Sunny woke up well-rested. The weekend meant he could sleep in a bit. He looked to his left. Mari's bed was empty, obviously. She had busy mornings. Sunny shrugged and stood up from his bed. He stretched and felt relief as a crick in his back decided to crack away.
The only thing Sunny changed daily for his clothes was his socks. Going to bed in socks is gross. He grabbed a pair from within his dresser and sat down for a moment on his sister's bed to put them on. Her bed was a bit uncomfortable.
It was unexplainable. Maybe something with the mattress, the pillow, maybe the sheets. It just felt weird. 2/10, would not sleep.
After putting on his second sock, he proceeded out of his room. He could hear his sister practicing. He walked down the stairs, being greeted by his mother.
"Oh, hello sunshine! Kel is waiting for you already." His mother smiled as she turned back around from the toaster popping.
"I told him to stop coming over so early." Sunny said as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.
"Well, he keeps doin' it! Maybe you should wake up earlier!" She responded jokingly.
Sunny's mother walked over to Sunny and handed him a plate of buttered toast. "Yeah, right. I already have to do that during the week. I'll take my extra sleep where I can." Sunny rolled his eyes.
He bit into his toast. Warm, with all the butter melted. He hated when it got all clumped up and wouldn't melt.
Quickly enough, the toast was gone, and Sunny put on his shoes to make a quick exit. Kel was ever impatient, so who knows what kind of stupid things he'd get up to while he was bored.
Sunny opened the door to Kel, almost falling over while trying to knock again.
"Oh, hey, Sunny!"
"Uh, hey Kel. What's up?" Sunny awkwardly greeted Kel. He looked Kel over. Usual unshaven and cactus-y legs, with a fresh scrape on his knee, it seemed. Shorts with a stain, probably from that weird soda he was always drinking. If he weren't wearing a tank top, he'd probably have some sort of sweat stains, too. Instead, of course, was just some slightly visible armpit hair and semi-visible arm hair. The only place without 3 pounds of hair on it seemed to be the bottom of his face.
"Jesus, you need to shave..." Sunny muttered.
"Huh?" Kel said, genuinely not hearing.
"Never mind, what was it you were waiting for me for so long for?" Sunny asked. The question sounds wrong in English, it's a weird language.
"Oh yeah, so since Hero is home from college, and Mari is... y'know, pretty much always here, and everyone else is too, Basil suggested we go to the hangout spot all together! Like old times, n' stuff." Kel smiled.
"You sure that's a good idea? I mean, I remember when they split up, Mari was pretty broken up about it." Sunny awkwardly reminded Kel.
"Yeah, so was Hero, but it's been a couple years since then, and Hero agreed to it, so hey, y'know, maybe she'll be cool with it." Kel replied with a similar level of awkwardness.
"Alright, I'll go ask." Sunny turned and walked over to his sister's practice room.
"Hey, Mari, uh, Basil's invited everyone to the spot. Hero's gonna be there, but like, y'know, so is everyone else. You wanna come with us?" Sunny asked, still feeling a bit awkward for asking, "It's cool if you don't, like, that's fine, but..."
"No, no, it's okay, Sunny. I can come with you!" She smiled a bit too brightly. Maybe she was a bit more affected than she wanted to let on. Then again, Sunny wasn't exactly that in tune with his own emotions, let alone the emotions of others.
"Alright, we'll wait for you." Sunny said as he left the room. Quickly, he returned to Kel.
"She said she's coming too." He iterated to Kel.
"Yeah, I know, she's right there." Kel pointed behind Sunny." Sunny turned around and saw Mari putting on her shoes already.
"Hi, Kel!" Mari smiled. She finished putting on her shoes, "Alright! Let's go."
"Alright!" Kel put his arms behind his head and led the way to the old hangout spot.
"So, Sunny, did you sleep well?" Mari asked with a smile.
"Uh, yeah, I guess." Sunny shrugged as he spoke. She always asked random questions like that. Maybe it was supposed to be small talk, though. Sunny wasn't much for that kind of thing.
"Good!" Mari smiled.
Kel decided to join the conversation, "Hey, Mari, aren't you gonna be playing piano before next month's national address?"
Mari's expression changed for a moment, "Ah, yeah, I am. I'm gonna be playing this electric piano. It makes a more muted sound, so it'll fit in with the orchestra." Mari shook her head, "It's nothing really, I get enough praise as-is, I think we should talk about Sunny instead."
"Uh, sure..." Kel said awkwardly. Sunny rolled his eyes. She was always like this.
"Like, Sunny, have you got your math test results back yet?" Mari asked with a smile, "I know you aced it!"
"No, not yet." Sunny quietly answered. He felt a bit annoyed having to talk so much.
"Oh well, I guess you'll get it back soon." Mari smiled in that strange way again. Sunny started thinking he might just be overanalyzing things.
"Hey, Aubrey!" Kel called out to Aubrey. Her pink hair stuck out like a mildly tender thumb.
Aubrey turned, and her face brightened. "Mari!!" She rushed over to hug her.
Kel and Sunny apparently were chopped liver.
"I'm glad to see you too, Aubrey, eh-heh." Mari giggled. Her eyes seemed to be more trained on Sunny, though. Does she still think Sunny has a crush on Aubrey? It seemed that the phase of the friend group trying to tease him over "liking" Aubrey was over. He internally groaned at the thought of that happening again.
"Yeah, glad to see you too, Aubrey." Kel said sarcastically. Aubrey responded by sticking her tongue out mockingly at Kel.
YOU ARE READING
A Cage with No Key
Fanfiction- AU - Sunny has been making his way through school as Mari has started her success as a pianist, playing for national events and concerts. throughout it all, she hasn't moved out, though. She says it's for Sunny, but it couldn't be for him alone, o...
