𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 ;; 𝒶𝓊𝒷𝓇𝑒𝓎 𝓍 𝓀𝑒𝓁 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉𝓈

↳ 𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕔𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕙 ・❥・: ̗̀➛

Even if the scraps were getting hurt and then getting scolded or even yelled at by his parents, that was still attention. It wasn't close to the attention Hero got, but it was still attention. And after all the yelling and scolding, he still had Hero who always treated his injuries with worry and care. He helped to give the attention he got, but the scraps weren't ever enough.

In this case, he would get the scraps by arguing with Aubrey. It didn't matter what they were arguing about; as long as he was getting her attention, it would do. Sure, she might get annoyed with him for the rest of the day, but at least she was focusing on him. Like the scraps with his parents, it wasn't ever enough, but it would do.

Sunny deserved  to be happy with her.

Kel tore his eyes away from Aubrey and went back to his video game. He focused on her for long enough, so it was time to go back to what really mattered: beating the first boss! He did it tons of times before, so he could do it again! He could do it with his eyes closed!

But apparently, he couldn't do it with Aubrey sleeping on his shoulder. He tried to focus on the boss fight, but the smell of freshly-baked cookies kept drifting up his nose, so his eyes naturally went to the source of the smell, his hands would stop moving the controller...

But then he forced himself to be reminded of the video game. That was the important thing right now. Not Aubrey who fell asleep on his shoulder. Not Aubrey who looked peaceful as she slept. Not Aubrey who held Mister Plantegg, the plushie he gave her, with complete gentleness. Not Aubrey who made him wonder if she would ever hold him with that same gentleness. Not Aubrey who made him wonder what she would do if he slept on her shoulder. Not Aubrey who made him want to fall asleep on her shoulder just to smell more of the freshly-baked cookies she smelt of. Not Aubrey who looked and was absolutely perfect right now.

Not Aubrey who just made him lose the boss fight.

Kel stared at the Game Over that was on the screen in horror. When he first played the video game, he beat the first boss on the first try. He never lost to it! The one time Aubrey fell asleep on his shoulder just had to make him lose the easiest boss fight. Couldn't she have fallen asleep on him during a car ride home or something like with Sunny?

The whole thing was embarrassing. He was never letting anyone else know this happened.

- - - -

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝙾𝚖𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙺𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝, 𝙸 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝙾𝚖𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝙺𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛? 𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐, 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝙰𝚞𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎'𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚒𝚏 𝚠𝚎 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝙻𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝙺𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝? 𝙻𝚒𝚔𝚎, 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝, 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝙺𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚢𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝙻𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢. 𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝚘𝚗 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝙻𝚎𝚏𝚝, 𝚒𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚖 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘. 𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝙺𝚎𝚕 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝙻𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊 𝙽𝚎𝚞𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙴𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑. 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚂𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚢 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚌𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚂𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚢'𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙺𝚎𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚘, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚢.