Phytoremediation

Life is just okay out here, anyone can see

Basil was disturbed by a sudden frantic knocking at the door.

He worriedly peeked out the window, and saw a terrified Sunny, with bloodied legs.

"S-Sunny, what happened?" Basil asked while swinging the door open.

"Omori came for me... he tried to kill me." Sunny said shakily.

Basil felt confused. "Omori" seemed familiar, but he wasn't sure. "Who tried to kill you..?"

"Om- Yuri, he... let's call the police first, please..." Sunny begged.

Basil grabbed the phone as Sunny stared out the window anxiously.

"Uh, I need the police..." Basil explained the situation absentmindedly, more focused on Sunny's nervous behaviour.

He had only seen Sunny look so stressed once before... which was sort of completely Basil's fault, but... he would never want to hurt Sunny.

Even if I did before...

Basil brushed his wandering mind again as the operator asked a question he couldn't answer. "Can you tell me exactly what happened to your friend?"

Sunny heard, and started his explanation, "I... I got attacked... the murderer from the news broke into my house, and tried to kill me..." Sunny seemed a bit uncomfortable when he said the word "murderer." Well, more uncomfortable than he already was. Basil could tell there was a lot of guilt in Sunny's mind.

It was more my fault anyway...

Distant sirens prompted Basil to hang up the phone without much thought.

Whoops... maybe should've told her the police were here...

Sunny was half laying on the couch, clearly worried and exhausted simultaneously. 

Basil opened the doors to two police officers. He let them in as they introduced themselves. The usual calm and casual demeanour of Chinese police was instead a more serious presentation. The first murderer in the province for a couple years probably made them a bit on edge, especially when they just recently had a new attempted attack from the same person.

"I'm Officer Ming, and this is Officer Kim. Is that your friend on the couch?" Officer Ming asked.

Basil nodded and the Officers proceeded to ask Sunny an onslaught of questions. They seemed very urgent, which makes sense with a nearby killer.

Officer Kim inspected the leg, and informed the room that they would call an ambulance if Sunny wanted, to which Sunny declined. It was a non-life threatening injury, since they asked instead of just calling one in, making Basil's heart settle down a bit.

Basil looked out the window for a moment, noticing someone run out of Sunny's house.

"Um, I just saw someone run out of Sunny's house." Basil said, totally copying the narrator.

The officers nodded to each other, and ran out the door, radioing in something. Basil felt a lot of what just happened was flying past him, and chose to focus on what was right there with him.

"Hey, Sunny, if you want I can give you some ointment for those cuts on your legs..." Basil calmed his nerves.

Sunny needed him, and being all shaky and weird about something as benign as putting ointment on his lower legs was just going to waste time.

Sunny rinsed his legs off in the shower, and Basil got the ointment, and applied it himself, surprising Sunny a bit.

He just needed to see how useful Basil was. After Basil makes up for his mistakes, Sunny won't want to leave him behind. He won't want to abandon Basil.

He won't hate me...

Basil sighed. It was a futile effort. Eventually everyone would hate him, because they'd know what an awful person he really is. How unforgivable what he did was, and how annoying and clingy he is now.

Basil finished rubbing the oil in, and looked up at Sunny. He was blushing and looking away. Basil could only assume from embarrassment.

"Sorry... I should've asked first..." Basil whispered apologetically.

"It-It's fine, thanks for the help Basil..." Sunny said nervously, "I was... really scared back there... you saved me again..."

Again..?

Sunny continued, "You're always helping me, or saving me from my fuck-ups... you deserve a better friend, heh..."

Basil opened his mouth to protest, but Sunny turned to Basil, and spoke directly. "I shouldn't be so... secretive with you... Basil... I... uh..." he stumbled on his words, "I think... I think I might be bi."

Understatement of the century, but Basil didn't know about the things Sunny was frequently thinking about him. Moments before, even, the compromising position of Basil on his knees before him was exploited by Sunny's hyperactive imagination.

Sunny's bi!!! Sunny is NOT STRAIGHT!! I... Who am I kidding, I have no chance... maybe...

Basil felt internal turmoil between his optimistic side, and his self-hating side. This inner turmoil was well hidden, by Basil's optimistic response.

"That's good news, I'm glad you told me!" Basil smiled to Sunny.

Sunny blushed again at the smile. Basil was beginning to have "could it be..?" thoughts, immediately being shut down by his inner doubt.

Sunny awkwardly looked away, prompting Basil to notice he was staring into Sunny's eyes a few seconds ago. He is also still on his knees, but apparently that didn't matter as much.

"Ah, um, sorry..." Basil shyly said.

Sunny seemed deep in thought, a strange time for daydreaming, on the side of a bathtub, but whatever.

"Basil... what do you think I should do..?" Sunny asked vaguely.

"What do you mean?" Basil inquired.

"What should I do, like, when I go to college, and university, and all that shit. I don't know... I would wanna go somewhere with you, but I don't know what I'd want to do there."

"Well, what do you want..?"

Sunny exhaled loudly, "Everything, Basil. Physics, Medical, weird little niche fields, it's all interesting to me... there just isn't enough time to do it all."

"Then make enough time." Basil suggested, though he felt he sounded stupid, "Go into physics to let yourself like, go back in time, or the medical field to like, fix aging... sorry I'm dumb..."

"No, no, that's a good idea... curing aging would solve so many diseases... help tons of people... plus, it would..." Sunny trailed off, looking into Basil's eyes.

Basil's bright blue eyes made Sunny feel far more warm and safe than the pale cold grey of Yuri's.

Sunny shivered, then stood up. He looked down at Basil. He then blushed and looked away.

Basil stood up, and hugged Sunny. He was safe. Basil was so thankful.

This is the last sentence of the chapter.