my sunlight

...Love?

Polly finished cooking and dusted her dress off. "Okay, everyone, have a seat!" She said, feeling a lot better than the day before. Sunny had been on the couch, showing Aubrey his drawings. He got up and sat down at the table with Aubrey, feeling VERY introverted. He wanted to just run away from everyone, he didn't feel comfortable eating at someone else's house. There was a gross feeling in his stomach telling him everything would go horrible, something would go wrong. (Yay, social anxiety!)

Kel and Basil joined them at the table shortly after. Sunny felt a little relieved and less on-edge, but not much. When Polly set down the food, he just stared at it for a few seconds. He looked around the room and everyone else was eating. He cautiously picked up his fork and poked at the eggs on his plate. Sunny didn't know if he was hungry or not. He never really...had the energy to eat, so he'd gotten used to how hunger felt. But he figured he should eat for a list of reasons; Polly might think her food is bad, his friends might get concerned about him, or the food could go cold and it'd be wasted.

So he slowly took a bite from his plate and swallowed it. Sunny thought it was good food. And surely that was enough? But the plate was still piled, and he didn't want to be rude. He didn't know if he should eat it, either. He should finish it right? But should he force himself to? Did he want to?

'Just shove it in your mouth. It'll probably do you some good, since you're sick,' he thought to himself. So he mindlessly stabbed his fork into whatever was on the plate and scarfed it down. He felt a little sick after. His body wasn't used to this...he probably should've ate slower. But it was okay, right? He wasn't nauseas and his stomach didn't hurt, so maybe he should just give it some time.

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"What are you guys doiinnnggg?" Asked Kel, leaning over the couch as Sunny scribbled in his notebook and Aubrey watched TV. Sunny paused, remembering he was supposed to tell Kel about his problems. He'd forgotten completely. "Can I talk to you?" He asked quietly. Kel nodded, seemingly unworried. "Yeah, sure, bud! What's on your mind?" Sunny furrowed his brows and looked at Aubrey. Kel got the gist. "Actually, we can talk outside. C'mon, Sun!" He opened the door and headed out while Sunny closely followed behind him. They found a spot behind the house and sat down.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

Sunny sat silent for a moment, pondering if he should tell him or not. He decided he should, he already brought him to the back of the house and everything. It'd be stupid to back out now.
"Well...you know how you said if I ever wanna talk about how I feel, I should, uh, come to you? Well um, I wanted to ask if I could talk about it now. O-Only if you want to, of course, I don't want to burden you."

Kel smiled, lighting up like sunshine, which made Sunny's stomach twist in a knot. "Don't worry about it, man! You won't burden me. Go ahead, I'll listen!" Sunny looked down. "...Are you sure?" Kel put a hand on his shoulder assuringly. "Hey, I'll always listen, no matter what," he grinned. "Pinky promise! Just like when we were kids?" He said, holding out his pink finger. Sunny locked his finger with Kel's and felt his face heat up. He smiled a little- which Kel saw. "HEY- you smiled!! For the first time in, like, forever! Anyways, I'm glad to be part of what made you smile." Sunny nodded and looked away. "So...what do I talk about? I don't really know because I've...never really opened to anyone before. Usually, everyone opened up to me." Sunny questioned, brushing a stray hair behind his ear. Kel shrugged. "Well, you don't have to start with anything really- just talk about whatever you want, dude!"

"Okay, well...I guess I'll just talk about the guilt. You know how I told you about the dream world I had? It was just to escape everything. Mari was still there, everyone was...I just wanted everything to be okay. I felt so bad...for pushing her. F-for killing her...I was scared everyone would leave if I told them the truth. B-but you guys stayed. Y...you stayed, and I don't know why..." He looked up. Kel was still listening carefully, a soft expression displayed on his face. "And I guess I just...didn't know what to do. I locked myself in the house for years because I didn't know what to do. I had no motivation to get up in the morning. Everything I loved was..gone, and- and I-" Sunny tried to speak but all that came out were sobs. He covered his face with his hands as he cried.

"H-Hey, man- it's okay!!" Kel stuttered, not knowing what to do. He scooched closer to the crying boy and wrapped him in his arms. "It's gonna be okay. I'm here." Sunny hugged him back and just cried in his arms for a little while until he wiped his tears and sniffed. "O-Okay, I think I'm done. Thank you for...listening to me." He sniffled. Kel smiled at him again. "You don't gotta thank me!" He assured him. "If you say so." Sunny responded, resting his head on his chest. They sat like that for a while, as Sunny closed his eyes but didn't drift to sleep. Until they heard a voice above them.

"Wow. That is so. Fucking. Gay."

Kel didn't even have to open his eyes to know who it was. "Go away, Aubrey." She scoffed. "Why? So you can cuddle with your little boyfriend?" She smirked at them. "That's okay. I'll let you because your obliviousness is sickening. How does he not know you're in love with him?" Kel scrunched up his face. "You are so lucky Sunny's sleeping right now."

But he wasn't sleeping.