Trees (an omori fic)

Sunflower Broke

Yeah, he's kind of hot.

Oh fuck.

Oh fuck.

Oh fuck.

This is even worse.

Look at me. I just broke up with Nik, and though he was a terrible person, maybe I should take time to mourn the loss of his love, if he even loved me in the first place. And for fuck's sake, I'm in love with Basil! I kissed his scars, I kissed his cuts, I kissed him! 

But the way Kel's hair shines, the way his voice smooths over my worries. The way he still knows what I mean to say after the four years, how he still cares about me even though I didn't text him for four years, the way he hasn't changed a bit.

Well... he has changed.

He's gotten taller. His voice has gotten deeper. His hair has gotten longer. His skinner has gotten tanner. He's gotten... a lot... bigger. More muscles.

Holy shit.

Yeah, I think I have a crush on him. 

"Sunny? You okay?" Basil asks me.

I nod my head.

After the game of basketball, Basil immediately collapses on the bench, and rolls up his sleeves, revealing the arm I bandaged for him. Kel glances at it, and then at me, but doesn't say anything, which is probably for the best. I know, he knows, I know he knows, and he knows I know.

When Basil and I finally have energy again, we walk to the pizza place, and order a large pepperoni pizza for all of us. I pay with the money my father gave me, because I know he has more than enough to spare.

We sit at the booth, and wait for our food, and attempt to make conversation.

I type out something, and then let my phone's robotic voice ask, "Kel, are you on the basketball team at school?"

He enthusiastically nods, excited to have something that he knows about to talk about. 

"Yeah, of course! Well, I shouldn't say of course, we haven't talked in four years after all, I shouldn't be saying of course. Like Hero is a doctor now, not a chef, so a lot can change in four years. Maybe in four more years I won't be into basket ball." He looks down like he's forgot what he was even talking about in the first place, and I let out a soft giggle. "Yeah. I'm on the basketball team. The basketball team is actually been doing a lot better since I joined back in sixth grade."

I smile at him and nod supportively. 

"Yeah, when I joined, I realized that people were training for every position and trying to play every position. So I helped people realize what they're good at, and got some tall kids on the team... and I think this year we might win the state championship!"

Basil speaks up. "Yeah, Kel's actually really good. I've gone to some of his games."

Kel whips his head around, looking like an excited puppy at the thought that Basil, his old friend he's barely talked to, and is only now talking to because of me, went to his games, if only a few. "You did?"

Basil looks embarrassed and flustered. "Yeah, I did. I have. I mean, I wanted to see you play..."

Kel reaches over in the booth and hugs Basil, who looks even more flustered. "Thank you so much, dude... you should've told me! We should've kept talking... we should've..."

"We should stop worrying so much about what could've been done in the past and what we can now do in the future." Basil whispers to Kel.

"Yeah. We should be worrying about Sunny. In a good way. Like not worrying about him...."

"Caring about him?" Basil fills in.

Kel nods. "Yeah. We should be caring about Sunny right now."

(612 words)

(Title from Fentanyl by McCaffertty)