Fallout and Future

Chapter 14: Grain and Seed

A/N: woohoo i'm on time this time

beta read by UdonPuddle on AO3

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Sunny rushed forward just in time to catch Basil, head still reeling from the things he'd just heard the boy say to Mari's grave.

Basil looked... better than he had a few months ago, at least. That didn't say much. His cheeks had actual color in them, though that might be from the cold, his hair looked less frayed, and he wasn't covered in bandages anymore. That being said, he still had a few small scars on his face. At least there weren't any bags under his eyes.

Sunny gently lowered Basil to the ground after making sure he was still breathing. He didn't like letting go of him.

So, Basil... wanted to let go of Sunny?

That was good, but it'd taken him months to get to this point.

Sunny ran his fingers through his hair. He'd made a terrible mistake when he left Basil again. Well, at least he was here now.

This didn't fix much. What was he supposed to do? Carry Basil home and wait for him to wake up? Actually, that shouldn't be too hard... he's not exactly large.

Sunny wrapped his arms around Basil again and hoisted him into the air – or, at least, tried to. He grunted and hurriedly lowered the boy to the ground again after just a moment.

He had not expected Basil to be that heavy. Clearly, he wasn't fat, and Sunny wasn't completely pathetic, which could only mean that Basil was jacked.

Gods above.

Even if it was just for a second, there was something comforting about holding Basil so close. Nostalgic.

Sunny dusted off his hands and looked around. He didn't want to just drag Basil back to his house, but he couldn't leave him here while he looked for help. Perhaps Basil had a cellphone on him? It felt a little like stealing – not that he hadn't done it before; he just refused to do it to Basil – but he didn't have many other options.

As Sunny crouched over Basil's peacefully sleeping form, digging around in the boy's coat pockets, he heard a shout from behind him. "Unhand the flower boy, ye vandal!"

Considering how many things had already gone wrong, Sunny should have expected this.

"Yeah, what the master said! Thievery is our job around these parts!" Great, the whole gang was here.

Sunny turned around to find himself face-to-face with the Hooligans, sans Aubrey. Angel, Charlene, The Maverick™, Kim, and Vance. Were they here to hurt Basil? Sunny cracked his knuckles. Even if he was going to get the shit kicked out of him, he should at least try to put up enough of a fight that Basil has time to wake up and run away.

"We were walking by and noticed you looting Bag- Basil." Kim stepped up, also cracking her knuckles. "We're not really people to talk, but it's pretty fucked if you're beating and stealing from kids – especially that kid."

"...Huh?" Sunny went slackjawed. This was a new development.

"Hey, wait a minute," Vance slowly approached Sunny, raising a fist to halt the rest of his group. "Is that Sussy Suzuki? "

"Sunny. My name is Sunny." He responded dryly, getting over his temporary confusion.

"Been a while." Charlene said in her characteristic small voice.

"...Yes, it has." He rubbed his arm, not knowing where to take the conversation from here.

"So, like... why is Basil unconscious?" Kim asked awkwardly after a moment of silence.