#kel and aubrey are on board for hero finding love again

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Hero’s Messy Desk Drawer: An Unsolicited Fic Excerpt

(A/N: This fic excerpt is from a story that utilized our OCs (in an AU separate from our “When Sun Shines Again” series) but wasn’t posted to this blog because it didn’t follow our strict side ship rules and wasn’t really about Hero (aside from a brief subplot). We mods have agreed that this short, Hero-centric excerpt is acceptable, however, and have decided to post it since Mod Acacia’s headcanon about Hero’s junk drawer was just discussed in this post.)

OMORI SPOILERS but no other warnings just friendship and messy desk drawers here. Thank you for reading! 💙🧡🩷

There was something familiar, almost cozy about Hero’s room. In a way, it reminded Kel of the room they had shared back home. The left side of the room was bright and colorful with chaotic clusters of photos and posters on the wall. It was cleaner than Kel generally kept his room, but just as cluttered with books, CDs, school supplies, and bottles of something or other haphazardly strewn across the dresser and desk. Though the bed was made, the duvet was crinkled, wrinkly, and the pillows looked like they had been scooped up and thrown at the headboard in a hurry. Sunny would probably give it a 4 out of 10.

To be perfectly fair, however, it probably would have just looked “lived in” if it wasn’t for the right side of the room: simple with pale, muted colors, but perfectly pristine like something out of a catalog. Nothing was out of place, and there was no clutter to be had: no knickknacks, no mementos, and just three photos in matching gray frames on the desk. Every book, every record, every CD had been carefully placed on the shelf and all office supplies were housed in drawers or an unassuming gray pencil holder. The blue duvet was perfectly smooth with pillows perfectly arranged. Even their coats and bags that had been placed on the bed had been carefully, thoughtfully lined up in a neat order against the wall.

“No guessing which side’s Hero’s, huh?” quipped Aubrey as she climbed over the mattress for her purse. “Always neat as a pin.”

As she began digging through her bag, most likely for the case for her contact lenses, Kel turned towards Hero’s desk to search for the first aid kit. Like everything else belonging to his brother, it was clean, sanitized, boring though Kel felt badly for thinking that. He was happy to see the photos though—the only truly personalized things of Hero’s in the room. One was of him with his group of college friends—laughing together probably at some party just like this one by the look of it. The second was their most recent family photo, and the third was of their group of friends in Faraway Park when they were kids back when Mari had been alive.

Kel’s chest ached. They looked so different back then—especially Aubrey. He glanced over at her now, still digging through her bag, long pink hair rippling down her back rather than the dark brown locks she had sported in that photo and for the majority of her life. Her eyes were different too—an icy teal now from her colored contacts. That reminded him…he had better start looking for those eyedrops.

As he pulled open the bottom left drawer of Hero’s desk, he paused—blinking in surprise.

“Woah!” he exclaimed before he could stop himself.

“What?” asked Aubrey.

“This drawer is a mess,” he mumbled, so stunned he wasn’t even able to look up at her. In an entire lifetime of knowing Hero, Kel had never known anything of his brother’s to be a mess. He sighed and supposed that there really was a first time for everything. Kel’s brow furrowed as he began sifting through odds and ends—a whole junk drawer of papers, notebooks, books, a couple CDs, even some receipts, a few pictures, and who even knew what else. “There’s all kinds of crap in here…”

Aubrey snorted a partially stifled laugh. “I didn’t know Hero could make a mess.”

“Me neither,” quipped Kel, pushing some of the papers around looking for anything resembling a first aid kit.

“Hey uh…” She sighed. “Speaking of Hero…do you think he’s…”—she paused as if trying to think of the right word—“worried that we’d all be upset if he…if he was, you know—dating again?”

Kel stopped, but he sighed heavily. He had just been wondering the same thing after all. He shrugged his shoulders—focusing his attention on digging through the desk drawer, but he answered, “I think Hero worries about a lot of things he doesn’t have to worry about.”

“I just wouldn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t put himself back out there, you know… because of what we’d think or because he’s scared we’d be upset or think he was disrespecting Mari…” Her voice trailed. “I wish there was a way we could tell him that we’d all be happy…without it sounding like we were prying or making assumptions.”

Kel nodded, but let out a heavy, somewhat helpless sigh. “Don’t look at me. I’d probably just say the wrong thing,” he chuckled, self-deprecatingly—rubbing his hand across the nape of his neck.

“Kel…” Aubrey’s tone softened, but he didn’t look up at her, instead choosing to quickly shrug it off and change directions.

“Besides he says he’s not interested in having that kind of relationship anymore anyway, so he probably just isn’t—no matter what we’d think about it. You know how Hero is. He’s been…”—he paused, unable to think of the right word—“really weird about that kind of thing ever since Mari died. I just…I don’t know if he’ll ever want that again…”

As Kel continued rifling through the drawer, Aubrey sighed. “I know…and I understand that. I wasn’t suggesting we push him or anything I just…didn’t want to be part of whatever was holding him back.” She paused, sighing again. “He looked so happy, and…I really like her.”

“Me too. I’m pretty sure she’s the only reason I’m not failing math right now,” Kel bantered with a laugh before his face softened. He knew he didn’t have to say the rest—didn’t have to say how much he loved Zoey for being such a good friend to Hero, for always studying with him or going on runs with him at the crack of dawn, for helping him do the dishes at their college parties or talking to him about his favorite foods or favorite kinds of music, for being that lone voice of reason in Hero’s somewhat chaotic group of college friends, for making him laugh and smile, and, most of all, for bringing something out in him that they had never imagined they’d get to see again.

“But it’s really not like that,” Kel added, though he wasn’t sure if was reminding himself or reminding Aubrey. “They both swear they’re just friends, and I believe them. I mean, I wish…Maybe someday, but I just—it’s Hero. I don’t know if he’s ever gonna be ready for it.” Kel stopped with a heavy sigh—brow furrowing as he pushed some of the papers around in Hero’s messy desk drawer. “I mean…he’s got a bunch of books about widowers in here…”

“Kel, don’t snoop through Hero’s stuff,” Aubrey scolded with a huff.

Kel’s face flushed, but he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not trying to. It’s just such a mess in here. There’s papers everywhere and notebooks and books and CDs and…ooh! A present!” Curiously if also a little impulsively, Kel picked up a small, wrapped box tied with a red ribbon. “It’s heavy. I bet it’s jewelry.”

“Kel! Stop snooping,” Aubrey snapped at him. He fumbled around with the box before placing it back in the drawer.

“Look, I’m not being nosy. I’m just looking for the first aid kit. It’s not in here.”

Aubrey huffed. “You’re looking in the wrong drawer. Hero said lower right not lower left.”

Kel took a step back to stare at the desk—tilting his head. “Okay but…my right or the desk’s right?”

“Just check the other drawer!”

Kel closed the messy drawer then opened its identical twin on the other side of the desk—nearly empty except for a neat stack of blank notebook paper, a metal pencil case, and a first aid kit. “Found it!” he declared triumphantly—ignoring the way Aubrey was shaking her head at him.

[sunnysviolin]

Mafia AU Pt 7

I’m feeling some Aubrey centric content in this Chili’s :O I’ve been thinking about Aubrey’s backstory non stop, and so here it is! I see Aubrey and Mari as sort of parallels to one another in this AU, and that’s how I play with them...this got really long lmao. 

TW: Mafia TW: Death

Aubrey and Mari have very similar origins. Just like Mari’s father fashioned her into the next head, Aubrey’s parents created her for a purpose as well- to be the ultimate hit-woman. They are both mercenaries, guns for hire, but they want more. She grows up being drilled not in multiplication tables, but rifle scopes and different types of poison. She is wrought iron, polished steel that is molded and shaped into the weapon that her parents need for their business. 

At eleven they end training, and they start letting her go on jobs by herself. There are some in their circle that scoff at the petite little girl with a sweet smile and a pretty bow in her hair. Aubrey’s parents send her on exceptionally brutal contracts until those scoffs die a slow painful death. 

Her parents sign a contract, and Aubrey is shipped off. Over and over. Politicians, businessmen, cheating husbands, cheating wives. Her parents point the finger and tell her a name, and Aubrey goes. Once she knows your name, your death is all but assured. Some jobs are interesting, most are just easy hits. 

Aubrey is a black widow, judge, jury, and silent executioner. The top mercenary, A grim reaper brought to life, she is the queen in her parent’s game of chess. Always a piece, but the most valuable piece there is. Aubrey hates all of these terms, she doesn’t even like the word hit-woman. It feels beneath what she does. 

Aubrey classifies herself as an ‘assassin’. Her parents couldn’t care less what role she assigns herself as long as she follows orders and carries out contracts exactly like they raised her to do. 

Mari came into power a year after Aubrey became her parent’s ultimate weapon. She was aware of Aubrey’s parents and their business, her father had contracted with them once or twice before they brought Aubrey in. More than that, Aubrey’s parents are aware of Mari.

They sent a bouquet of white lilies for her wedding along with a fully black business card and a handsome check. She isn’t sure if the lilies were a threat (Mari doesn’t know how they knew her favorite flower) but she cashes the check and buys Hero a handsome watch with it. Then she watches and waits. 

She hears word of a little black widow beginning to weave a web under her parent’s guidance, a young grim reaper who never misses. She hears these stories and sees Aubrey in her mind. A young girl who never had any other options. 

Mari gathers her information slowly and carefully. She tells only Hero of what she’s thinking, of what she wants to do. Her father’s words haunt her as she stares down at the one picture she has of Aubrey. 

Now you’re a perfect legacy. A shiver rolls down Mari’s spine. She calls Aubrey’s parents using the card they gave her two years ago. 

Aubrey is fifteen when she first hears Mari’s name. Her parents have long awaited a call from the young Don, and they’re eager for her business. Mari is known to clean house and take down other groups with a frightening frequency. If they got her to prefer contracting with them, they would make millions. Mari is aware of this, and so she knows she can ask for special treatment. 

Mari starts the call by thanking them for the lilies and telling them of the watch Hero still wears every day. She is nothing if not polite. Then she gets down to business. She wants Aubrey specifically for a job, but she wants conditions. Namely that Aubrey must stay by her side until the hit is carried out. She wants to see the queen piece at work. Aubrey’s parents only hear the dollar amount and send Aubrey off that very night. 

Aubrey is expecting the spartan accommodations she’s gotten used to. She’s even expecting a fight, as some Dons tend to want to see if she’s truly as good as they say. She is greeted by Kel and Sunny, not Aubrey, and brought into the piano room. 

Mari is there, not playing, but lying with her head in Hero’s lap as he reads to her. It’s oddly domestic for a couple that is quickly becoming the leaders of the underworld, and Aubrey is not comfortable with their outward displays of affection. Mari waits until Hero finishes the chapter, and then she sits up finally addressing Aubrey. Aubrey is ready for her marching orders, standing stiff and straight. 

Mari asks what she would like for dinner. That first interaction sets the tone for Aubrey’s entire stay. Mari keeps her by her side for her meetings with her Capos and lets Aubrey watch her wield her power, but she also keeps Aubrey close for piano lessons with Sunny, baking with Hero, movie nights where it is just the five of them in a hidden living room. Aubrey even has an extravagant bedroom, only two doors down from where the strange Don sleeps with her husband. 

It’s frustrating. It’s boring. It’s new, and Aubrey can’t stand it. Yet she finds herself craving their moments of quiet, the affection that Mari is not afraid to lavish her with. Aubrey would have thought it was disingenuous, but Mari is specific about what she compliments. Her eyes shine when she asks Aubrey for her wisdom, and she almost always takes the younger girl’s suggestions. 

The job is over in a month. Aubrey doesn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. She thinks she might end up missing them, but that was not what she was paid to do. She doesn’t even finish the job before Mari is on the phone hiring her out for another hit. Same terms. If Aubrey is working for her, then Aubrey stays with her. 

This goes on for almost a full year. Aubrey is not always with them, but when she has to do she waits to hear if Mari will contract her again. She grows fond of Sunny, tolerates (and starts to like) Kel, and Hero can manage to wiggle himself into anyone’s heart. But Mari...Mari is the one that Aubrey is fascinated by. Mari who listens to her, cares for her, treats her not as a weapon but as a whole person. 

Then Mari begins to play her own game. The game she has been crafting for three years. Aubrey is just past fifteen years old when she’s called into the piano room. She and Mari are alone, which is strange. A contract is laid on the piano. Mari is playing, not bothering to look up at Aubrey. The song she’s playing is ominous, and Aubrey is on guard. She asks Mari what’s going on, but Mari simply nods towards the contract and continues playing

Aubrey opens the manilla folder. It’s a contract for a no holds barred take out. Aubrey is allowed to do whatever she wants. Be as brutal or as gentle. Any weapon. Any time. Any price. It’s all Aubrey’s choice, but one thing. Mari has chosen the target. 

She chose Aubrey’s own parents. 

Mari does not look up, does not bother to acknowledge Aubrey at all as she reads. She has planned this since she heard of Aubrey’s existence. Aubrey is not a person who could be swayed only with kindness and love. Showing her a true family would be meaningless as long as her loyalties were divided.

Mari could have had her parents taken out for her at any point in her game, but that would take away Aubrey’s choice. Mari has been a young girl who had her choices taken from her. She is going on the assumption that Aubrey feels the way she did about her own life. 

Aubrey reads the contract and a blinding fury overtakes her. She feels used, used by the one person she thought would never use her. She says so, and Mari finally stops playing, turning to face Aubrey with a severe expression. It’s at this moment that Aubrey finally remembers exactly who Mari is.

“The game is near its end. You were your parent’s queen, then my pawn, and now you are on the other side of the board, ready to be remade. You are being given a choice for the very first time in your life. I will not take that from you. Do what you will, when you are ready to come home, your family will be waiting” 

Mari stands to her full height after that, walking out of the room with defined grace. She is barely a few inches taller than Aubrey, so why did Aubrey feel so small? Why were her hands shaking? Why could she not think?

Aubrey leaves the contract on the piano, fleeing from Mari’s house and rushing back to her own. Her parents seem frustrated with her absence, but even more frustrated with the call they just got. Someone has put a price on Mari’s head, far too much money to ignore. 

The contract sits on the piano for two weeks. Mari goes about her business as usual, and at night Hero holds her tightly to him. She spends a normal amount of time with Sunny and Kel, but there’s an air to it that none of them can ignore. Sunny and Kel do not know what occurred, what is still occurring, but they know that Mari is uncharacteristically melancholy. Sunny spends almost all of his time in those fourteen days with his sister. They sit at the piano for hours, playing and watching. The contract sits there. 

The morning of the fourteenth day of Aubrey’s absence, Mari wakes up alone in bed. She comes downstairs and sees Hero making breakfast- a full calentado. He tells her that Aubrey is waiting in the piano room. She goes to the room next to the wide elaborate staircase, standing in the doorway. Aubrey is there, her hair now dyed a shocking pink. The contract is ripped in half at her feet. 

“No more contracts. You said I could name my price. That’s my price.”

Mari pays Aubrey in full with her own family name. She brings her newly minted little sister downstairs for breakfast, reintroducing Aubrey to Sunny and Kel when they walk in the back door. They accept her easily, to them she has been a member of the family since she was given the rare permission to sleep in Hero and Mari’s home. A bedroom she always keeps, the third room. The first is Kel’s, the second Sunny’s. They always knew Mari’s plan. 

That night as Mari curls up in her Hero’s arms, she finally relaxes. For a year she’s been waiting for this, and now their victory is assured. 

Hero presses a kiss into her hair, closing his eyes. Making an anonymous bid on his own wife’s death had felt disgusting, and Hero had fought Mari on it for months. It was too much of a risk, too much trust to put on a girl who wasn’t their family. In the end Mari had been right, and Aubrey had proved herself. 

She had not wavered in her loyalty to Mari. She never would. Two years later when she sat on the counter and watched Mari take Basil’s hands in her own, she knew that their family had gained another member. Basil was given the same exact choice she was, and Aubrey knew what the blonde boy would say before he said it.

[arcanescholar]

Hard To Find The Right Words

Omori Post True Good Ending Spoilers. 

Aubrey having a tough time, etc etc. Enjoy maybe??? Might get more chapters later if I feel like it???????????? FUCK????????????

Ch 2 

On the long, long list of “shit Aubrey’s had to put up with” for the past few days…

This special, insidious sort of dizziness has gotta be a new one. Seriously, give a girl a break right? Who the fuck is able to handle this many highs and lows at once? It’s enough to make her head spin, and the hospital taking her bat away wasn’t helping matters.

The words that tumbled from Sunny’s placid, stony expression, his singular eye barely betraying the shaky, unsteady difficulty in handling recounting the story, made her stomach turn.

Shit, what a time to be thinking about what she had for lunch. If it comes back up right now she might straight up die of embarrassment y’know?

She couldn’t even turn her attention to Kel or Hero but, with the way the younger had to take a step back and struggle to find any words, and how the elder seemed to freeze like a statue, she had a feeling they were in just as bad of a spot.

“… and, that’s what happened.”

Sunny finally finishes recounting his story, and before he can say another word, Hero is already lunging, Ken barely able to snag his less-in-shape brother before he gets the chance to do whatever he was about to.

Aubrey, though…?

Years of anger, years of hatred and fury and bottled up impatience, a near lifetime of bitterness bubbles in her gut and sends her vision swimming.

Huh.

She just remembered, it was pizza.

Weird, why is Sunny getting so much taller? Kel? Hero? How come her knees started hurting suddenly-

Oh.

Oh, her legs gave out. That makes sense. God, her hair’s getting in her eyes, was it already starting to lose its color? Why is it so hard to focus on anything right now? She should be pissed! She should be picking up hospital equipment and chucking it out a window right now! So why can’t she move?! Why?!

For once, Aubrey can’t summon up her anger. For the first time in who only knows how long, she feels like the scared little girl that had to hide away when holes got punched into walls, that covered her head in her room and squeezed herself into a corner with her rabbit when the arguing got too loud. Her breath catches in her throat and refuses to let up. Is she going to die?

She can’t handle this again. Not now. She’s not strong enough, she’s not tough enough to deal with this-

….

Pap

… A hand rests against her head. That brief touch is enough to peel back the veil and drag focus back kicking and screaming into reality. She almost reflexively goes to turn and smack the hand out of the way, only to realize part way through her turn that it was just Basil’s arm, flopping out from the mattress and accidentally brushing against her head for a moment. The boy was still asleep, still a mess of injuries that made her nearly throw up seeing him in that state.

She might have bullied him, fantasized about beating him to an inch of his life, thought about crushing that bat of hers against his skull more times than she could count. She might have turned that weapon on Kel and Sunny both at least once before, but…

Seeing him like this, seeing Sunny with that eye patch, having lost sight in one of his eyes for what might be the rest of his life?

…

She takes Basil’s hand in hers and carefully stands up. Hero and Kel had been shouting for at least a minute now, she’s not sure how long it’s been since they started processing what happened in their own way. A shove is all Hero needs to finally get out of Kel’s grip, giving him time to damn near sprint out of the room, tackling the door hard enough to almost knock it off of its hinges before dashing out of the room.

Almost without thinking, Kel dips out, rushing after his brother with words that only come across like muffled noises in Aubrey’s ears.

… … …

There was a time when she confided in Mari, a time when she spoke to her about what was happening back at home, she remembered the pain in the older girl’s face, and the words she told her as she let Aubrey rest her head in her lap one quiet afternoon, just between the two of them.

“It’s not my place to say, but… If I could, I’d adopt you right now and give you the biggest welcome to the family hug I could…! Family should never hurt family. No one should ever raise a hand to a loved one and mean it, and the fact that they’re scaring you like that just isn’t right…” The older sister murmured at the time. Aubrey remembers now, Mari brushed her fingers through her hair in a really specific and special way that she almost forgot about.

It was like tracing little circles into her skin with her fingers, like trying to massage the fear from her brain, reaching in deep and grasping the wellspring of her despair and coaxing it out to let her think clearly again…

“When you get older… When things seem tough and scary and you don’t know what to do, that you feel like you’ve got nowhere else you can turn to. You might want to get mad, you might get really furious at having to deal with so much as a kid, but… Promise me, you won’t turn that anger on your friends, okay? Take a breath-”

… Haaaaahhh…

“-center yourself-”

Aubrey gives Basil’s hand a light squeeze. She can hear the hum of medical equipment and the sound of Hero and Kel’s footsteps retreating again.

“-and remember all the precious people you have in your life.”

She wasn’t the sort to pay the most attention to school, but, in this moment, a line she read in a book she had to read a few weeks back crosses her mind again.

“They asked, ‘do you love her to death’? And I said ‘speak of her over my grave, and watch how she brings me back to life’.” (1)

Funny how things dredge up in your memory at the weirdest possible moments, she thinks. For the first time, she’s starting to understand at least some of what those words really mean. 

…

After a moment, she carefully tucks Basil’s hand back into the bed, before letting loose a light huff through her nose. He’s still sleeping, if a bit more fitfully from all the noise.

“… Kh. Don’t gotta remind me like that y’know? Puts a bad taste in my mouth…” She nearly spits, trying to mask herself with bitterness.

It wouldn’t be long before hospital security came to drag Sunny back to his bed and cut this conversation short, she had to act fast.

She steps forward, and without hesitation, reaches up… and presses her hand on Sunny’s head, rubbing her fingers through his hair, tracing circles and massaging with a silent, stony expression that matches his own. She was still sick to her stomach, her balance was still terrifically uneasy, but…

“… I’ll come talk to you again later, okay?”

She pulls her hand back, and gives him a light punch to his shoulder before stepping out of the room.

“For what it’s worth…” She says, pausing in the door frame as she hears the sounds of shoes squeaking against tile flooring as the hospital staff finally approaches to do their damn jobs.

“I kinda get it. I understand it. I’ve been there. I’m not good at talking about this kind of thing, but, if you need to talk, I can give listening a try... this time.”

Sunny was going to leave after he recovered enough for the hospital to let him loose with his frankly fucking negligent mom. There was nothing she could do that would change that, but…

At least for now, at least while he was still recovering in the hospital, she could finally, actually speak to him.

“… Thanks for opening up Sunny. Give Hero a bit. That guy’s so strung up trying to be the best of us that I guess even he’s gotta snap at some point right?”

Says the girl trying to play mom-friend to the most broken-ass friend group in the tristate area. Christ, trying to be a decent person sucks. How the fuck did Hero pull it off for so damn long?

“Aubrey…”

“Yeah Sunny?”

“… thank you. I’m sorry.”

“Kh, fuck that, I almost drowned both you and Basil. If I started whining about accidents that happened in fits of rage I’d be the worst hypocrite in history, y’know?”

“…”

“Talk to Basil and let him know what happened if he wakes up before the staff drag you back to your room or something. I’ll let ‘em know you need a sec.”

With that, she carefully shuts the door.

What she says to the staff, what kind of look she gives them is growled with enough force and tinged with enough protective violence that it gives them just enough pause for the young boys to exchange an all too important smile of mutual understanding. 

Even if Aubrey never saw it, that little moment of clarity between them saved both of their lives in a way she’d refuse to take credit for helping make happen, knowing her.

A busted, crappy, cracked-screen phone buzzes to life as she walks past the staff. God, she fucking hates it here. The way her shoes hit the tiles, the way the equipment sounds, the fact that every time she’s come here, she’s ended up crying for some reason or another-

Shit, here come the water works now. Damn it Aubrey, at least make it out the door first-

A trip and a tumble nearly sends her falling straight to the floor but, she snaps out her hand just in time to snatch onto a handrail on the side of one of the hallways, her head still spinning as she sags against the floor, her phone toppling out of her jacket’s pocket and landing on its back with a loud, spinning clatter, settling in upside down to her perspective. Tear drops spatter onto the screen, distorting the light and scattering rainbow patterns across its surface. Gah. Add that to the damage. This just isn’t her day. 

Behind a call notification, her background shows the cork board in her room with the pictures she yanked out of Basil’s album after saving them from their near ruined state, mixed in with pictures of her and her other friends she made in the time that passed since. A little bubble on the screen bounces about, showing a picture of Kim flashing a peace sign with a bright eyed wink that reflects in Aubrey’s tired eyes, refracting as it passes underneath her teardrops.  “… Hhfffhh…”

She eventually picks her phone up off the ground and answers it. A hospital staffer looks about ready to tell her off for using her phone in the hallway but, lets be honest.

The kind of glare Aubrey gives off as she very deliberately swipes her finger across the screen to accept the call is the sort that would give most adults pause.

“… Hey.”

“Aubrey!!!! You finally picked up!!!”

“…”

“I was so worried when I heard about what happened! Kh, stupid hospital not letting us in…!”

“…”

“… Aubrey? Are you there? I can kinda hear you breathing so you probably didn’t butt-accept the call or something!”

“Yeah. Yeah I’m here.”

“Jeez, how come you weren’t saying anything? Did those ner-”

An audible pause. Kim clears her throat after a second.

“Sorry, uh, did those guys get out of the woods okay…? I kinda only caught the cliffnotes of you going to the hospital from that text you sent me so…”

“They’re fine.”

Aubrey steps outside the hospital’s visiting center doors and finally breathes fresh air for the first time in what felt like days.

“Or… They’re as fine as they can be. Sort of. Kinda.” She continues, stepping over to one of the benches outside and taking a seat, drinking in the sounds of chirping birds, gentle breezes, swaying trees, and the sensation of warm sunlight… It was a beautiful day, and she didn’t feel nearly good enough to appreciate any of it.

“That’s good at least yeah? Uh… Hrmggh. I’m bad at this kinda thing but… Uh. If there’s anything you need to talk about, you can hit me and the others up at any time yeah?”

Kim’s voice was surprisingly tender, tender enough that it manages to draw a sniff out from Aubrey, forcing her to bring a hand up to her eyes and rub it across them to make sure she didn’t show any tears yet god damn it-

Ugh. Where’s Kel’s Taurine soaked brain anyway. He’s better about handling this kinda energy! Does- shit, does he even like energy drinks?

“Aubreeeeey, if you keep going silent I’m gonna think someone kidnapped you y’know. Gotta pull the whole gang together, beat up on the nearest creepos till we find you! The Maverick’s got a Style Meter App on his phone that does those shouts from that one game so we’ll even get t’ have our own hype-men-”

The thought of Michael in a parking lot with a buffer sword in one hand and a phone in the other trying to do combos for a video to put on his Way Too Many Social Media accounts hits Aubrey with a second hand cringe that nearly brings her to her knees.

“UGGGHHHH!” Aubrey finally cracks, a doofy grin hitting her lips despite her audible mental suffering, slumping back in the chair and nearly sliding out of it entirely, a few tears finally trickling down her eyes as her body releases its tension at last.

“I can’t believe that try hard seriously sprung for something like that. If he tries that shit in public in front of me I’m making’ his screen look like mine.” Aubrey finally grumbles, adjusting her bow. “… Right, I left my bat at home. Ugh.”

“There we go! Now you’re talking’ again. Jeez, way to make a girl worry… Charlene was getting ready to find some flowers to give to you too, the sweetheart.”

“She’s more of an angel than Angel is…”

“Right?! Maybe we should make Angel give up on his nickname-”

“Don’t bother, Charlene’d never let him do it.”

“You’re so right it’s actually kinda annoying.”

“She’s the best of us, y’know.”

“…”

“…”

“So, can you like, talk about what happened at all now or…?”

“… Hang out spot, by the lake, be there in 20.”

“Should I bring the rest of the group-”

“Not this time, Kim.”

The call ends without another word, another ping showing on her phone’s screen showing string of texts from Kel.

JrangeOoe: hey!!!!! ;v;

JrangeOoe: sorry i left you alone with sunny and basil there, hero was having a really bad freak out

JrangeOoe: mom and dad and i are workin with him now, gonna try to calm him down will be back at hospital to give basil and sunny another visit later

JrangeOoe: gonna be honest, this is giving me a little time to figure this stuff out too so, thanks hero for the panic i guess??????

JrangeOoe: ugh no that’s not fair

JrangeOoe: anyway, if you need to chill and get some ginos later i found 10 bucks in a visiting center couch and was trying to hide it but

JrangeOoe: today’s a “spread the wealth” sorta day

It took a couple of moments of hesitation, but…

headhooligan: dinner, maybe

headhooligan: fuck this whole dumbs week

headhooligan: i got some spare cash so i’ll chip in too to get hero something if it’ll help

headhooligan: also what the fuck how are you so calm about this are your parents not trying to work you through this too or something?!

JrangeOoe: uh

JrangeOoe: no but i think hero needs it more right now!!!

JrangeOoe: i dunno how i feel, i guess i’m just to worried about everyone else to think about it?

JrangeOoe: *too

JrangeOoe: i’ll catch you later for dinner tho, if i can get hero to calm down enough to feel safe leaving him be with mom and dad

JrangeOoe: get a feelings jam up in here

JrangeOoe: pizza and ice cream or whatever

JrangeOoe: not at your place tho tbh your mom kinda freaks me out like a lot

headhooligan: >:/

JrangeOoe: what? it’s the truth!

With a roll of her eyes, Aubrey stuffs her phone away, wrenching her bike out of its lock from the hospital’s parking lot bike rack and mounting up. She takes one, final, long look at the hospital’s monolithic facade, and thinks about just how high up that building goes before shaking her head, and pedaling off.

The whole ride home, all she can do is play back today’s events again, and again, and again. Hear the same story in Sunny’s stilted monotone, again, and again, and again.

Every instinct, every trained gut reaction, every beaten in urge and desire tells her she should hate him.

He stole her from everyone, he murdered her, broke her skull against the floor like some raging animal then strung her up like a horror show for everyone to see just to avoid consequences with Basil’s help-

… But…

That panic that gripped her chest when Basil fell in the water from her shove just a few days ago, the terror at taking not one life, but two when Sunny jumped in after him, still unable to swim.

“…”

Her pedaling gets harder, more forceful, making the aging, damaged frame of her hand me down, fourth hand bike creak and groan in protest, hair billowing behind her in a tangled mess of poorly kept locks…

What should be anger gives way to an oddly calm understanding, what should be hatred and fury and violence wraps itself so tightly in its own chaotic energy that all she can do is…

…

There’s not a cloud in the sky, but raindrops spatter on concrete and asphalt where she rides, leaving a trail of sorrow four years in the making, finally given “closure”, finally released.

—-

(1) Credit to Mahmoud Darwish for this legendary line.

[sunnysviolin]

Kel and Aubrey going around interacting with people to learn about the different cultures everywhere as they travel, wearing cultural outfits, participating in cultural activities, just having an overall good time...

Would they be good at any cultural dances? Since they're traveling to Spain first, I can just imagine Aubrey in a flamenco dress with Kel as they just dance together and enjoy themselves (or maybe Kel wearing the dress- or maybe both of them wearing dresses-)

...I kinda wanna draw them dancing around together now.

-from a videogame-world traveling anon

nonnie.....nonnie wait....if you drew something we created together I would be SO EMO WAIT!!! No oh my god like my brain literally just exploded like art?? ART??? I wanna be able to draw so bad...but I can’t I just gotta continue on w my lil writing bits....here take some more writing bits nonnie

*Singing to myself* This got lonnng againnnn I’m putting itttt under a readdd moreeeee

Kel’s parents are....less than pleased to find out their son isn’t directly going to college like Hero did, and they make that known. 

They don’t approve of his choice to take at least one gap year. They don’t approve of him not continuing his education. They don’t approve of him throwing away his life for that bad girl that spent so many years terrorizing him. Even two years after changing her ways, Aubrey is still regarded as a nuisance among the town old timers. Kel’s parents tell him plainly that they don’t approve of Aubrey, and they won’t be changing their mind. 

Which leads to Kel having a minor breakdown and finally admitting what he’s known his whole life- that he will never be good enough to measure up to Hero, and he’s finally tired of trying to be someone he’s not. He isn’t Hero and he never will be, but for once he wants being Kel to be good enough. 

Seeing their bright positive middle child finally crack under the weight they’ve been unintentionally laying on him is...it’s painful. Kel’s parents never meant to make it a competition between their sons, they just wanted what was best for both of them. 

Having Kel sobbing at their dining room table at 3:00 am on the night of his high school graduation teaches them that they might not know what’s best for Kel after all. 

So...yeah the talk the morning after that is filled with a lot of awkward pausing. Kel isn’t used to sharing his true feelings, and he isn’t used to exposing anything other than cheerful hope. Ultimately they come to an agreement. Kel can go with Aubrey, follow her and his heart on their crazy plan, but he has to spend the year before they leave working and earning and not just hanging around the house

That was Kel’s plan anyway, so he’s ecstatic. He calls Aubrey immediately after, and she comes over so they can plan things out together

That year before they leave is definitely not easy. They’re working multiple retail and menial labor jobs, spending 12-15 hours a day on their feet in steamy kitchens, being screamed at by rude customers, and delivering so. many. pizzas. 

At some point in that year Aubrey and her mother have the inevitable fight that has been coming her whole life, and her mother kicks her out. Aubrey shows up in the middle of the night with her things next to her. Kel’s mother welcomes her inside and gets her a cup of tea. Kel wakes up and comes downstairs the next day to see his partner curled up asleep on the couch under a blanket his mother had just finished knitting

His mother doesn’t explain anything (”It’s her story dear not mine”) but after Aubrey comes to stay with them his parents warm to her quickly. Aubrey and Kel are allowed to share the room that Hero and he once shared, but they’re adamant that the beds stay on opposite sides

((He and Aubrey fit cramped but happy into his twin bed every night, but she always wakes up early to switch beds in order to be respectful to his parents wishes)) 

Soon enough its the afternoon before their journey is beginning (They decided to redeye to Sevilla). They have hostel confirmation numbers for a dozen different European countries, a thick binder of plans and itineraries, and a joint account that has a surprising amount of money in it. 

Turns out working 15 hours a day, taking only your eight paid vacation days, and having all of your dates be creative free dates in the five hours a week you both have off together means that you are able to acquire quite the nest egg. Kel’s parents sit them down at the dining room table, and his father is shocked to see how this year has shaped Kel. 

It’s a strange thing to see your son as an adult for the first time. It didn’t feel strange when it was Hero, he always expected it from Hero. Seeing it in Kel rocked him. 

They drive the two young adults (calling them kids now feels...wrong) to the airport and make them promise to call and write daily. 

There’s an undeniable energy and excitement as they board the plane. He and Aubrey breathe an audible sigh of relief. They shouldn’t, but they sleep on the plane. After a year of running, they’ve earned it

OKAY SO THAT WASN”T AT ALL WHAT YOU ASKED FOR....HERE HAVE DANCE LESSON HEADCANONS

Aubrey planned for everything, so she planned that they would need at least two days to recover when they finally got to Spain. The first two days are spent in a combo of sleeping and eating fantastic food and finally being able to spend a full night in bed together instea of sneaking unsuccessfully around Kel’s parents. 

She splurged and got them a private room at their first hostel in Sevilla. It was more expensive, but ultimately so very very worth it. 

But day three is when they start to explore. They finally venture off of the block around their hostel and began to deep dive into the tiny back paths of the city. They meet a nice handful of locals who invite them to breakfast the next morning (Kel’s spanish speaking skills are undeniably useful to them in this moment) 

And that night...that night is the beginning of the wish fulfillment she’s waited for since she was five years old. A flamenco lesson that promises an authentic experience, real outfits, and a party for all involved at the end. Aubrey was frugal with accomodations, but she spared no expense when it came to the experiences. Especially this one. 

Flamenco is traditionally a single dance with one woman, but she asked and Kel is allowed to come if he likes. The instructor in charge recognizes Aubrey from her call, and drags Kel over to where another man sits with a guitar. He and the man begin to converse in Spanish, and Kel seems to be rapidly making plans. He’s fine with only watching for tonight, this is her dream

Aubrey is thrust into a room with a bunch of other tourists, even a few from her own state, and a gaggle of women who work at the studio. They show her a row of gorgeous traditional dresses, an overwhelming rainbow of frills and explosions of color. 

Aubrey has let her hair go back to it’s natural color by this point, and her long dark locks catch the eye of one of the instructors who pulls her over to a corner of the rack of dresses. The instructor winks at her and pulls out a dress. It’s perfect. 

Kel is also having a fantastic time. He and the guitar player who’s name is Raphael are discussing guitar playing. Raphael wants to teach Kel to play himself so “He can play for his lady when she wants to dance for him again” 

All conversation stops when Aubrey walks out. 

The others are dolled up as well, but Kel only has eyes for his girl. Her dress is black, hugging to her waist and her body. As the ruffles of the dress begin on her arms and her legs, the dress goes from black to a striking bright red. Around her wrists and on her neck is bright gold jewlery, gleaming against her skin. 

Aubrey’s dark hair is wrapped up in a bun with a series of pink to red carnations following the curve of her hair. Her lips are tinged with maroon lipstick. 

Kel is left speechless. Aubrey asks him something and Kel just has to nod and try to catch his breath. The rest of the group giggle at their antics, and Aubrey rolls her eyes at him. She presses a kiss to his cheek, maroon imprint left in its wake, and then she is over with the other girls in front of the instructor. 

Raphael begins to play at the instructors insistence

The dance lesson is fun. Even just watching Kel has fun. Aubrey normally has a hardness in her eyes, a tightness in her shoulders as if she’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Within minutes of the instructors careful praise and guidance Aubrey is loose and even giggling. Kel hasn’t heard a sound like that from her since they were children. 

At the end the group performs the dance all together to a raucuous applause form Kel, Raphael, and the instructor. Then they all go to the patio behind the studio which has been decked out in warm golden lanterns with a table of food prepared. 

Raphael begins to play again and the others mingle close to the food. Aubrey takes Kels hand and they go to a separate corner of the dance floor. They don’t dance in any particular way, just holding one another and rocking to the melody. Her hair has begun to come out of it’s tight bun, but her eyes are bright with happiness and she can’t manage to stop smiling

That night under the glow of the lanterns is the night they first say they love each other. It was a given, they already knew it, but those words are saccharine sweet against their lips as Kel holds Aubrey close to him and they spin while the music plays.