Basil sat in the grass, observing the results of his latest water tests. His mouth quirked with frustration as the results returned negative. Quickly enough, his frown disappeared into a 'whatever' smile.
Sunny felt a sweet thrill as he noticed the bright, optimistic light that shone in Basil's eyes. Ever since that eureka moment in the car, Basil had grown so much more cheerful, reminding Sunny of the way everyone smiled back in their golden days. Now, just like then, Basil's eyes glowed with the most beautiful colors. And with his discovery that manganese was the element that poisoned these rivers, it seemed like Basil had grown confident in his purpose.
I hope I can find that feeling in what I do one day, too.
But, for the time being, I'm just happy to be by Basil's side, supporting him.
"Not this river," Basil said.
"Awwww," Sunny replied. "I guess it's three out of five."
"Yeah. It's okay—we found what we set out for."
And what they'd found was that, of the five rivers that supplied Coup de Soleil factories with their water usage, three of them contained manganese levels above what was considered safe for human consumption. Add in Peter's father's tragic story, and they had the data that they needed to bring the company's waste management practices to light, and hopefully, to the scrutiny of a lawsuit. Mincy had already replied to Sunny's email confirming that she had sent the story to her grandma's environmentalist group.
All that remained on their plate were the reports that Basil would have to write to please his parents. Sunny didn't claim to understand the science that was in those reports, but from what Basil had said to him, manganese poisoning in rivers provided plenty of fertile research into ways that life adapted to toxic conditions. With help from Marie, Basil could spin that into something about healing damaged cells, which would satisfy his parents and their obsession with escaping death.
Basil was a genius and Sunny loved that his boyfriend was so smart. Actually, he'd love Basil no matter what.
"So how long do we have to get back?" Sunny asked.
"About seventeen hours," Basil replied with a suspicious creasing of his lips. "Uh, that means if there's a traffic jam, we're doomed."
Sunny felt his optimism sapping out of him. If they went through all this trouble just to come back to a furious mom who was most certainly going to punish them for stealing her car...
"Then let's go!" Sunny said.
Basil and Sunny rushed back into the car, throwing all their supplies into the trunk. Basil swiftly drove out the river park back onto the road. Within minutes, they made it back onto the nearest highway.
Due to the day that they'd lost speaking to Peter, their schedule had been thrown into disarray. Basil could not guarantee that they would make it back to the airport in time. They had a fifteen hour drive ahead of them. They would also need to fill the gas back up to exactly where mom had left it; it'd be mighty suspicious if the gas tick was in a different spot.
I suggested skipping the last river, but Basil wanted to go there and run tests anyway.
Too bad the results from the last river were negative...oh well.
Basil had worked so hard this past week, there were dark circles underneath his eyes. He hadn't had a Spring Break. He'd had a Spring Marathon. And the last fifteen hours of this marathon were going to be the tensest part yet.
As soon as we get back home, Basil can call me his personal attendant.
I'm going to make his life as comfortable as possible for the next month!
A series of amusing scenarios popped up into Sunny's head as he imagined all the fun ways he was going to sneak in a kiss.
"If you're tired, don't be afraid to tell me that you want to sleep," Sunny said. "Your health is more important than making it back to the airport in time."
"I slept enough last night," Basil replied cheerfully. "I'm not going to need sleep for the next sixteen hours, so don't worry!"
Four and a half hours was enough for you...?
Sunny made a mental note to himself that if Basil started snoozing at the wheel again, he'd have to react vigilantly.
The blue of the river caught Sunny's eye as it snaked away from the highway. He watched the glimmer of the afternoon sunlight dance upon the surface of the water. It felt a bit like saying farewell.
Over the past week, he'd learned a lot about rivers, and grew to become fond of them. Rivers were crucial to maintaining ecological balance. They were very important to the economy. People lived and died by rivers; civilizations began in river valleys. The unending stream of flowing water in a river felt like constant, active progress. Or, perhaps not progress, but change. Change that could upend lives at a moment, or help two boys with a simple project.
"When we get back, once everything calms down, what do you think you'd want to do?" Sunny asked.
Basil smiled with that beautiful color in his eyes. "I just want to be with you."
Sunny wanted to just throw his arms around Basil and give him the tightest hug ever. Alas, having to drive a car kept getting in their way.
"You're cheesy," Sunny replied in a flirting tone. "Any fun stuff you'd like to do together? We can explore the city again. We can go visit all those restaurants. We could buy new books from the bookstore, read at the library, go gardening again without worrying about all this stuff..."
"As long as it's with you, I'll be happy," Basil said.
Sunny sensed a blush on his cheeks. "I'm...I'm glad. To hear you say that. To be honest, you can ignore all my suggestions. I feel happy just being by your side, too."
Basil giggled. "I'm sure we'll do lots of fun things together."
Sunny felt a really light sensation in his chest. It sprang from deep inside his heart.
He couldn't put into words why just being near Basil made him feel this way. It was such a strange, soothing feeling. He felt glad to admit that if there was just one feeling to make life worth living for, it would be this one.
No one but Basil had ever made him feel so happy to just, well, be. Not Aubrey. Not his family. Not even his sister. Only Basil.
It's the only feeling that can lift me out of my guilt and loneliness.
Whenever he was alone, Sunny always grew a little scared. He'd wonder if anyone would ever come back to his side. The more his mind raced in search of another person, in search of a hand to hold his when he reached out, the more he'd sink back into that pit of despair he had found himself in for four years. Just thinking about it could make him regress.
He always saw a shadow of doubt looming over his head. An eye peering at him. A reminder that what he did that day stained his hands with blood for the rest of his life, burdening him with a recurring guilt that he would not ever be able to forget.
But then, there was this feeling. It poured softly into the labyrinth of his mind, like gentle morning sunlight shining the path that would take him back outside.
This feeling was the bond that he shared with Basil.
It was a bond that would never break, because in their darkest moment, they came back for each other. Hearing Basil's words, dreaming of the hug that they'd shared after that fight, and knowing Basil's wish. Those got him through his desperate fight with Omori, when he was at his most helpless. Just as he came back for Basil that night, Basil had been the one to break him from the white prison he'd been trapped in for so many nightmarish days and nights.
His bond with Basil was what he cherished the most in his life.
Looking back, it wasn't just the fight with Omori where remembering how Basil made him feel gave him the strength to overcome his trials. Over the past months, he had experienced conflict lots of times. He remembered, each time. Every time he gardened, every time he studied for a test, all the good and bad stuff that they'd gone through since they moved in together, he had always remembered—
I want to make Basil's wish come true.
He wanted to see that smile on Basil's face again, the smile that Basil wore in their happiest days, the smile that Basil showed him when they held hands together. The little quiver in his smile as their fingers locked.
And, though he couldn't claim that he'd seen that full, perfect smile yet, just being able to catch a glimmer of it was enough to keep him going.
I have to give credit to my friends, too.
They've all been so supportive, and all I was able to do in return was hurt them further.
I never want to be such a selfish person again.
"Hey, Basil," Sunny spoke.
"Yeah, Sunny?"
"Ever since your birthday, you've been working so hard," Sunny said. "I wish I could've made things easier for you, somehow."
"You did," Basil replied. "You were there for me at every step of the way. And you're still here."
Sunny tried to smile. Yet he felt that it still wasn't enough to express his gratitude. "I just think you've been so...hardworking...and...awesome, you know? Everything you do is awesome. But I just feel like I'm still the lazy person that I've been ever since I was born."
"You're not lazy," Basil replied. "You've done so much for me."
"But. Come on. I relied on you for everything."
"I didn't do this project by myself. We made it through by working together," Basil said. "And it's okay to rely on somebody else for everything sometimes."
Sunny gazed at Basil with a curious look.
"It's just a normal feeling," Basil continued. "We both feel like we owe each other a lot."
Yeah, that's right.
"I still don't feel any better about relying on you for so much, though," Sunny said.
"Feelings aren't the enemy," Basil said. "I know, they can be really painful. They're unbearable. Like when I'm all alone by myself. Like when I feel like I'm just a bother because I keep messing things up for other people..."
Sunny placed a hand on Basil's shoulder softly.
"But, it's okay," Basil said, putting on a new smile. "I'm gonna sound cheesy, alright? It's okay to feel sad. It's okay to feel lonely. It's okay to feel like I've failed. Those feelings will always come bubbling up, no matter how hard I try to keep them down. So, all I can do is accept my feelings. What matters is what I choose to do with myself even when I'm feeling bad."
Yeah...
Even if I'm feeling at my worst, I could still stand up.
I could still take a step forward, knowing that I'm about to feel the worst guilt, the bleakest misery.
Somehow, it all ends up working out.
"Right, we just have to plow through bad feelings sometimes," Sunny said. "Basil, you and I have gone through a lot, huh?"
Basil laughed cutely. "Grandma always told me that if I'm lucky, I'll go through only half as much as what she went through."
Sunny raised his left eye. "Any details on what that might be?"
"Nope."
The sun descended behind the river.
As the hours passed, Sunny began to grow sleepy. He wanted to keep himself awake for the next sixteen hours to monitor Basil's condition, but the endless droning of the car against the road and the monotony of the highway grey were beginning to lid his eye. To keep himself awake, he started tapping his finger against the car window to the rhythm of random tunes inside his head.
Back when he lived inside Headspace, his adventures with his friends were filled with music. He didn't know why, but when he dreamed, his brain could come up with the most emotional tunes. One song that he remembered well was this music that played during the fight with Sweetheart. When the fight began on stage, he imagined that all the Sprout Moles in the audience assembled into an orchestra. And the song that they played lit the stage on fire.
Sometimes music accompanied him as he walked around in real life, too. When he visited Basil's house again for the first time in four years, he felt this nostalgic, melancholic feeling, like coming back to a cherished and long forgotten memory. This feeling gradually transformed into a song. Its melody was soft, slow, and very delicate. He started hearing this gentle song whenever Basil was around, whenever he saw his favorite flowers—tulips, daisies, and sunflowers.
In his fight with Omori, during that most desperate moment of his life, all the tunes inside his head started to break down. A tragic melody became interrupted by incomprehensible noises, angry screaming. Rhythm and harmony broke down, becoming pure chaos. The lyrics screeched into his ears, telling him to end it all. It felt like all the crying he should've done over the years came out all at once and roared in his face.
Just remembering that soundscape sent a shiver down Sunny's back.
Sunny tried to tap to the tune of a happier song. Maybe the one that came into his head whenever he entered Hobbeez. Or that quirky little melody that seemed to accompany him every time he walked around Faraway Park.
Maybe I could become a composer one day.
Zzzz...
***
Natálie, and the rabbit, were very fast.
The three of them sprinted through the meadows and the hills. Eliška couldn't believe that Natálie would chase a single rabbit so far. The girl must be desperately hungry! That settled things. Once this silly chase was over, she'd offer her some food inside her house.
On several occasions, Eliška lost sight of the rabbit as it wove through the grass and hid behind trees. She believed Natálie would finally give up. But, every time, Natálie just kept going. In a short time she'd spot the rabbit again, even if it was hiding inside the most subtle shrub.
They chased the rabbit so far through the mountains and the woods that Eliška completely lost track of where they were anymore. Seeing Natálie so determined to catch a single rabbit, she didn't even think of leaving her side. That single-minded determination to accomplish her goal was the same kind of willpower that got Eliška through some very dark winters, alone, when all the warmth in her house had faded and her food stores ran low.
She could not leave a girl who must have shared those feelings to be alone by herself.
As they ran through a thick coniferous woods, chasing the rabbit down a slope filled with fallen branches and the trunks of dead trees, Eliška suddenly heard a familiar noise of rushing water. Up ahead, the trees cleared to reveal a river.
Natálie chased the rabbit down the riverbank. The river's depth was greater than any person's height. Sensing its imminent doom by human or by water, the rabbit decided to go by the latter and leapt into the river.
They stopped at the edge of the water. Natálie scanned the river, trying to spot where the rabbit had been swept. She looked like she was about to jump after it into the river.
Eliška gripped Natálie's hand firmly.
"Don't jump into the river," Eliška said.
She felt resistance. Natálie tried to shake her hand loose.
"Please don't," Eliška said. "The river is dangerous."
"I know it's dangerous, but I can swim," Natálie replied.
"The river will kill you even if you know how to swim."
Natálie spun to face her. Blue eyes shone with fury and determination. She tried to shake Eliška's hand lose, but Eliška held on, unwilling to let her go.
"I know," Eliška spoke softly. "You can't accept giving up."
They had run so far to catch the rabbit only to meet failure. Eliška understood that pain. She understood it so well that she knew she could never let Natálie go.
"Listen to me," Eliška spoke. "That river is full of toxic metals. It flows out of the city. All the toxic waste from the city's factories get dumped into that river and it all drifts down here."
Natálie didn't seem to believe it, or care.
Her eyes darted back and forth, searching across the water. By now, the rabbit had been swept away by the current and certainly could never be found again. But Natálie still resisted, still pulled, still tried to break free of Eliška's grip.
Eliška had never held on to someone's hand so firmly before.
"Natálie."
Eliška steeled her resolve. "I don't want you to die."
Natálie's resistance broke at last. The fiery light vanished from her eyes and she collapsed upon her knees, gasping for breath. It was as if she had completely forgotten to breathe over the last few minutes.
Eliška loosened her grip on Natálie's hand, finally convinced that she wouldn't dive into the river. She didn't fully let go of her hand, just in case.
Exhausted and breathless, Eliška opened her mouth and coughed up her spit. She couldn't remember the last time she had run so fast or so far. But when she turned her face up to gaze into Natálie's eyes, she smiled.
Natálie's eyes were gloomy with defeat. But there was another light in them, a sense of admiration.
"Let's go back home, okay?" Eliška spoke. "I'll feed you. I've got food."
"I wanted to catch that rabbit," Natálie said.
"I know. But I guess today's just not our lucky day."
"If I keep letting them go, I'll starve to death," Natálie said.
"I'll make sure you don't," Eliška said in as much of an understanding voice as she could.
Natálie's eyes focused on hers. They burned with a strange flame. It held an emotion—anger? Fear? Doubt? Curiosity?—something. All Eliška saw, within that frozen flame, was an endless well of hurt and loneliness.
"It doesn't matter where you come from," Eliška said. "I know people say it does, but...to me, it really doesn't."
"You can't give me food forever," Natálie said. "I know this. After a week, maybe after a day, you'll kick me out. You'll be disgusted at me."
"I will not."
The fire in Natálie's eyes glowed, blue embers.
"I won't let you starve. I won't kick you out," Eliška said. "And I will not be disgusted by you. Honestly, I'm impressed by your resolve. I think your determination is admirable. I'd like...I'd like to be your friend."
Natálie's hands shook. Her lips trembled.
For a moment, it looked like she truly had no idea what to do. It was the first time that Eliška had ever seen her that way.
Eliška grasped Natálie's hands gently. "Will you be my friend?"
"I...I'm sorry," Natálie spoke at last, her voice barely above a whisper.
"It's okay," Eliška said, feeling a bit disappointed. "If you have a home to go back to, that's fine too—"
"No!" Natálie shouted. "No, that's not what I meant. I meant...I meant that I'm sorry for treating you this way. I didn't even ask for your name. I've just caused trouble for you, and..."
Eliška smiled. "Don't worry about it. My name's Eliška."
The expression on Natálie's face softened. "Eliška. I'd...I'd like to be your friend. If that's still possible..."
"Of course I'll be your friend!" Eliška said. "You know, ever since my brothers moved out to the city, it's been so lonely living by myself in the Flower House. I've been waiting forever to have a friend!"
"Oh," Natálie said simply.
Eliška couldn't stop smiling. She was so happy that Natálie wanted to be friends with her.
She reached into the pocket of her shirt and took out a small pink flower pin.
Eliška placed the flower into her new friend's hair.
"What's this for...?"
"It's a symbol of our friendship," Eliška said. "Flowers are special, you know? They bloom so brightly. Then their petals wilt, until the wind takes them away to faraway places. It's such a short life. But it's always a beautiful one."
Natálie brushed her hand against the flower in her hair. Her eyes were full of wonder.
"This flower, it means two things," Eliška said. "One, I want our friendship to be beautiful. Two, whether our friendship lasts a lifetime, or if it's just for a short while, it'll be okay! I want to forget about time. I just want to enjoy the moments that we spend together."
As Natálie heard those words, the light in her eyes shone a warm color. The flower in her hair almost seemed to blossom, blooming into...
...Blooming into the first real smile that Eliška saw from her.
The sun began to set from the sky. Spring afternoons in the Beskids usually got dark very quickly. It would also get quite cold.
Eliška and Natálie began trying to find their way back home.
A waning moon replaced the sun from the sky. No clouds were there to obscure the stars. It was a full starry night.
"Do you know where we are?" Natálie asked.
Eliška shook her head. "No idea."
"How will we ever find our way back?"
"I have a trick. Listen carefully, because this could save your life one day," Eliška said, putting on a very serious face.
Natálie leaned in with the most serious listening expression Eliška had ever seen.
Eliška suddenly smiled.
"Catch the North Star!"
She pointed up at the sky. "See that really bright star? That one always points north. And guess what? My house is on the northern edge of these mountains! You can't miss it."
Natálie looked at the star. "Catch that star?"
"Eh, I just made that up because you're so good at catching rabbits."
Natálie turned her face away, giggling. "Oh, please. I lost that rabbit."
"But you were so good at finding where the rabbit went when I was sure we'd lost track of it!"
Natálie faced her friend again, a new smile. "Thank you. You're the only person I've ever met who thinks failure is good..."
"Failure is good. If we never fail, we'd be so full of ourselves, we'll become intolerable. We'll be like that rabbit, thinking it could survive by swimming in that river...hahahahahahahaha!"
Eliška's weird, but genuine, laughter started to make Natálie laugh along.
They laughed with their failure to catch today's meal. They laughed as they chased after the North Star. And they laughed when they found their way back to the Flower House by catching the star, just as Eliška said they would.
Eliška saw that Natálie's flower pot was still there.
"I never asked. What is that flower?"
"It's a white egret orchid," Natálie replied. "I...I want to give this flower to your house."
"Sure, I'll take it!" Eliška replied. "I've never seen that flower before. It's beautiful, though. Where is it from...?"
Natálie grew quiet.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Eliška said.
Natálie shook her head. "It's okay. The flower...comes from a very distant country. It was given to me by my uncle."
Natálie picked up the flower pot into her hands with a small smile. "I think it's beautiful, too."
"Great! Let's put it by the windowsill so it gets plenty of sunlight. And I'll show you around my house! You can sleep where my brothers used to sleep. 'Course, when they come back for Christmas, we'll have to hide you...but that should be easy, look at how thin you are! Hahahahahahaha!"
The pink flower in Natálie's hair matched her smile so prettily.
***
When Sunny opened his eye again, the sky was completely dark.
Their car drove on a highway that cut through an empty mountainous landscape. Stars shone brightly in the night sky. At a glance, he was able to recognize the big dipper and the little dipper. And at the handle of the little dipper, the North Star.
The stars are so pretty out here.
I wish Basil and I could spend more time out in nature, gazing at the stars.
"You doing okay, Basil?" Sunny asked.
Basil nodded. "I'm fine," he replied in a tired voice.
You've been driving for so long...
I would rather have you take a short break than to keep going throughout the night.
"If you feel the least bit tired, I want you to park somewhere and take a nap," Sunny said.
"I'm not tired," Basil reiterated.
"I just want you to be safe. It's more important for us to get back safely than to make it to the airport before mom does."
"I don't need to sleep!"
Sunny was taken aback by that outburst.
Basil immediately regretted it. "I'm so sorry, Sunny."
"It's...it's fine," Sunny said. "You've had such a rough week. I'm sorry I didn't work hard enough to try to make things easier for you."
"N—No, it's okay," Basil said. "I'm really sorry, Sunny. I shouldn't have burst out like that."
You're just tired.
I feel so...I feel so useless, just sitting here while you take care of everything, again.
"You know," Sunny began in a soft tone, "if we don't make it back to the airport in time, I'll just tell mom that it was all my idea."
"...Sunny?"
"I'll tell her I came up with the whole plan to take her car. That I persuaded you to go along with it. I'll confess that I went too far—"
"Sunny, no," Basil said emphatically.
A cold silence hung in the air between them.
Sunny started to feel guilty all over again. This was just like what he did before, concealing Basil's involvement in their crime to his friends.
"We shouldn't keep lying like this," Basil said in a gentler voice. "We...keep breaking peoples' trust in us."
"Yeah...you're right," Sunny replied.
Yet if we had never stolen my mom's car, if we had never lied to her, or if we didn't lie to that man who was trying to stop us from leaving the town with the Coup de Soleil factory...
I don't think that not lying there could've led to a better outcome.
"Still," Sunny went on. "Some things work out better when we lie."
Basil remained silent for a bit. "I'm one to know."
Maybe we can have a deeper discussion about this.
There's still unsaid words between us, unresolved feelings...
"If you're okay with it," Sunny spoke, "I wanna talk about...when we lie. It's weird, but I have some thoughts about how we got here. If it's too painful, we can talk about it some other time."
Another silent pause. "Okay," Basil said. "I'm ready."
Sunny opened his lips, but out came nothing. His thoughts were too jumbled. Yet he proposed having this discussion, so he couldn't back out now. He just had to face his dread, face some of his most traumatic thoughts and memories.
Starting from the very beginning.
"I've always lied about how I felt," Sunny began. "When I was very young, I lashed out once. I threw a tantrum on my birthday because I didn't get the toy that Mari had. Dad got really angry at me. I...I learned, from that experience, that it's better to hide my feelings. It's better to not show anything at all."
Basil glanced at him. "Sunny..."
"My parents taught me and my sister to hide our feelings. Mom tries to sweep things under the rug. Dad told me that boys shouldn't cry or feel sad. Girls have to maintain a perfect image."
That's what Mari tried to do.
"My sister...I love her, but, I guess...I guess she wasn't perfect. She was kind, warm, and caring, but she always demanded the most out of everybody. If something wasn't perfect, she'd get annoyed, though she wouldn't show it too obviously. Not until she blows up."
"Tell me about it," Basil said. "Remember when we were learning how to make flower crowns? I thought we all did okay, but Mari, well...she had some criticisms to make. No offense."
"None taken," Sunny said with a short laugh. "Even if it's Mari."
Basil laughed nervously.
"And yeah, I remember that. Mari thought Kel's flower crown was really shabby. I wish she'd cut us some slack!"
"I'm sorry, Sunny," Basil said. "I should've known that you learned to hide your feelings. You were quiet, but you were a really good listener. That's what's special about you."
Sunny blushed vividly. "You're too nice."
"Anything about my family you wanna know?" Basil asked.
I guess I already know quite a bit about Basil's family since we hung out at his house quite a lot when his grandma was still around.
I don't think I really want to learn more about his parents after seeing how they're treating him now...
"Basil."
I still have one question for you.
Maybe, a really painful one.
"Our families weren't perfect," Sunny said. "Maybe that's why we're both liars."
"Yea, haha..."
"If it's okay with you, can we talk about the one big mistake that we both made?"
Basil slowly nodded his head.
"I've been thinking. About how you must've felt, doing what you did, and keeping that secret for all those years. If it's alright with you, could you tell me what went through your head that whole time?"
A guilty pink fell over Basil's cheeks. He relented and answered. "I'm really messed up."
Sunny patted Basil gently. "Me too."
"How should I say this...I came up with that idea and stuck to it because of so many reasons."
Basil looked away. "I've always been afraid of losing people. When I was a baby, my parents changed my caretakers a lot. They were never around. I didn't have any parental figures or role models that stayed by my side."
Basil's always had it tough with loneliness and being abandoned.
"Grandma was nice, but she was a bit old fashioned. She couldn't help me make friends. Then she grew sick. So...when Aubrey introduced me to her friend group, I was so happy," Basil said. "I never had friends so warm and accepting before."
Their car began to slow down as they left the highway and entered a street with traffic junctions. Basil turned towards Sunny with a wistful look in his eyes.
"Back then, I didn't want anyone else to feel the same way that I did," Basil confessed. "You were the youngest in our group, Sunny. So I felt like, umm, I had to, uh, take care of you. Because I didn't want you to feel like you were going to be abandoned one day."
Basil blushed fully red. "I know. It's so silly. You had Mari. You had all your friends. I'm so...I'm just so silly."
It wasn't silly! That's so selfless.
"How did you feel about my sister?" Sunny asked on.
"I...I felt really close to her," Basil confessed. "We talked a lot together. About Photography. Flower arranging. She was always so kind to me."
"So...when you did what you thought you had to do, did you..."
Basil trembled. "I'm so sorry, Sunny. Mari was such a good friend to me. And I still thought I had to do it to protect you."
Basil...
You tried to protect me because you didn't want me to feel as lonely as you've always felt.
Sunny's vision grew misty.
What he did that night was so traumatizing that Basil simply could not accept it. Neither could Basil understand that the boy he wanted to protect would in the end have to deal with the pain by himself.
With a shove of hands, Sunny shattered many things. Their happiness. Basil's mind. All their moral restraints. Basil was willing to commit the darkest crime to save the boy that he loved.
In an instant, Basil had thrown away his childhood innocence and became an adult.
"I'm sorry. I sound like I'm insane," Basil spoke. "I imagined taking care of you even though you never asked me to. I kept thinking I was doing the right thing—for four years—because, in my head, 'Sunny doesn't deserve to be abandoned'. 'Sunny doesn't deserve to feel the painful emotions that I've felt'. That's why I had to keep lying. That's why I did that to Mari. I just wanted to believe in this fake dream. I just wanted to..."
Their car slowed to a stop in front of a red light.
"I just wanted to believe that I could protect you," Basil said.
Sunny wiped the mist from his eye. "You did your best. I'm sorry—"
"I'm sorry," Basil replied. "For trying to push my fake dream onto you."
I was stuck in my own fake dream.
Basil looked at Sunny with soft tears in his eyes. "When you came to me that night, we had our fight. I finally realized that what I did might be wrong. I realized you couldn't want this. I couldn't cope with that realization. I...I—"
"Basil. Even though you might've done some bad things, you're not a bad person," Sunny said. "You took care of me more than I deserved. You were willing to destroy yourself to protect my happiness. You are my best friend."
Now he's my boyfriend.
Basil tried to smile, but it was marred by so much sadness.
"Basil, no matter what you did, I love you," Sunny said.
"Sunny, you're too kind to me," Basil spoke, soft as a whisper.
"Because we both understand our mistakes," Sunny said. "We're learning to move on. So, it's okay. I forgive you."
"I'm glad, Sunny..."
Sunny leaned in close to Basil. "All I want is for us to make lots of new and happy memories together."
Basil's eyes widened as Sunny leaned closer.
Their lips closed into a kiss.
They kissed in front of that traffic junction, the road's lights at night reflected in the water that fell from their eyes.
Sunny kissed to forgive Basil, and to ask Basil to forgive him. They kissed to seal their past, to resolve to move on to a better future. They kissed to make the promise that their hearts would be with each other for the rest of their lives.
This kiss is our promise to be together, no matter what happens.
Basil's lidded eyes closed, then slowly opened as Sunny began to lean back.
As the traffic light turned green, they parted quickly so that Basil could get back to driving. A slow laugh escaped from their lips, both still wet from that mushy kiss.
"We're...pretty terrible liars, aren't we?" Sunny said.
"Terrible," Basil agreed. "But I still don't want to hear you lie to your mom about me coming up with this plan to steal her car."
"Alright. And I want you to drive us safely home."
Basil nodded. "When I'm driving you? I'll be the safest driver ever."
"Safe enough to not kiss whenever we're in front of a red light, I hope."
Basil gave Sunny a light punch on his shoulder.
Sunny ruffled up Basil's fluffy hair.
~
Chapter count: 29/32