Ataxia [OMORI]

[Rickettsia]

The race was finished. Sunny let Basil win the last one since he could only outdo the 50cc CPUs he chose for obvious reasons.

Basil was never that good at MarioKart, to be fair, but he seemed especially bad. Poor Basil's ataxia even affected his ability to play video games.

Luckily, his ataxic state made him believe the win was entirely of his own skills, rather than because of Sunny purposely slowing down when he got near Basil's kart. "I did it!" he excitedly shouted.

"Here's some mac and cheese, boys. I'm going to bed now. Don't stay up too late." Sunny's mother said, placing two bowls of Kraft Dinner on the table.

Sunny's mother always went to work pretty early in the morning, so this wasn't unexpected, seeing her go to sleep this early.

Suddenly, Basil began to stand up, "I'm gonna go grab some ketchup-" he stopped speaking as Sunny grabbed his arm and sat him back down.

"You're in no condition to walk around right now. I'll get the ketchup for you. I don't want you falling over," Sunny said protectively.

Basil smiled at Sunny, "You're really nice, Sunny! I'm glad we're friends now!" he happily swung his legs as Sunny retrieved the ketchup.

"I'm glad we're friends too, Basil." Sunny muttered, "Do you want to watch TV before we go to sleep?" The way he spoke was evidently somber enough for Basil to pick up on.

"What's wrong, Sunny?" he asked innocently. Basil's pretty face as he asked these questions just made it feel worse.

Sunny admitted it, "I just wish you remembered me. We were friends for years, and you... forget it, sorry. I shouldn't be stressing you out," Sunny stopped himself, remembering what the doctor said.

"It's okay, Sunny. I wish I remembered stuff, too. It's a little scary, I have to admit." Basil said with a quiet smile. It was getting dark outside. The only illumination now was the light in the kitchen that Sunny's mother had forgotten to turn off.

This was what made Sunny wonder about something. "I heard usually people get really panicked when they wake up with amnesia... but you seemed really calm. Why was that?" Sunny knew it was a bit of a stupid question. How would he know the answer to that? It was just about the mood he woke up in, right?

But to Sunny's surprise, Basil had an answer for him. "I'm not sure, but I think it was because of you! I was a little scared at first, but then I saw you, and you were saying such nice things, I knew you had to be a good person! That's how I knew everything would be okay!" Basil smiled at his friend.

Sunny had to ignore his intrusive thoughts again, wanting to show his affection to Basil. He knew he couldn't. It'd just freak him out.

"I think I'm getting tired, Basil." Sunny lied. He just wanted to go to bed and stop thinking about everything. Simultaneously, he didn't want to leave Basil's side.

Basil nodded, "Me, too! Night night, Sunny!" Basil then threw a blanket over himself and lay down on one of the comfy couch pillows he was given to lie on.

The only pillows on the couch that were left were the scratchy and uncomfortable ones. Sunny tried laying on it. He chose not to have a blanket since he had low heat tolerance.

This was incredibly uncomfortable. Sunny stirred. He tossed, turned, and a secret third thing that can't be described in human terms. Nothing was working.

Sunny shut his eyes tight and grit his teeth in annoyance. Basil tapped on Sunny's back as he was curled uncomfortably in the middle of the couch, trying out no pillows. It wasn't working either. "What is it, Basil?" Sunny asked, sounding a bit more angry than he meant to.

"Oh... um, sorry, I was just wondering if you wanted to sleep with me?" Basil asked, inadvertently making a hilarious innuendo.

Not so hilarious to Sunny as he blushed intensely, "Wh-What?" he asked with a shocked expression that couldn't be seen in the darkness.

"It's just... you looked so uncomfortable. You can sleep in my bed... er... mattress, if you want to." Basil offered with a smile.

Sunny sighed with relief, then nodded, "Thanks, Basil. I think that's the only way I'm going to get any sleep," he admitted sheepishly.

A bit awkwardly, Sunny gently lowered himself onto Basil's mattress. Basil gave Sunny one of the two pillows he had. The two then faced away from each other to try and sleep.

Each of them had a rather red face and trouble getting to sleep due to their respective heart rates.

Sunny was stuck thinking. Specifically thinking about how close Basil was. Worried about if he smelled bad since he had last showered two days ago, more or less. Considering if he should say anything else before they fell asleep.

A light snoring could be heard from Basil. So light it was more like a hum, but still audible. It was not really easy to describe as anything other than cute.

Sunny turned himself over and came face to face with a sleeping Basil. He thought Basil was turned away from him. Sunny tried to turn back around, not wanting to risk Basil waking up, but just then, Basil stirred.

He felt Basil's slender arms wrap around his own, forcing him to either lay facing Basil or to lay on his back. There was no more turning away.

Though, admittedly, it was very comfortable having Basil hugging his arm. He really enjoyed it, honestly. Sunny decided not to fight it and fell asleep facing the ceiling. Rather quickly, too, due to Basil's comforting presence.

Overall, this mattress... well, it had good springs and decent stuffing. It felt pretty alright. Normally, it'd be an 8 out of 10, but with Basil with him, it felt more like an uncountably high score on his usual scale.

He'd have to revise his scoring system at some point, he decided, as he drifted off to sleep.