Forgive or die trying

Bacon and eggs

A delightful surprise awaited the hooligans as they awoke the next morning, the smell of bacon, eggs, toast, and sausage filling the air as Polly and Basil careful set the table. The first to wake up was Vance, who noticed the smell and came to investigate.

"Oh! Good morning dear, howd you sleep?", Polly's warm voice welcomed him as he stepped into the kitchen, a small yet kind smile on her face.

"A-ah, I slept well thank you. I-is there anything I can help with?", although usually being confident, Vance still wasn't super used to kindness anymore from adults (despite being one himself) so he didn't really know how to respond to her.

With a small laugh, she nodded and simply asked if he could help wake the rest up for her. He gave a thumbs up in response and went to the others, gently shaking Charlie awake first as he knew she was the calmest and only she could get Angel to actually agree to get up in the mornings. Once she was awake, the two then woke up the Maverick and Angel (who both complained until they smelled the fresh food).

Slowly, Charlie approached Kim and Aubrey, who were cuddled up with each other in such a way that she couldn't help but take a photo of it. She very gently shook them awake, Kim trying to move to get up before Aubrey buried her face deeper in the other girls chest.

Realizing the position they were in, Kim's face turned dark red as she heard the Maverick telling Basil to snap another photo, to which the blonde silently laughed and complied.

"A-a little help here guys?", Aubrey's grip on her was tight, and Aubrey was known to be difficult to wake up in the mornings. The group thought of what to do amongst themselves as Basil approached them.

"H-hey dude, you gonna help?", in response, the blonde nodded and remembered what he would do in their childhood. He moved Kim's hand to Aubrey's hair as the girl looked confused. He made a motion, instructing her to run her hands through it and to everyone's surprise, Aubrey woke up.

"H-huh? What's up?", they all looked shocked at how calm she was compared to how she normally is before bursting into laughter when she realized how close to Kim she had gotten as her face turned a dark red.

"I-I'm so sorry Kim! O-oh god!", the poor girl was beet red as she quickly put distance between herself and the other equally as pink face girl.

Angel was the one laughing the hardest, falling back in chair as he held his sides and began to cry. Charlie quickly rushed over, chuckling a bit herself as she helped Angel off the ground. Vance tried to keep it together but his hand covering his mouth couldn't hide the sound of his loud laughter. The maverick just looked away to block the sound of his laughter as Basil quietly giggled.

The two girls glared at the group who just laughed harder as they tried to look tough,

"G-guys! Stop laughing!" Aubrey's voice held a slight whine but a smile crept onto her face as well as Kim began to laugh along with the group. Within seconds, all of them were howling with laughter over the small situation as Polly smiled softly in the kitchen at the sight.

Seeing Basil finally smiling and laughing again, looking so at peace and happy after so long, it truly warmed her heart. These kids, sure they may be dangerous towards others but deep down they were just a group of friends who had to learn to act tough to survive.

"Ok ok! Now, let's actually have breakfast instead of laughing until it gets cold!" Vance stuttered out between laughs as everyone sat down. He looked to Polly in the kitchen, tilting his head,

"Aren't you gonna join us Miss?" She looked a bit taken aback, as if not expected to be asked, but softly nodded and sat down as well to eat with them, the food having gotten slightly cold but was still extremely delicious.

"God this shit rules!", Kim's loud voice broke the silence and Polly smiled kindly at that. The rest of the table mumbled their agreements which only made her smile even brighter. Yes, she knew she COULD cook (after all, she was the reason Basil kept eating) but she never thought of it as GOOD cooking!

"Kim, was it? Well, thank you very much! After breakfast you all can head up and shower if you'd like! I've gotten some extra towels out of the closet and left them in the bathroom for you all!" The group looked shocked, the idea of as shower at all making them incredibly grateful as it was obvious it had been a long time since they last had the money to afford showers.

After breakfast, each of them headed up to shower one at a time while Basil and Polly cleaned up. She took this as a chance to talk to him more, looking to him and smiling, "so, how do you like your new friends?" He excitedly signed back, being able to use sign language with her, "yes, they are all so nice! And it's nice to have Aubrey back!" She smiled softly at the sign name he used for her, one he had never used before. She turned to look at BunBun, happily crunching on a celery stick in his little playpen she set up for him. Bunny. Perfect for her.

Basil beamed as each of the hooligans returned back downstairs in clean clothes Polly had gotten them on her early morning trip to the store before any of them had woken up. They looked much happier, he tilted his head at the sight of The Maverick with brown hair however and seemed confused as to how the blonde changed it that quick. Sensing his confusion, Mav responded,

"Oh! The blonde hair is simply a wig, one I wear to mask my true self!" Basil seemed to accept that answer, nodding and going to sign something before remembering the group probably did not understand sign language. Polly just gently smiled at him,

"Don't worry, I can teach them!", the group looked confused until she clarified she would teach them sign language. They all seemed excited and Basil looked even more ecstatic.

Today was going to be a good day