I Won't Let You Wilt

I can work with these somethings

The power lines that scrolled by reminded Sunny of the landscape he saw when he first moved from Faraway.

At the time, he'd kept wondering why his mom believed that a change of scenery would be good for him when all he had wanted to do was to reconnect with his friends after four years of isolating himself. He remembered feeling hopeful that his mom and Hero were right, hopeful that his new home would bring him a chance to discover new friends, new happiness; a chance to remodel himself into a person free from his traumatic past.

Now he knew that he could only ever find happiness by the side of a boy he loved with all his heart.

My mom always thinks she know's what's best for me, but she'll never understand how much I love Basil.

Sunny tried to smile when he looked at Basil and saw that anxious light within his eyes.

Basil always hid his negative feelings behind a smile, but by now Sunny knew what he was feeling better than anybody. The future was full of uncertainty and neither of them knew what would happen from here on.

"We're going to be okay," Sunny assured him.

"Thanks, Sunny, but I've just been thinking...if we can't return to Faraway, how am I going to be able to build that garden inside our old hideout?"

Heck, that's a good question...

"Maybe things will be fine after a few months," Sunny said.

"I hope so, but your mom seems persistent."

"Don't worry, I'll deal with her if she or that detective shows their faces again."

...By running away again?

I'm so bad at encouraging others that I can't even convince myself that things will be alright.

Basil pushed his palms against the seat. "My parents might not support me anymore. If I return to Faraway, I might not even have a home..."

Basil's parents and my mom...why do they keep making our lives difficult for us?

"We'll find a way to build your garden even without your parents' help," Sunny said in an encouraging tone.

Basil tried to smile again. "My grant should cover our living costs for the next few years, even if we have to get another home when we go back to Faraway to build the garden. But we'd still have to watch out for the detective who knows about...what we did..."

"I could try to talk to my mom over email," Sunny suggested. "I might be able to get her to tell the detective to stop looking for us."

...Just how am I supposed to convince her of that when I basically just told her I'm not coming back to live with her from now on?

"That'd be great...but...maybe there are things we could do...to protect ourselves," Basil said in a very quiet tone.

I feel you're about to suggest something questionable...

"Do you know anything about criminal charges, Sunny?"

Sunny shook his head.

"Me neither. We could read up on it and see what kind of sentence we're in for if we get caught."

That sounds like it'd be a lot of work...but I guess Basil has always been the type to take action rather than sit around and wait for things to sort themselves out...

"It might be better to get a lawyer," Sunny suggested.

Basil's expression was a little dark. "No, that's not what I meant..."