𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 ;; 𝒶𝓊𝒷𝓇𝑒𝓎 𝓍 𝓀𝑒𝓁 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉𝓈

↳ 𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕔𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕙 ・❥・: ̗̀➛

𝒻𝑜𝒸𝓊𝓈...!

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ᴏɴ ʟᴀᴢʏ ꜱᴜɴᴅᴀʏ afternoons like today, sometimes Kel just liked to play video games. It took his mind off of the horrors of Monday and all the focusing he would have to do. He was terrible at focusing on things he didn't want to focus on, but he could focus on video games just fine.

He was hanging out with Aubrey and Basil earlier. They came by his house since Hero and Mari were doing their own thing somewhere and Sunny was at violin practice. Basil had to go home to help his grandmother find a potential caretaker he may or may not get, so it was just Kel and Aubrey.

Aubrey didn't complain when Kel decided to play a single-player video game. She just held her Mister Plantegg plushie and watched the screen in silence.

The silence made him a little scared.

Eventually, he forgot about it. It was kind of nice being in this type of silence with her. No yelling, no anger, nothing. And there was no one to interrupt them. He could deal with that more often.

Kel had played this video game tons of times. He usually just played it whenever he was bored. Everything was easy to him now, so when he was approaching the first boss fight, he wasn't worried at all, despite the game trying to make him feel that way.

That was when his shoulder felt heavier.

It took him a second to realize Aubrey had fallen asleep and was resting her head against his shoulder. She did seem pretty tired earlier, but he shrugged it off and thought she would sleep when she got home. She held Mister Plantegg in a gentle hold, her mouth slightly open, and probably unaware her head was on Kel's shoulder.

Kel had stopped playing when he noticed. He tried to get his attention back to the video game, but it was hard to do that when his mind went back to Aubrey. Her cheek was pressed against his shoulder, and her dark hair was falling over to his back too. Her breathing was slow and steady, and she smelt of the cookies she and Mari baked together before Mari went off with Hero.

He remembered her falling asleep on Sunny's shoulder a while back. Their friend group was coming back from a day at the beach, and Kel fell asleep pretty quickly. When he woke up, he saw that Aubrey had fallen asleep with her head on Sunny's shoulder, also asleep. Both of them looked peaceful and relaxed, like they were a future couple just waiting to happen.

Kel hated that.

Believe it or not, but he was jealous of Sunny. He was his friend, his first friend, and it made him feel really bad for thinking that way. He still liked him and everything, but he had a lot of things he wanted, from having all the newest toys to having parents who gave him the same amount of attention as his older sibling. Kel refused to believe he had anything close to a crush on Aubrey, but when he finally admitted to himself that he might—keyword: might—have a crush on Aubrey, Sunny already developed one.

He didn't know if she knew about either of their crushes, but she always gave Sunny more attention. Just looking at them together made his stomach twist when his brain thought that they were going to be together somewhere in the future. They weren't Hero-Mari perfect, but they were still perfect for each other.

He hated that so much, but what could he do? He never got whatever he wanted, so why would this be any different? Sunny already had everything Kel ever wanted, so this wasn't a surprise. Aubrey and Sunny would probably end up together, and he would just...be there. Supporting them. Like the friend he was.

So, Kel shoved all of his feelings for Aubrey away and did what he did what he always did when Hero got more attention from their parents: get the scraps.