."

"N-Not husba-" The men already retreated back inside, "nevermind..."

Sunny laughed a bit, "Next time we see them they'll be asking how are kids are doing. I can't believe I was married without getting a ring, let alone a wedding cake."

Sunny covered his mouth when he laughed, as of recent.

I want to see your smile...

"I guess we should get to a bus station fast then. Your mom is probably super worried about you." Basil looked at his phone. He felt so tired, but it was only 4:21.

"Ah, yeah. Can't wait to show her this, heh." Sunny patted the violin case.

Basil smiled a tired smile. "I'm so glad you liked it.

Sunny and Basil arrived at the nearby bus station just in time, as a long range bus just arrived.

The two boarded, along with one other man. "Where you guys goin'?" The man spoke with a Manchurian sort of accent.

"Ah- Nearburgh." Basil said nervously.

"Nearburgh." Sunny affirmed.

"Faraway." The man behind them muttered.

Basil and Sunny's eyes widened. The man was, in fact, a very exhausted Kel's father.

"ETA for you boys is... 2 hours. Could max out at 3 hours, but most people use the subways at this hour, so it'll probably be on the low side of two hours." The bus driver sniffed, then continued, addressing Kel's dad, "And, uh, only 11 minutes for you, Ping, since Faraway is the stop after this next one."

The man sniffed again and stuck out a machine designed to read IDs, the boys inserted their ID cards, the screen flashed "Accepted! Student" for each of them.

Kel's father just walked down the aisle and sat down on a seat. Basil and Sunny walked past him, trying to sit near the back, hoping to not be seen.

"Hey, you two..." Kel's father began to speak, to Sunny and Basil's dismay. "You uh... you look familiar..." his eyes looked tired and glazed over, must've been a hard day.

Kel's father wracked his brain for a few seconds, then placed his hand on Basil's shoulder. "You're the uh... gay kid that everyone's talking about... real nice work kid... my uh..." Ping zoned out for a few moments, before continuing, "one of my sons... he's uh... he said he's bi... you're doin' great thing, kid."

Thankfully, after that, the bleary-eyed man just took his hand off of Basil, and began staring at the ground, eyes barely open.

Basil and Sunny cautiously crept past then scampered into the seats right at the back.

"Thank god, he didn't remember us." Basil said

"Or he was too tired to recognize us." Sunny added.

"I can't say I don't relate. I'm real tired too." Basil said with a yawn. Sunny blushed a bit, but Basil was too tired to notice.