Sunny finished his pancake and felt full. Mari left early to go home and clean up. Basil had finished moments after. He had some syrup on his face, making Sunny giggle. He looked silly, but no less adorable.
"Wanna hang out at my house today?" Sunny asked Basil, smiling a bit out of happiness.
Basil nodded, and Sunny stood up to go put on his shoes. After putting his shoes on, he turned around to take his plate to the sink, but Polly was already taking it over to the sink. "Oh, sorry, Polly!"
Polly shrugged, "It's okay, you two go have fun!" She smiled as the pair ran out the door.
"Oh, maybe we should see if the calliope is still at the park, first! After all, we didn't hear them bringing it back." Sunny nodded in return. It was early, nobody would be around, so everything would be just fine.
Sunny and Basil turned down the street and began walking towards the park. The calliope was in sight, sitting on the grass in the park, as expected.
A small rabbit ran across the street as they walked towards the park. It narrowly avoided a car that didn't even slow for the rabbit. Basil breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the rabbit was safe.
Sunny looked at the litter across the street. If only some little group of people could all come together and get rid of all the litter across the town. Maybe recycle it too... too bad no group like that existed in Faraway.
"Since Aubrey isn't around, what should we do?" Basil asked. Sunny seemed confused. What did Aubrey have to do with anything? It wasn't like the calliope was hers either. Not like they would break anything, either.
Looking at the calliope, it was surprising it hadn't been broken by them either. "Let's check out the inside."
Sunny opened the back, and Basil hesitated. "Are you sure? What if Aubrey gets mad at us..."
"Why would she be mad? We won't break anything, obviously. We'll just take a look around." The pair looked into the calliope cart. Two machines were of interest. The first was a strange device with a hand crank, and the second was where the music wheel could be changed.
Sunny decided to look at a third thing inside of the cart, a separated machine. Sunny picked it up. It was an instrument, one he forgot the name of.
"Oh cool, it's one of these! Let's see if it works!" Sunny cranked the lever. It made some odd discordant and repetitive melody, the tones akin to an accordion.
"Sunny, I think you should put that down. Be careful!" Basil had a fearful grimace on his face.
Sunny set down the device. "See? It's fine! Don't worry, Basil." As if on cue, the spool holding the song wheel fell onto the machine, breaking the spool, the instrument, and Aubrey's song, all at once.
Sunny turned back to the machine and panicked. "Oh, uh, oh god, Basil- I- We have to go home!"
Basil nodded quickly and ran with Sunny back to Sunny's house, the entire time Sunny swearing under his breath.
The pair stood out of breath at the entrance, they heard Mari practicing piano from afar.
"I told you, Sunny! Oh gosh, Aubrey is gonna be so mad..." Basil said with his hands on his knees.
"It's okay, she won't know it was us. For all she knows, it was some kid at the park who broke it. She'll be fine, we'll be fine, everything will just blow over." Sunny reasoned.
"Are you sure she'll be fine? She seemed really proud of that song she made..." Basil inquired.
"She'll be fine." Sunny said with less certainty.
Mari came out of the piano room and smiled, "Hi, you guys!" Mari came over and hugged Sunny out of seemingly nowhere.
"Hey, Mari!" Basil tried to act natural, but his nerves were getting him.
"What's wrong, Basil? Is something happening? Is it HIV?" Mari asked.
"No I'm- what? No! Anyway, I just need to go to the bathroom, that's all." Basil walked towards the downstairs bathroom.
"Wipe it off after you're done, just in case!" Mari called. "So, how are you, Sunny?" Mari made that weird smile she usually did as of late.
"Me and Basil are alright, we've just been to the park to see the calliope, but someone broke it." Sunny fibbed. Mari fell for it.
"Aw, that's too bad. Who would do such a thing?" Mari said with a sad look.
Sunny shrugged, "Dunno. Probably just some little kid. People need to learn to get a handle on their kids."
Basil returned from the bathroom. "Alright, Sunny! Let's go up to your room!"
Sunny had a Blu-ray player in his room that let him play YouTube on the TV. A real novelty. Sunny just liked spending time with Basil, so it was a win-win.
After explaining to himself in his mind how thinking that isn't gay, the pair arrived at the door of his room. Sunny opened it up and felt a bit weird about what he saw. An understatement, he felt a lot weird about it.
The beds were pushed together.
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...
