#omori brandi

[xxl1ghtxx]

Just drew some really underrated omori npcs

Also made tags for them if you wanna make fanart of them one day

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Old Friends and New Friends! All the Friends for Hero! 💙

(The top image is Hero with his childhood friends from the game. The bottom image is Hero with his college friends from our "When Sun Shines Again" series ⛅ From left to right: Tamra (OC), Kyle (OC), Lorraine (OC), Hero, Zoey (OC), C.J. (OC), and Brandi)

[ratscraftz]

they are looking at the maverick

[acacia-may]

Am I Ready For Love? Or Maybe Just A Best Friend (HERO-Centric OMORI fanfiction)

Description: While playing "Mom Friend" to his college buddies' shenanigans, Hero is shocked to learn that he is widely considered the "Prince" of their campus. Though flattered, he doesn't feel he deserves the praise, especially seeing as his heart still missed the best friend and childhood love he had lost far too soon. He would always miss her and simply couldn't imagine being with anyone else...but that didn't mean he wasn't lonely. Even self-imposed loneliness wasn't free from sadness. When an unexpected conversation drudges up bittersweet memories for him, however, Hero begins to wonder if he doesn't have to be nearly as lonely anymore. He might not be ready for love, but a best friend didn't sound too bad...

Relationships: Hero & Brandi [Intimidating Girl] Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship, Past Romantic Hero/Mari, Romantic Brandi/OC, Could be Hero/OC if you really wanted to see it/imagine it happening after the slowest of slow burns, but this is more about their platonic friendship and is very heavy on the past Hero/Mari angst. Mentioned Hero & Kel and Brandi & Bebe's sibling relationships and Bebe/Mikhael.

Characters: Hero (POV Character), Brandi [Intimidating Girl], Original Characters, Mari's Memory, Mentioned Kel, Bebe (Short Haired Girl/Fountain Girl) & Mikhael (The Maverick).

Genre: Hero-Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Slice of Life, College Life, Lost Love, Developing Friendship, Developing Relationship, Greiving, Catharsis, Heart-To-Heart Chats, Hopeful Ending, Post-Good Ending, Hero Needs A Hug, Hero Deserves To Be Happy

Word Count: 7,779

Rating: T for some heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying) Some language.

Warnings: Major Spoilers for OMORI! Heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some Language.

Link to original post on AO3. Please do not repost to another website. All other interaction (likes, reblogs ect.) appreciated!

A/N: This story (including it's title) was heavily inspired by the song "Turning Out" by AJR (which is just a shot to the heart when thinking of poor Hero 🥺❤️ Highly recommend), and this "Hero's Life After Mari" Universe was co-created by @randomsprinkles. Full story text below the cut.

Thank you so much for reading and cheers to good & happy things for Hero in the future! 💕

“You know, sometimes I think Kel is fine, but then yesterday he called to tell me he ate a whole can of spray cheese”—Hero sighed and shook his head—"nothing with it just the spray cheese…” He shrugged his shoulders, and Brandi laughed. Swapping stories about their siblings was one of their favorite activities—especially at these wilder college parties where they tended to gravitate towards each other in want of a familiar face and company that wasn’t completely wasted. Even though Faraway Town was small, and he had known Brandi nearly his entire life, they hadn’t really become friends until college and the hours they spent together reminiscing about home or making each other laugh with stories about Bebe’s hopeless lovesickness or Kel’s well-meaning but often silly antics. It was a relief to have a friend and a familiar face around, and Hero could never quite tell her how much that meant to him.

“Well, that’s nothing. Bebe is still lovesick over that moron who wears that ridiculous wig and calls himself ‘The Maverick,’” huffed Brandi. “How many times do you think he’s seen Top Gun? I’m guessing at least fifty, possibly a hundred.” As Hero stifled a chuckle, Brandi rolled her eyes as she leaned her elbows on the kitchen counter and poured herself another glass of something, Hero wasn’t entirely sure what and he didn’t ask. He had learned it was better not to.

“Well…his family does run the best bakery in Faraway Town, and—” Hero stopped. He was going to mention how Aubrey had been good friends with Mikhael for quite a while, but then he realized she probably had even less positive things to say about him than Brandi did. 

“I guess, but that’s just his family, and even if they’re great, he’s just…”—she paused as if searching for the right word—“a bozo. I just can’t believe she’d throw away her future for some guy like that. She says she wants to go to pastry school now so she can work in the bakery. She doesn’t even bake! You just wait until Kel starts dating,” she warned with a heavy sigh. “He’ll be driving you up the wall.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, Hero chuckled. Truthfully, he was a little surprised that hadn’t happened yet, but Kel didn’t seem particularly interested in a romantic relationship right now, which Hero could respect. He certainly felt the same way himself, though for different reasons, but he quickly pushed those thoughts away and buried them, changing the subject. “Speaking of dating, how are things going with you and C.J.?”

Brandi’s mouth twitched into a slight smile. “Checking up on your handiwork, matchmaker?” she teased dryly.

Hero’s face felt a bit flushed. That hadn’t been his intention, but he fidgeted.  “Are you upset that I set you up?”

“You didn’t set us up. You just…talked him up to me until I finally agreed to go out with him, there’s a difference,” Brandi insisted, and Hero chuckled. He supposed that was true. C.J. was one of Hero’s friends from his fraternity, and he had had the most obvious yet sincere interest in Brandi ever since they were paired up for a legal research course project. Hero had thought they had a lot in common—spirited personalities, strong sense of justice, same Pre-Law major and aspirations to become attorneys someday, and, though he usually tried to stay out of his friends’ business especially their love lives, C.J. had begged him to put in a good word for him so she wouldn’t see him as just another dumb, partying frat boy.

Hero couldn’t blame Brandi for her trepidation around fraternity guys. They didn’t have the best reputation, and if Hero was being honest, he likely would have tried to avoid them himself if he hadn’t been forcibly dragged…er…recruited into a fraternity last pledge term. He would say it was a long story, but it really wasn’t. They needed someone to cook and to clean around their garbage heap of a frat house—a “Mama,” as they quickly deemed him—and Hero was too polite and conflict-avoidant to refuse when Kyle, a sports medicine major in his organic chemistry class, practically begged him to pledge for his frat. His harrowing tale of how they had eaten practically nothing but instant ramen every day for the past year was really the final straw. Now he cooked not only for the fraternity but also for all their guests when they had parties since keeping everyone fed and hydrated with water when they were binge drinking resulted in less vomiting on the carpet and less passing out on the living room rug or in the yard.

That was what he was doing now, after all, making sandwiches on the stove, handing out glasses of water, and keeping an eye on the dwindling bottles of booze. He handed Brandi the grilled cheese he had been making for her with a smile, and Brandi hummed. “Thank you. And thank you for setting me up too, I guess. It’s nice not to be hit on all the time anymore. It was getting pretty annoying.” She laughed, playing with the red glow stick bracelet on her wrist, and Hero chuckled in spite of himself before she quickly added, “I’m really just teasing. C.J.’s a great guy, and we are very happy, so I really do owe you one.”

Hero smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He was glad to help, and it was honestly really nice having Brandi around more often. She cleaned up after herself at least.

“If you ever want me to return the favor, just let me know. I know a ton of girls who would kill to go out with you.”—she laughed as Hero blushed—“I’m pretty sure you’re like the prince of our campus.”

Hero’s face burned. He was sure it must be bright red by now. It wasn’t the first time he had heard that, and it probably wouldn’t be the last, but he never could take a good compliment, even a joking one. “I’m sure that’s not…” he mumbled, but his voice trailed off as he grew suddenly interested in the spatula in his hands. He shook his head and ignored the heat in his cheeks as he changed directions. “Thank you…that’s very flattering, but um…I’m just…I’m not…It’s…” He began to trip over his words, unsure of what exactly he wanted to say, but Brandi thankfully cut him off with a tilt of her head and a knowing, sympathetic smile.

“It’s complicated?” She finished for him, pointing at the yellow glow stick on his wrist. He always picked ‘It’s Complicated’ yellow for these kinds of traffic light parties. It was just the easiest—saved him from the awkwardness of being flirted with and having to turn people down while also not lying that he was in a relationship already.

Hero nodded, and Brandi patted his hand with a soft, bittersweet expression and a knowing smile. She leaned closer to him so no one would hear her whisper, “Your heart’s still with her, isn’t it?”

Something panged in that all too familiar ache in Hero’s chest. He supposed that was one way of putting it. It wasn’t something he ever really talked about, but he supposed it was no secret that he had not had a relationship with anyone since Mari. The truth was, even if he had wanted one—even if he could move on from her, he didn’t think it would be fair—not to Mari’s memory or to whoever he could be with. He had already had a beautiful love story and, even though it was cut short, he felt that to even wish for anything more would be greedy and ungrateful for the time that he and Mari did have together. That said, doubt occasionally set in that that was a bit of an unreasonable notion all things considered—he had been only fifteen when she had passed and had his whole life ahead of him. In the deepest corners of his mind, he knew she would probably want him to move on and be happy again, but at the same time even if he could someday be ready to open up his heart again, he worried that he would never be able to give that other person the love she deserved. He would never be able to say that she was the one and only love of his life and would never be able to tell her that he had never felt this way about anyone. He would always miss Mari, and, now, the only heart he had to give had already been broken and painfully pieced back together. It was so busted and bruised that, if he was being perfectly honest, he had trouble believing that anyone would even want it.

“Hero…”

“It’s okay,” he cut her off with a slight, reassuring smile, and Brandi smiled back. “I’m okay.”

Brandi nodded. “I understand,” she said with a sigh before taking a sip of her drink. “But if you ever change your mind…if you’re ever ready…you know where to find me, and I know where to find a ton of girls who would definitely be interested.” She winked at him, and he playfully rolled his eyes though he scratched the back of his neck when he felt an arm drape around his shoulders.

“What’s going on?” exclaimed Kyle, his voice already starting to slur from too much liquor.

“Brandi’s trying to set me up,” sighed Hero in a dry, somewhat joking way.

Kyle burst into raucous laughter. “Good luck with that. We’ve been trying too—since I’m pretty sure there’s not a girl on this campus who wouldn’t date our very own ‘Prince Charming,’ here, but he’s practicing to be a monk or something.”

“Well, you know, Kyle, it is possible not to have a relationship—it won’t kill you,” bantered Brandi with a frown.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny.” Kyle stuck his tongue out at her. “I know you think I’m a serial optometrist.”

“Monogamist,” corrected Brandi, as Hero covered his mouth with his hand and tried not to laugh. “How drunk are you?”

Kyle hummed, kind of teetering in place. “I dunno.” He turned to Hero. “Mama, how drunk am I?”

Hero sighed, reaching to pour Kyle what was clearly a much needed glass of water. “Here,” he said, avoiding the question. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”

Kyle nodded and gulped down the water. Hero must have refilled his glass at least twice more, before Kyle leaned his elbows on the counter and asked for a BLT which Hero promptly went to work making. “Thanks. Look, I love my relationships. I just don’t want my friends missing out, you know? And hell, if I was that popular, I’d probably be taking full advantage of it—most guys would. Mama here is an actual saint.”

Hero’s face flushed red, but before he could begin to protest, Brandi interjected with a huffy, “I’m sure you would Kyle” conveniently ignoring his comments about Hero’s supposed sainthood. Her brow furrowed—her eyes narrowing at the green glow stick bracelet on Kyle’s wrist. “I see you’re on the market again. What happened to Tiffany?”

“Eh, didn’t work out,” shrugged Kyle. “We were too different.”

“Realized you didn’t have anything in common besides your love of sucking face?” quipped Brandi sarcastically. Kyle rolled his eyes.

“No,” he insisted, but then sighed. “Alright…sort of…but there were more problems than that.” He sighed. “You know…never mind. I didn’t come over here to talk about Tiffany.” He waved his hand dismissively before his face lit up like a little kid on Christmas. “I wanted to tell you guys, there’s this whole group of girls hanging out in the living room, and they think I look like Nick Carter.”

“How drunk are they?” scoffed Brandi.

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, I’ve always thought I looked like him. You think so, don’t you, Hero?”

Hero tilted his head. He supposed he could kind of see it. They had similarly shaped noses, heart-shaped faces, pale skin, light eyes, and blonde hair; however, the trait they had most in common was that curtain bangs haircut, and Hero was fairly certain Kyle had purposely styled his hair that way just to look like he could be in a boy band. Even so, he shrugged and said, “Yeah. You’re practically the sixth Backstreet Boy.”

“See,” he turned to Brandi with a triumphant huff, almost like the satisfied taunt a young boy might give his little sister. Hero chuckled lightly to himself. It reminded him a bit of Kel.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Brandi insisted. “Hero would say anything just to be nice.”

Hero’s face flushed. He hoped he wouldn’t get pulled back into this argument, but luckily Kyle didn’t seem to hear her, instead insisting, “And here I was going to say I think you look like Celine Dion, but now that you’ve been so rude to me, I don’t think I’ll say anything.”

“I don’t look like Celine Dion, Kyle.” Brandi shook her head before taking a sip of her drink.

“Aw, I think you kinda look like Celine Dion, babe,” C.J. interjected draping an arm around his girlfriend.

“Thanks, but I really don’t…” Brandi sighed, but C.J. cut her off.

“And I always thought I kinda look like Usher but with glasses.”

“Not you too…” she teased though there was a certain affection in her eyes and a twitch in the corners of her mouth. “What is it with guys comparing themselves to celebrities? I honestly thought that was just a girl thing.”

C.J. pouted playfully. “What? You don’t think I look like Usher?”

Once again, Hero could kind of see the similarities—oval shaped faces, wide cheekbones, warm eyes, dark skin, and bright, beaming smiles. They looked about as much alike as Kyle and Nick Carter though he wasn’t sure that was saying much, especially coming from him. Brandi, it seemed, was unconvinced.

“I think you look like C.J.” she said quirking an eyebrow at him.

“I’m not sure I know that celebrity,” he teased wrapping his arms around her neck. “Is he handsome?”

Brandi stifled a chuckle but playfully, pretended to ponder the question before finally meeting his gaze. “Yes.”

C.J.’s face lit up into that beaming, 100-watt smile as he looked into her eyes. Hero recognized that look, like Brandi was the only one in the room and they were lost in their own little corner of the world. She ruffled her hand through his tight curls, and he leaned in and kissed her.

“Get a room you two,” teased Kyle sticking his tongue out at them. With a flick of his finger, C.J. promptly told Kyle exactly what he thought of his comments before he cupped Brandi’s face in his hands.

With a bantering shake of his head, Kyle stared down at his green glow stick bracelet like it was watch. Hero turned away abruptly, his face feeling warm as if he had intruded on what should be a very private moment.

Truthfully, despite the awkwardness he currently felt at their extremely public display of affection, he really was happy for them—for all of his friends who wanted relationships and had found them. If he was being honest with himself, however, it did bring up some complicated feelings for him sometimes—made him feel lonely. It was a self-imposed loneliness, but that didn’t mean it was always free from sadness. He glanced down at the yellow glow stick on his wrist. The truth was it wasn’t all that complicated. Even after all these years, he still missed Mari, and he knew he would always miss her. It wouldn’t be fair to pursue anyone else while he felt this way—to put his new love in a situation where she’d feel like a second choice or a last resort, so he contented himself with being alone, probably forever. A bittersweet smile tugged at his mouth. Maybe he’d get a cat… he thought before turning his focus to making Kyle’s sandwich.  

As he added the finishing touches to Kyle’s BLT, Brandi finally disentangled herself from her boyfriend. “We’re making Kyle and Hero uncomfortable,” she said, but C.J. shrugged, draping an arm around her shoulders.

“Eh, they’re just jealous.” He stuck out his tongue at Kyle, who stuck his tongue out back. Hero sighed. It was very juvenile, but he still chuckled in spite of himself.

“Hey! I’m glad I’m not tied down,” Kyle insisted with a dismissive wave of his hand as he took a bite out of the sandwich Hero gave him.

Brandi frowned. “Tell me, Kyle. Have you ever had a relationship with a woman that lasted more than two weeks?”

“Yes!” He nodded emphatically. “With Zuzu.” He paused then called as loudly as he could out onto the patio. “Hey, Zuzu! Come tell these morons how long we’ve been friends.”

A redheaded girl in an oversized sweater whipped around with a somewhat affectionate if bantering roll of her green eyes. “Too long,” she quipped, wrinkling her lightly freckled nose at them, as she walked through the sliding door back into the kitchen.

“You wound me, Zuzu,” Kyle gasped in teasing melodrama, clutching his chest. “What were you doing outside anyway? Aren’t you usually glued to Mama at these things?”

“Because he’s the only sober person here,” she teased, but she smiled at him.  Hero’s face flushed. It was true that Zuzu, or Zoey as she was called by everyone who wasn’t Kyle, was generally his ‘partner in crime’ at all parties hosted by his fraternity or her sorority—spending the night helping him in the kitchen or passing out cups of water to the groups of plastered college students mingling around the house, and often helping with cleanup and dishes afterwards. Truthfully, he enjoyed her company and the conversations they had—talking and laughing for hours while making food, cleaning up or doing dishes together. Though he always felt guilty about putting a guest to work at his party, she always insisted she had a much better time spending the evening with a friend than she would have getting drunk and partying. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He felt the same way. 

“Like you haven’t had a thing to drink,” retorted Kyle, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and staring down into her cup. Zoey merely blinked at him.

“I haven’t. I have a thermodynamics exam on Monday and need to study tomorrow.” She always blamed her aversion to drinking on her difficult civil engineering major, but Hero knew she just didn’t care for drunk partying. Now that Hero was thinking about it, Zoey blamed a lot of things on her difficult civil engineering major—not least of all the red glow stick on her wrist despite being contentedly single. “Married to school,” she always joked, and Hero often joked the same thing.

“But that’s tomorrow,” Kyle whined.“You and Mama are both such old people.” He stuck his tongue out at them, but Zoey just shrugged with a lopsided smile.

“Old people have more fun. You’ll understand someday, Kyle.”

Hero stifled a chuckle behind his hand, before turning his attention back to the stove.

“Brandi and C.J., back me up here,” Kyle sighed, but when he turned around he realized they had gone, probably to continue their PDA somewhere a little more private, if Hero had to guess, but he didn’t really want to think about it. Kyle huffed. “Whatever. Be boring old grandparents together, I don’t care. You’re the ones missing out.” He grabbed his cup, a beer, and the rest of his sandwich, leaving them in the kitchen alone.

“Don’t mind Kyle,” said Zoey with a shake of her head. “He can be such a moron sometimes, but he’s a nice guy, even if he acts like a kid especially when he’s drunk…But I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that.”

A slight smile tugged at Hero’s mouth. He had been roommates with Kyle for over a year now, and he could definitely attest to that.

“We’ve already hit ‘Touchy-Feely Drunk Kyle’”—Zoey tilted her head at him—“How hungover do you think he’ll be tomorrow?”

Hero quickly stifled a breathy chuckle, but he sighed. “I don’t know. He always thinks he can drink a lot more than he can handle.”

Zoey’s mouth twitched into a dry smile. “I bet you’re an expert on nursing hangovers now. It’s a shame that can’t go on your med school application.”

Hero laughed but immediately felt guilty for it.

“Give him one of those sports drinks with breakfast tomorrow—it’ll help. I keep a ton of them in our fridge back at the sorority house for when the girls go out partying or bar hopping.”

“You really are the mom, huh?” Hero replied dryly, and though Zoey smiled, she raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re one to talk.”  

Hero shrugged. He supposed she had a point and not just because she was currently holding his “World’s Best Mama” mug with a dry yet triumphant smile.

“Well,” sighed Zoey gathering up some more of the dirty dishes scattered around the kitchen. “Since you’ll probably be pretty busy playing nurse tomorrow, we should probably get started on the clean-up tonight.” She looked around the room with narrowed green eyes. “It looks like a tornado stormed through here.”

With a weary sigh, Hero rubbed his forehead. Unfortunately, she was right. Given the sorry state of the kitchen alone, to say that the party had trashed their place would be a bit of an understatement. It would probably take hours to clean everything up—to say nothing of the several hours of cleaning Hero had already done to prepare for the party in the first place. Hero supposed he could do most of the deep cleaning in the morning when some of his fraternity brothers might be awake to help out, if they weren’t too hungover that is, but, truthfully, he wouldn’t mind cleaning up on his own—after all, he did most of the cleaning around here anyway.

With a sigh, Hero conceded that Zoey was probably right and he might as well start cleaning now. He reached out to take the mug and the rest of the dishes from Zoey and turned on the sink to begin to rinse them out. Hero shook his head. If he had a nickel for every minute he spent doing dishes in this house…

He felt a nudge on his elbow as Zoey joined him, rinsing off some of the plates she had gathered from the table.

“You really don’t have to do that,” he insisted.

“And leave you to clean everything up by yourself?” She paused but not long enough for him to even begin to protest. “I’ve been there—it’s no fun at all.”

“We got our dishwasher fixed,” Hero sighed with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“Then this won’t take that long,” she continued. “All we’ll have to do is rinse them off.” She pointed a sponge at him with a certain determination in her green eyes that said this sorry excuse for an argument was over, and Hero knew she was right. 

No matter how guilty he may have felt about putting a guest and a friend to work cleaning up his house, he was compliant and conflict avoidant by nature and had no stamina for arguing. She had insisted she wanted to help, and goodness knows he could use an extra set of hands. He would ultimately concede and even though she would insist it was unnecessary, later this week, he’d send her a thank you card with a plate of her favorite cookies or some flowers—or a more thoughtful gift if he could think of one. The last time she had helped him clean up after a party, he had bought her a set of Papa Chip coasters since, while they were doing dishes for hours by hand on account of the then broken dishwasher, they had somehow started talking about how they had both loved Papa Chip back when they were kids.

“And you don’t have to send me any coasters this time,” she teased, and Hero’s cheeks felt suddenly warm, wondering if she could somehow read his mind. “Not that they’re not great,” she added hurriedly. “You’re very thoughtful, but you really don’t have to do that.”

Hero’s face flushed red—he never could take a compliment—but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I know, but I felt bad and…”

“Well don’t,” she interrupted. “We’re friends, and I don’t mind helping you out. Besides, a bunch of my sorority sisters were giving me dirty looks for about a week until I lied and told everyone they were from Jared. I don’t know if they really bought it or just got over it.”  

Hero’s brow furrowed. He supposed those coaters could be a gift someone’s younger brother would get for them—after all, Kel had gotten him a Papa Chip cookbook “just because,” once—but he wasn’t sure why Zoey had felt the need to lie to the other girls in the sorority house. “I’m sorry if I upset the other girls or made them angry with you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Zoey shrugged it off with a dismissive wave of her hand. “They’re just jealous that we’re actually friends.” She sighed. “I’ve tried to tell them that you’re actually pretty friendly and nice, so they could be friends with you too if they started treating you like an actual person instead of some kind of ‘Campus Prince.’”—she shook her head—“But I don’t think it’s been working.”

Hero blushed. Though he found it very flattering, he still couldn’t wrap his head around how he could have possibly become some sort of ‘Prince’ of their campus in the minds of so many girls.

“You should tell them I’m kind of a dork…” Hero sighed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

“I tried that too,” she bantered. “But they didn’t believe me.”

Hero laughed, but his smile quickly faded. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop sending you things.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she repeated, a little more forcefully. “They need to get over themselves. I’m honestly kind of sick of the Hero fan club that goes on in our house.”

Hero’s face felt suddenly warm, and he resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands. “Fan club?” he choked.

“Yes. You, Mr. Prince, are always the hot topic of conversation,” she teased with a lopsided smile. “If you asked practically anyone, they’d say you are probably the perfect man—even my sister who has this awful obsession with bad boys thinks so, which is really saying a lot.” She paused, and Hero stifled a chuckle. Zoey’s twin sister, Lorraine, was a sweet and bubbly girl despite her terrible taste in boyfriends, a topic often bemoaned by both Zoey and Kyle. A slight tint of pink flushed in his cheeks, he supposed it really was quite the compliment coming from her. “And it doesn’t help that you’re so mysterious.”

“I don’t think I’m mysterious,” Hero chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck.

“I know, you’re not,” Zoey cut him off with a reassuring smile. “And I’ve tried to explain that to them multiple times, but they don’t really listen to me since they’re convinced I’m trying to steal you away.”

A blush filled his cheeks, and he turned away from her abruptly. “What?”

“You know, the idea of men and women just being friends, is a little beyond them, I think,” she quipped. “It’s ridiculous, but can you blame them? I mean in their minds you’re a real life ‘Prince Charming,’ and even though you’re interested in women and could have pretty much any girl in the universe you wanted, you’re really, really single.” She chuckled, as Hero buried his face in his hands. He could almost picture that bright, cheeky grin on her face, though he wouldn’t—no, couldn’t turn to look at her again. “You’ve got to be hung up on somebody, otherwise why haven’t you chosen from the hoards of adoring women who would kill to be with you?”

Hero’s face grew hot. He was sure it must be bright red by now. “Zoey…”

“It’s a big topic of conversation is all I’m saying.”

Finally, Hero managed to pull his hands away from his face, if only because his eyes were beginning to burn from the soapy dishwater. “Can you please tell them that I’m very flattered,” he stumbled, still blushing furiously. “But I’m just so busy with school that I’m just not…really looking for a relationship right now?”

Zoey shrugged. “Tried and failed, but I’d be happy to tell them again. Don’t expect them to believe me though. At this point, everybody’s making up their own theories.”

“Theories?” Hero choked.

“You know you have your normal ones like you’re too busy for a relationship or you had a bad relationship in the past and just aren’t ready to put yourself back out there again. Then there are the ones that you actually already have a relationship, but you’re very private about it so no one has ever seen or heard of her. There are a couple of wild ones in this category like she’s a celebrity so you have to keep it a secret so the press doesn’t find out and you end up in a tabloid.” She winked at him. “Just like in a movie.”  

“You are making this up.”

Zoey shook her head. “No, I swear I’ve heard that one, and that’s not even the craziest one. I’ve also heard a rumor that you’ve been promised in an arranged marriage since birth so that you can take over as the CEO of a toaster strudel empire. And, of course, my personal favorite: that you have an eccentric billionaire uncle who wants you to inherit his vast fortune but only on the condition that you remain a reclusive bachelor just like him.”  

Hero laughed in spite of himself. “That’s—none of those are true…” He cleared his throat. “Except the first one about me being too busy.”

“I know, and that’s what I always say. Everybody keeps coming to me and asking about it like I have some secret, inside knowledge or something, but I have a theory just like everybody else,” she joked waving her hand dismissively.

“You have a theory?”

Zoey stopped but shrugged. “I mean…not one that I just sit around and think about, but you can only be asked the same question so many times before you start thinking…” Her voice trailed. “It’s not one I ever tell anyone,” she insisted. “If anyone asks me, I always tell them exactly what you just said, which is that you’re flattered but too focused on school and your future to worry about a relationship right now.”

“Then what’s your theory?” he asked half-jokingly, half-actually-interested.

“You really want to know?”

Hero put down the plate he was scrubbing and shrugged. “Kind of.”

Zoey paused, and when she sighed, Hero fidgeted. “But you don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to,” he hurriedly added.

“No, I…” She stopped though there was the slightest tint of rose in her pale cheeks. “But it’s just a theory. I don’t want to offend you or…”

Hero’s brow furrowed. Offend him? What in the world could she possibly be thinking? His breath caught in his throat. She couldn’t…know…could she?

“I won’t be offended,” he reassured her quietly, but his heart was beginning to pound. “Do you…not believe me? Because it really is true. I’m very busy with school and—”

“No. It’s…it’s not like that,” she cut him off with a sigh as she placed her sponge on the counter. “I really do think that you are very busy with school—studying for your classes and the MCAT and all of that. You just don’t have the time or energy for a relationship right now, but…I don’t think that means you don’t want one.” Zoey paused, her voice growing quiet, and she met his eyes. “I think you do want a relationship—otherwise you wouldn’t be so lonely.”

Hero inhaled sharply—his breath getting caught in his chest. Biting his lip, he looked away from her, staring down at his trembling hands. He wanted to hide—curl in on himself—maybe figure out a way to laugh it off like Kel or Kyle might be able to do, but he was frozen, shocked. Of all the things she could have possibly…? No, that wasn’t the question. The real question gnawing at him was had it really been so obvious?

“Hero?” He could hear the concern in her voice, but he wouldn’t—couldn’t look at her. “Listen, I can just…stop there…”  

“Is there more?” The question slipped out before he could stop it.

Zoey sighed. “Yes, but I feel bad. I can…”

“Go on,” Hero squeaked, barely managing a nod.

Zoey sighed again, and Hero wasn’t sure if she was even going to continue until she finally said, “But…the thing is…you don’t just want a relationship with just anyone. You—you want a relationship with someone you can never be with. And even though you know your love is doomed…”—she paused—“you gave your heart to her a long time ago and you can’t even imagine being with anyone else.”

Something ached in Hero’s chest. Somehow he knew that was what she was going to say, but he had to hear it for himself. He wished he could sink into the floor, could hide from her, from his memories, from himself again. And yet…there was a part of him that didn’t want to.

“Wow…” he barely managed, after a long, heavy silence.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“No,” he quietly interjected, his voice hitching. “That was…pretty spot on actually…”

“Oh Hero…” Zoey sighed. “I’m sorry…I…”  

“Don’t be.” He fiddled with the sponge in his hands, and after a few intense scrubs at a particularly stubborn stain, he finally added as nonchalantly as he could manage. “I asked, and you were right…”

“I didn’t want to be right about this.”

Hero bit down hard on his lip as something burned behind his eyes. Scratching the nape of his neck, he let out a breathy, self-deprecating chuckle. “I guess I had just hoped that it wasn’t so obvious that I was so sad and pathetic...”

“I don’t think you’re pathetic.”

Truthfully, he hadn’t realized that he had even said those words aloud until she had spoken them back to him.

“And I don’t think it’s obvious—except to your close friends maybe?” She paused, sighing and placing a gentle hand on his arm. “She must have been special and very important to you. I think it’s sweet that you’re still devoted to her and there isn’t anything wrong with that, unless, you know, she’s married or something, in which case…”—she began to quip breathily, probably in an attempt to make him smile again—“but I don’t think you’re the type…”

Hero’s mouth twitched in the corners, but the ghost of his smile faded as he shook his head. “No, she…uh…” The words caught in the back of his throat. “She passed away.”

“Oh Hero, I’m so sorry.” Zoey wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. He took a deep shaky breath, staring up at the ceiling ignoring that prickling feeling in his eyes. When she pulled away from him, he somehow managed the slightest twitch in the corners of his mouth.

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago…” He wasn’t sure if his weak reassurances were for her or for himself. “I should probably be over it by now.”

As he couldn’t bear to look at her, he could only imagine what her face looked like right now. He shook his head. He didn’t want to think about it. “I’m—I’m sorry,” he spluttered. “I’m sorry for making you sad. I—”

“No,” Zoey cut him off. “You didn’t make me sad. Hero…if you want to talk about it, you can tell me. I’m your friend—I care about you.” She paused, and Hero bit his lip. He could feel her gentle hand running comfortingly across his shoulders. “You’re not going to hurt me. I can take it.”

Hero finally breathed—a long deep exhale of the breath he had been holding for far too long. She had no idea how reassuring those words were. Still…try as he might, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her. He opened his mouth, but the words got garbled in the back of his throat.

“Take your time,” she whispered.

After several deep breaths he finally choked out, “Her name was Mari.” His voice hitched, then the words began to tumble out of his mouth. “She lived next door for as long as I can remember, and I…I always thought she was just the most amazing person. She was smart and funny and very talented—she was wonderful at arts and crafts and gardening and a really gifted pianist. We even used to play together sometimes, and she was so kind and very generous—she was always going out of her way to help someone and make them happy. And when she smiled”—his voice cracked—”You would have thought the sun shined brighter.”

He paused, sniffled. “I think I loved her before I even knew what that was…And I couldn’t believe it when she felt the same way about me.” As a bittersweet smile tugged at his lips, his eyes grew misty. “We were high school sweethearts, until she died.” He swallowed hard—that familiar, hollow pang in his chest ached.

“We were 15. It’s kind of a long story but…at the time, we didn’t know how she died. We thought—I thought—she had ended her own life”—he inhaled sharply, shakily, unable to stop the words even if he wanted to—“It was probably the darkest time of my life. I was a wreck, and I blamed myself. I…I didn’t even know she was depressed. I thought if I had just talked to her—had just held her tighter, just loved her more—better then maybe she…” He stopped. Blinking back the tears in his eyes, he sniffled and cleared his throat. “But it was an accident. There were…witnesses…we found out later. She—she had a bad knee, you see, and…and she fell down the stairs…landed wrong and…” He stopped abruptly. “You—You’d think learning that would make the guilt go away but it…”

Hero swallowed hard, but he managed a shaky sigh. “But…But with time…eventually I just…threw myself into school and work and extra-curriculars. My parents had always wanted me to be a doctor, and all I could see was years of school, years of residency, long hours of studying and clinicals and work and I thought I could just bury myself in it—stay so busy that I wouldn’t feel it anymore, but it doesn’t ever really go away.”

He sniffled and wiped his eyes again with a shaky chuckle. “I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but I…I’m usually pretty okay. It’s been so many years now, and it doesn’t hurt like it used to. But…but sometimes I’ll see a wave of dark hair or hear a name that sounds like hers or someone playing a waltz on a piano or our song on the radio and”—his voice hitched—“I just don’t know if I’m ever really going to be over it.”  

He swallowed hard. “And you’re right. I can’t even imagine being with anyone else. It wouldn’t be fair—to her, to that person, I mean. What if—I couldn’t love her as much? And you know, I think maybe we all get that ‘once in a lifetime’ love in our lives and I’ve already had mine. It would be greedy to even want anything else. But…but mostly I think it’s just that I wanted to be with her forever, and”—there was a hitch in his voice as tears began to pool in his eyes again—“even now, all these years later, I guess I…I just still don’t know what forever looks like without her.”

A tear finally struggled free from his eye and splashed down his cheek, followed by another, then another. Hero frantically swiped at them, but they wouldn’t stop. Zoey’s arms wrapped around his shoulders again, and she pulled him close.

He wasn’t sure how long she held him. How long he listened to the sound of her steady breathing, felt her hand gently tangling in the hair at the base of his neck. How long it was until she whispered, “I wish you had gotten your forever…”

It wasn’t until he felt the tremble of her shoulders, heard the way her voice had hitched over her words that he realized she was also crying.

He pulled away from her and finally looked in her green eyes—warm and teary. Hero swallowed hard. He had never learned what to say to someone who was crying for him. “Please don’t cry.”  

“Sorry,” she said with the twitch of a bittersweet smile. “I’m not sure I can do that.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” he began to ramble. “I just—I…I really should be over it and I just completely dumped all of that on you and I was so…”—he struggled to find the words—“weepy and melodramatic and needy and…”

“No,” she gently cut him off. “You were real. Don’t apologize for that.” She wiped her eyes, and her expression softened. “Hero, what happened was so awful, and the idea of you having to go through something like that, it just—” She stopped. “That’s why I cried. You didn’t hurt me. I told you I can take it, and I’m okay.” She sighed. “And you know for what it’s worth, I think the whole idea of ‘getting over it’ is bullshit. There are some things in our lives that we’ll just never get over. We can get past them, but they’re still going to be there—we just have to learn to build a new life around them, so don’t beat yourself up. You’re still entitled to feel sad. Heck, you’d be entitled to never leave your room again after something like that, but here you are, out living your life, so give yourself a break, okay?” She nodded at him with a slight, reassuring smile before she patted his hand. “And for goodness sakes, stop worrying about me of all people. You don’t have to be the hero all the time. I know it’s your name, but…you don’t have to take it too literally.”  

A light chuckle reverberated in his chest, and a smile twitched in the corners of his mouth. Before he could say anything, however, Kyle burst through the patio door.

“Woah…what’s goin’ on?” He stopped abruptly, and his expression softened. “Are you okay?”

Flushing, Hero swallowed hard nodding and sniffling as he frantically wiped at his eyes. He had completely forgotten himself and couldn’t believe he had just shared what was arguably his biggest, deepest secret in the middle of a house party.

Zoey thankfully jumped to his rescue with a remarkably believable, “We were doing dishes, and poor Hero got some dish soap in his eyes. We’ve been trying to rinse them out, but they got all watery.”

Though it took a few moments, Kyle eventually nodded in understanding. “Oh. That sucks, man,” he said patting him on the back. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Hero managed a slight smile but shook his head. “No, Kyle. Thanks, but it’s okay. I’m fine.”

Kyle nodded again, but Hero saw him glance over at Zoey as if waiting for additional reassurance or instructions. When she nodded at him, Kyle sighed. “Alright, well if you need anything let me know, okay?”

Hero nodded at him then handed him a glass of water. Kyle took it with a smile then walked off towards the living room. When he was gone, Hero sniffled again and turned back to Zoey, sheepish and embarrassed.

“Zoey, I’m sor—” he began to apologize again, but she cut him off.

“No. None of that, Henry,” she insisted with a pointed emphasis on his real name. He could tell she was trying her best not to smile as she said it, probably strange and unnatural for her, if Hero had to guess. It was strange and unnatural for him too. No one ever called him that, ever. He had, of course, told her that she could if she wanted, but she never had—not until now that is. Hero’s eyes widened. Strangely enough, he felt a smile tugging at his mouth and the light flutter of a chuckle reverberating in his chest listening to her say it.

“I’m serious. I’m going to keep calling you that until you stop that,” she insisted. “Stop being a ‘Hero’—stop worrying about everybody else for just a second. It won’t kill you to be a little selfish for once…and it’ll honestly make the rest of us look better,” she quipped with a slight smile, clearly trying to brighten his mood.

It worked. His mouth twitched into a small smile as he replied dryly, “I’m sorry. I’ll try…”

“Good,” she said, but her expression softened as she reached out her hand to him. “But really…how are you? What do you need? What makes you happy when you feel like this?”

Hero shrugged his shoulders. If he was being honest, he didn’t know—even after all these years, he didn’t know, but… just having someone there, having someone listen to him…he already felt better. His face softened, and he felt something warm spreading through his chest as he met her kind eyes.

“Maybe a hero sandwich?” he shrugged his shoulders with a gentle smile, and her face brightened.

She gently nudged him in the arm before playfully taking his spatula. “Great,” she said. “I’ll make you one.”

[garybobdarkness]

Bebe finnaly asks out THE MAVERICK, for better or for worse

[waaty]

are you into any specific media now?

that’s a good question! god my last super interest/hyperfixation was the sims 2 last summer lmao unfortunately that’s not something you can really talk about without just liveblogging though... i played pleasantview premades and got burned out sending the teens to college like i always do. my fav sims 2 family is probably the broke family... i had brandy and darren get married and have two more kids but still be broke because it’s fun to be poor in the sims 2 lmao

other than that, hmm i finished omori a few months ago which was pretty good. i liked basil. i’m also reading showa by shigeru mizuki but that’s basically a history book in manga form.

i’m looking forward to nocturne though! i love smt but i never got too far in that game.

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Am I Ready For Love? Or Maybe Just A Best Friend (HERO-Centric OMORI fanfiction)

Description: While playing "Mom Friend" to his college buddies' shenanigans, Hero is shocked to learn that he is widely considered the "Prince" of their campus. Though flattered, he doesn't feel he deserves the praise, especially seeing as his heart still missed the best friend and childhood love he had lost far too soon. He would always miss her and simply couldn't imagine being with anyone else...but that didn't mean he wasn't lonely. Even self-imposed loneliness wasn't free from sadness.

When an unexpected conversation drudges up bittersweet memories for him, however, Hero begins to wonder if he doesn't have to be nearly as lonely anymore. He might not be ready for love, but a best friend didn't sound too bad...

Relationships: Hero & Brandi [Intimidating Girl] Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship, Past Romantic Hero/Mari, Romantic Brandi/OC, Could be Hero/OC if you really wanted to see it/imagine it happening after the slowest of slow burns, but this is more about their platonic friendship and is very heavy on the past Hero/Mari angst. Mentioned Hero & Kel and Brandi & Bebe's sibling relationships and Bebe/Mikhael.

Characters: Hero (POV Character), Brandi [Intimidating Girl], Original Characters, Mari's Memory, Mentioned Kel, Bebe (Short Haired Girl/Fountain Girl) & Mikhael (The Maverick).

Genre: Hero-Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Slice of Life, College Life, Lost Love, Developing Friendship, Developing Relationship, Greiving, Catharsis, Heart-To-Heart Chats, Hopeful Ending, Post-Good Ending, Hero Needs A Hug, Hero Deserves To Be Happy

Word Count: 7,779

Rating: T for some heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying) Some language.

Warnings: Major Spoilers for OMORI! Heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some Language.

Link to original post on AO3. Please do not repost to another website. All other interaction (likes, reblogs ect.) appreciated!

A/N: This story (including it's title) was heavily inspired by the song "Turning Out" by AJR (which is just a shot to the heart when thinking of poor Hero 🥺❤️ Highly recommend).

PART 1 of the "When Sun Shines Again [Hero's Life After Mari] Series

Full story text below the cut. Thank you so much for reading and cheers to good & happy things for Hero in the future! 💕

“You know, sometimes I think Kel is fine, but then yesterday he called to tell me he ate a whole can of spray cheese”—Hero sighed and shook his head—“nothing with it just the spray cheese…” He shrugged his shoulders, and Brandi laughed. Swapping stories about their siblings was one of their favorite activities—especially at these wilder college parties where they tended to gravitate towards each other in want of a familiar face and company that wasn’t completely wasted. Even though Faraway Town was small, and he had known Brandi nearly his entire life, they hadn’t really become friends until college and the hours they spent together reminiscing about home or making each other laugh with stories about Bebe’s hopeless lovesickness or Kel’s well-meaning but often silly antics. It was a relief to have a friend and a familiar face around, and Hero could never quite tell her how much that meant to him.

“Well, that’s nothing. Bebe is still lovesick over that moron who wears that ridiculous wig and calls himself ‘The Maverick,’” huffed Brandi. “How many times do you think he’s seen Top Gun? I’m guessing at least fifty, possibly a hundred.” As Hero stifled a chuckle, Brandi rolled her eyes as she leaned her elbows on the kitchen counter and poured herself another glass of something, Hero wasn’t entirely sure what and he didn’t ask. He had learned it was better not to.

“Well…his family does run the best bakery in Faraway Town, and—” Hero stopped. He was going to mention how Aubrey had been good friends with Mikhael for quite a while, but then he realized she probably had even less positive things to say about him than Brandi did. 

“I guess, but that’s just his family, and even if they’re great, he’s just…”—she paused as if searching for the right word—“a bozo. I just can’t believe she’d throw away her future for some guy like that. She says she wants to go to pastry school now so she can work in the bakery. She doesn’t even bake! You just wait until Kel starts dating,” she warned with a heavy sigh. “He’ll be driving you up the wall.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, Hero chuckled. Truthfully, he was a little surprised that hadn’t happened yet, but Kel didn’t seem particularly interested in a romantic relationship right now, which Hero could respect. He certainly felt the same way himself, though for different reasons, but he quickly pushed those thoughts away and buried them, changing the subject. “Speaking of dating, how are things going with you and C.J.?”

Brandi’s mouth twitched into a slight smile. “Checking up on your handiwork, matchmaker?” she teased dryly.

Hero’s face felt a bit flushed. That hadn’t been his intention, but he fidgeted.  “Are you upset that I set you up?”

“You didn’t set us up. You just…talked him up to me until I finally agreed to go out with him, there’s a difference,” Brandi insisted, and Hero chuckled. He supposed that was true. C.J. was one of Hero’s friends from his fraternity, and he had had the most obvious yet sincere interest in Brandi ever since they were paired up for a legal research course project. Hero had thought they had a lot in common—spirited personalities, strong sense of justice, same Pre-Law major and aspirations to become attorneys someday, and, though he usually tried to stay out of his friends’ business especially their love lives, C.J. had begged him to put in a good word for him so she wouldn’t see him as just another dumb, partying frat boy.

Hero couldn’t blame Brandi for her trepidation around fraternity guys. They didn’t have the best reputation, and if Hero was being honest, he likely would have tried to avoid them himself if he hadn’t been forcibly dragged…er…recruited into a fraternity last pledge term. He would say it was a long story, but it really wasn’t. They needed someone to cook and to clean around their garbage heap of a frat house—a “Mama,” as they quickly deemed him—and Hero was too polite and conflict-avoidant to refuse when Kyle, a sports medicine major in his organic chemistry class, practically begged him to pledge for his frat. His harrowing tale of how they had eaten practically nothing but instant ramen every day for the past year was really the final straw. Now he cooked not only for the fraternity but also for all their guests when they had parties since keeping everyone fed and hydrated with water when they were binge drinking resulted in less vomiting on the carpet and less passing out on the living room rug or in the yard.

That was what he was doing now, after all, making sandwiches on the stove, handing out glasses of water, and keeping an eye on the dwindling bottles of booze. He handed Brandi the grilled cheese he had been making for her with a smile, and Brandi hummed. “Thank you. And thank you for setting me up too, I guess. It’s nice not to be hit on all the time anymore. It was getting pretty annoying.” She laughed, playing with the red glow stick bracelet on her wrist, and Hero chuckled in spite of himself before she quickly added, “I’m really just teasing. C.J.’s a great guy, and we are very happy, so I really do owe you one.”

Hero smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He was glad to help, and it was honestly really nice having Brandi around more often. She cleaned up after herself at least.

“If you ever want me to return the favor, just let me know. I know a ton of girls who would kill to go out with you.”—she laughed as Hero blushed—“I’m pretty sure you’re like the prince of our campus.”

Hero’s face burned. He was sure it must be bright red by now. It wasn’t the first time he had heard that, and it probably wouldn’t be the last, but he never could take a good compliment, even a joking one. “I’m sure that’s not…” he mumbled, but his voice trailed off as he grew suddenly interested in the spatula in his hands. He shook his head and ignored the heat in his cheeks as he changed directions. “Thank you…that’s very flattering, but um…I’m just…I’m not…It’s…” He began to trip over his words, unsure of what exactly he wanted to say, but Brandi thankfully cut him off with a tilt of her head and a knowing, sympathetic smile.

“It’s complicated?” She finished for him, pointing at the yellow glow stick on his wrist. He always picked ‘It’s Complicated’ yellow for these kinds of traffic light parties. It was just the easiest—saved him from the awkwardness of being flirted with and having to turn people down while also not lying that he was in a relationship already.

Hero nodded, and Brandi patted his hand with a soft, bittersweet expression and a knowing smile. She leaned closer to him so no one would hear her whisper, “Your heart’s still with her, isn’t it?”

Something panged in that all too familiar ache in Hero’s chest. He supposed that was one way of putting it. It wasn’t something he ever really talked about, but he supposed it was no secret that he had not had a relationship with anyone since Mari. The truth was, even if he had wanted one—even if he could move on from her, he didn’t think it would be fair—not to Mari’s memory or to whoever he could be with. He had already had a beautiful love story and, even though it was cut short, he felt that to even wish for anything more would be greedy and ungrateful for the time that he and Mari did have together. That said, doubt occasionally set in that that was a bit of an unreasonable notion all things considered—he had been only fifteen when she had passed and had his whole life ahead of him. In the deepest corners of his mind, he knew she would probably want him to move on and be happy again, but at the same time even if he could someday be ready to open up his heart again, he worried that he would never be able to give that other person the love she deserved. He would never be able to say that she was the one and only love of his life and would never be able to tell her that he had never felt this way about anyone. He would always miss Mari, and, now, the only heart he had to give had already been broken and painfully pieced back together. It was so busted and bruised that, if he was being perfectly honest, he had trouble believing that anyone would even want it.

“Hero…”

“It’s okay,” he cut her off with a slight, reassuring smile, and Brandi smiled back. “I’m okay.”

Brandi nodded. “I understand,” she said with a sigh before taking a sip of her drink. “But if you ever change your mind…if you’re ever ready…you know where to find me, and I know where to find a ton of girls who would definitely be interested.” She winked at him, and he playfully rolled his eyes though he scratched the back of his neck when he felt an arm drape around his shoulders.

“What’s going on?” exclaimed Kyle, his voice already starting to slur from too much liquor.

“Brandi’s trying to set me up,” sighed Hero in a dry, somewhat joking way.

Kyle burst into raucous laughter. “Good luck with that. We’ve been trying too—since I’m pretty sure there’s not a girl on this campus who wouldn’t date our very own ‘Prince Charming,’ here, but he’s practicing to be a monk or something.”

“Well, you know, Kyle, it is possible not to have a relationship—it won’t kill you,” bantered Brandi with a frown.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny.” Kyle stuck his tongue out at her. “I know you think I’m a serial optometrist.”

“Monogamist,” corrected Brandi, as Hero covered his mouth with his hand and tried not to laugh. “How drunk are you?”

Kyle hummed, kind of teetering in place. “I dunno.” He turned to Hero. “Mama, how drunk am I?”

Hero sighed, reaching to pour Kyle what was clearly a much needed glass of water. “Here,” he said, avoiding the question. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”

Kyle nodded and gulped down the water. Hero must have refilled his glass at least twice more, before Kyle leaned his elbows on the counter and asked for a BLT which Hero promptly went to work making. “Thanks. Look, I love my relationships. I just don’t want my friends missing out, you know? And hell, if I was that popular, I’d probably be taking full advantage of it—most guys would. Mama here is an actual saint.”

Hero’s face flushed red, but before he could begin to protest, Brandi interjected with a huffy, “I’m sure you would Kyle” conveniently ignoring his comments about Hero’s supposed sainthood. Her brow furrowed—her eyes narrowing at the green glow stick bracelet on Kyle’s wrist. “I see you’re on the market again. What happened to Tiffany?”

“Eh, didn’t work out,” shrugged Kyle. “We were too different.”

“Realized you didn’t have anything in common besides your love of sucking face?” quipped Brandi sarcastically. Kyle rolled his eyes.

“No,” he insisted, but then sighed. “Alright…sort of…but there were more problems than that.” He sighed. “You know…never mind. I didn’t come over here to talk about Tiffany.” He waved his hand dismissively before his face lit up like a little kid on Christmas. “I wanted to tell you guys, there’s this whole group of girls hanging out in the living room, and they think I look like Nick Carter.”

“How drunk are they?” scoffed Brandi.

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, I’ve always thought I looked like him. You think so, don’t you, Hero?”

Hero tilted his head. He supposed he could kind of see it. They had similarly shaped noses, heart-shaped faces, pale skin, light eyes, and blonde hair; however, the trait they had most in common was that curtain bangs haircut, and Hero was fairly certain Kyle had purposely styled his hair that way just to look like he could be in a boy band. Even so, he shrugged and said, “Yeah. You’re practically the sixth Backstreet Boy.”

“See,” he turned to Brandi with a triumphant huff, almost like the satisfied taunt a young boy might give his little sister. Hero chuckled lightly to himself. It reminded him a bit of Kel.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Brandi insisted. “Hero would say anything just to be nice.”

Hero’s face flushed. He hoped he wouldn’t get pulled back into this argument, but luckily Kyle didn’t seem to hear her, instead insisting, “And here I was going to say I think you look like Celine Dion, but now that you’ve been so rude to me, I don’t think I’ll say anything.”

“I don’t look like Celine Dion, Kyle.” Brandi shook her head before taking a sip of her drink.

“Aw, I think you kinda look like Celine Dion, babe,” C.J. interjected draping an arm around his girlfriend.

“Thanks, but I really don’t…” Brandi sighed, but C.J. cut her off.

“And I always thought I kinda look like Usher but with glasses.”

“Not you too…” she teased though there was a certain affection in her eyes and a twitch in the corners of her mouth. “What is it with guys comparing themselves to celebrities? I honestly thought that was just a girl thing.”

C.J. pouted playfully. “What? You don’t think I look like Usher?”

Once again, Hero could kind of see the similarities—oval shaped faces, wide cheekbones, warm eyes, dark skin, and bright, beaming smiles. They looked about as much alike as Kyle and Nick Carter though he wasn’t sure that was saying much, especially coming from him. Brandi, it seemed, was unconvinced.

“I think you look like C.J.” she said quirking an eyebrow at him.

“I’m not sure I know that celebrity,” he teased wrapping his arms around her neck. “Is he handsome?”

Brandi stifled a chuckle but playfully, pretended to ponder the question before finally meeting his gaze. “Yes.”

C.J.’s face lit up into that beaming, 100-watt smile as he looked into her eyes. Hero recognized that look, like Brandi was the only one in the room and they were lost in their own little corner of the world. She ruffled her hand through his tight curls, and he leaned in and kissed her.

“Get a room you two,” teased Kyle sticking his tongue out at them. With a flick of his finger, C.J. promptly told Kyle exactly what he thought of his comments before he cupped Brandi’s face in his hands.

With a bantering shake of his head, Kyle stared down at his green glow stick bracelet like it was watch. Hero turned away abruptly, his face feeling warm as if he had intruded on what should be a very private moment.

Truthfully, despite the awkwardness he currently felt at their extremely public display of affection, he really was happy for them—for all of his friends who wanted relationships and had found them. If he was being honest with himself, however, it did bring up some complicated feelings for him sometimes—made him feel lonely. It was a self-imposed loneliness, but that didn’t mean it was always free from sadness. He glanced down at the yellow glow stick on his wrist. The truth was it wasn’t all that complicated. Even after all these years, he still missed Mari, and he knew he would always miss her. It wouldn’t be fair to pursue anyone else while he felt this way—to put his new love in a situation where she’d feel like a second choice or a last resort, so he contented himself with being alone, probably forever. A bittersweet smile tugged at his mouth. Maybe he’d get a cat… he thought before turning his focus to making Kyle’s sandwich.  

As he added the finishing touches to Kyle’s BLT, Brandi finally disentangled herself from her boyfriend. “We’re making Kyle and Hero uncomfortable,” she said, but C.J. shrugged, draping an arm around her shoulders.

“Eh, they’re just jealous.” He stuck out his tongue at Kyle, who stuck his tongue out back. Hero sighed. It was very juvenile, but he still chuckled in spite of himself.

“Hey! I’m glad I’m not tied down,” Kyle insisted with a dismissive wave of his hand as he took a bite out of the sandwich Hero gave him.

Brandi frowned. “Tell me, Kyle. Have you ever had a relationship with a woman that lasted more than two weeks?”

“Yes!” He nodded emphatically. “With Zuzu.” He paused then called as loudly as he could out onto the patio. “Hey, Zuzu! Come tell these morons how long we’ve been friends.”

A redheaded girl in an oversized sweater whipped around with a somewhat affectionate if bantering roll of her green eyes. “Too long,” she quipped, wrinkling her lightly freckled nose at them, as she walked through the sliding door back into the kitchen.

“You wound me, Zuzu,” Kyle gasped in teasing melodrama, clutching his chest. “What were you doing outside anyway? Aren’t you usually glued to Mama at these things?”

“Because he’s the only sober person here,” she teased, but she smiled at him.  Hero’s face flushed. It was true that Zuzu, or Zoey as she was called by everyone who wasn’t Kyle, was generally his ‘partner in crime’ at all parties hosted by his fraternity or her sorority—spending the night helping him in the kitchen or passing out cups of water to the groups of plastered college students mingling around the house, and often helping with cleanup and dishes afterwards. Truthfully, he enjoyed her company and the conversations they had—talking and laughing for hours while making food, cleaning up or doing dishes together. Though he always felt guilty about putting a guest to work at his party, she always insisted she had a much better time spending the evening with a friend than she would have getting drunk and partying. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He felt the same way. 

“Like you haven’t had a thing to drink,” retorted Kyle, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and staring down into her cup. Zoey merely blinked at him.

“I haven’t. I have a thermodynamics exam on Monday and need to study tomorrow.” She always blamed her aversion to drinking on her difficult civil engineering major, but Hero knew she just didn’t care for drunk partying. Now that Hero was thinking about it, Zoey blamed a lot of things on her difficult civil engineering major—not least of all the red glow stick on her wrist despite being contentedly single. “Married to school,” she always joked, and Hero often joked the same thing.

“But that’s tomorrow,” Kyle whined. “You and Mama are both such old people.” He stuck his tongue out at them, but Zoey just shrugged with a lopsided smile.

“Old people have more fun. You’ll understand someday, Kyle.”

Hero stifled a chuckle behind his hand, before turning his attention back to the stove.

“Brandi and C.J., back me up here,” Kyle sighed, but when he turned around he realized they had gone, probably to continue their PDA somewhere a little more private, if Hero had to guess, but he didn’t really want to think about it. Kyle huffed. “Whatever. Be boring old grandparents together, I don’t care. You’re the ones missing out.” He grabbed his cup, a beer, and the rest of his sandwich, leaving them in the kitchen alone.

“Don’t mind Kyle,” said Zoey with a shake of her head. “He can be such a moron sometimes, but he’s a nice guy, even if he acts like a kid especially when he’s drunk…But I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that.”

A slight smile tugged at Hero’s mouth. He had been roommates with Kyle for over a year now, and he could definitely attest to that.

“We’ve already hit ‘Touchy-Feely Drunk Kyle’”—Zoey tilted her head at him—“How hungover do you think he’ll be tomorrow?”

Hero quickly stifled a breathy chuckle, but he sighed. “I don’t know. He always thinks he can drink a lot more than he can handle.”

Zoey’s mouth twitched into a dry smile. “I bet you’re an expert on nursing hangovers now. It’s a shame that can’t go on your med school application.”

Hero laughed but immediately felt guilty for it.

“Give him one of those sports drinks with breakfast tomorrow—it’ll help. I keep a ton of them in our fridge back at the sorority house for when the girls go out partying or bar hopping.”

“You really are the mom, huh?” Hero replied dryly, and though Zoey smiled, she raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re one to talk.”  

Hero shrugged. He supposed she had a point and not just because she was currently holding his “World’s Best Mama” mug with a dry yet triumphant smile.

“Well,” sighed Zoey gathering up some more of the dirty dishes scattered around the kitchen. “Since you’ll probably be pretty busy playing nurse tomorrow, we should probably get started on the clean-up tonight.” She looked around the room with narrowed green eyes. “It looks like a tornado stormed through here.”

With a weary sigh, Hero rubbed his forehead. Unfortunately, she was right. Given the sorry state of the kitchen alone, to say that the party had trashed their place would be a bit of an understatement. It would probably take hours to clean everything up—to say nothing of the several hours of cleaning Hero had already done to prepare for the party in the first place. Hero supposed he could do most of the deep cleaning in the morning when some of his fraternity brothers might be awake to help out, if they weren’t too hungover that is, but, truthfully, he wouldn’t mind cleaning up on his own—after all, he did most of the cleaning around here anyway.

With a sigh, Hero conceded that Zoey was probably right and he might as well start cleaning now. He reached out to take the mug and the rest of the dishes from Zoey and turned on the sink to begin to rinse them out. Hero shook his head. If he had a nickel for every minute he spent doing dishes in this house…

He felt a nudge on his elbow as Zoey joined him, rinsing off some of the plates she had gathered from the table.

“You really don’t have to do that,” he insisted.

“And leave you to clean everything up by yourself?” She paused but not long enough for him to even begin to protest. “I’ve been there—it’s no fun at all.”

“We got our dishwasher fixed,” Hero sighed with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“Then this won’t take that long,” she continued. “All we’ll have to do is rinse them off.” She pointed a sponge at him with a certain determination in her green eyes that said this sorry excuse for an argument was over, and Hero knew she was right. 

No matter how guilty he may have felt about putting a guest and a friend to work cleaning up his house, he was compliant and conflict avoidant by nature and had no stamina for arguing. She had insisted she wanted to help, and goodness knows he could use an extra set of hands. He would ultimately concede and even though she would insist it was unnecessary, later this week, he’d send her a thank you card with a plate of her favorite cookies or some flowers—or a more thoughtful gift if he could think of one. The last time she had helped him clean up after a party, he had bought her a set of Papa Chip coasters since, while they were doing dishes for hours by hand on account of the then broken dishwasher, they had somehow started talking about how they had both loved Papa Chip back when they were kids.

“And you don’t have to send me any coasters this time,” she teased, and Hero’s cheeks felt suddenly warm, wondering if she could somehow read his mind. “Not that they’re not great,” she added hurriedly. “You’re very thoughtful, but you really don’t have to do that.”

Hero’s face flushed red—he never could take a compliment—but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I know, but I felt bad and…”

“Well don’t,” she interrupted. “We’re friends, and I don’t mind helping you out. Besides, a bunch of my sorority sisters were giving me dirty looks for about a week until I lied and told everyone they were from Jared. I don’t know if they really bought it or just got over it.”  

Hero’s brow furrowed. He supposed those coaters could be a gift someone’s younger brother would get for them—after all, Kel had gotten him a Papa Chip cookbook “just because,” once—but he wasn’t sure why Zoey had felt the need to lie to the other girls in the sorority house. “I’m sorry if I upset the other girls or made them angry with you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Zoey shrugged it off with a dismissive wave of her hand. “They’re just jealous that we’re actually friends.” She sighed. “I’ve tried to tell them that you’re actually pretty friendly and nice, so they could be friends with you too if they started treating you like an actual person instead of some kind of ‘Campus Prince.’”—she shook her head—“But I don’t think it’s been working.”

Hero blushed. Though he found it very flattering, he still couldn’t wrap his head around how he could have possibly become some sort of ‘Prince’ of their campus in the minds of so many girls.

“You should tell them I’m kind of a dork…” Hero sighed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

“I tried that too,” she bantered. “But they didn’t believe me.”

Hero laughed, but his smile quickly faded. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop sending you things.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she repeated, a little more forcefully. “They need to get over themselves. I’m honestly kind of sick of the Hero fan club that goes on in our house.”

Hero’s face felt suddenly warm, and he resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands. “Fan club?” he choked.

“Yes. You, Mr. Prince, are always the hot topic of conversation,” she teased with a lopsided smile. “If you asked practically anyone, they’d say you are probably the perfect man—even my sister who has this awful obsession with bad boys thinks so, which is really saying a lot.” She paused, and Hero stifled a chuckle. Zoey’s twin sister, Lorraine, was a sweet and bubbly girl despite her terrible taste in boyfriends, a topic often bemoaned by both Zoey and Kyle. A slight tint of pink flushed in his cheeks, he supposed it really was quite the compliment coming from her. “And it doesn’t help that you’re so mysterious.”

“I don’t think I’m mysterious,” Hero chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck.

“I know, you’re not,” Zoey cut him off with a reassuring smile. “And I’ve tried to explain that to them multiple times, but they don’t really listen to me since they’re convinced I’m trying to steal you away.”

A blush filled his cheeks, and he turned away from her abruptly. “What?”

“You know, the idea of men and women just being friends, is a little beyond them, I think,” she quipped. “It’s ridiculous, but can you blame them? I mean in their minds you’re a real life ‘Prince Charming,’ and even though you’re interested in women and could have pretty much any girl in the universe you wanted, you’re really, really single.” She chuckled, as Hero buried his face in his hands. He could almost picture that bright, cheeky grin on her face, though he wouldn’t—no, couldn’t turn to look at her again. “You’ve got to be hung up on somebody, otherwise why haven’t you chosen from the hoards of adoring women who would kill to be with you?”

Hero’s face grew hot. He was sure it must be bright red by now. “Zoey…”

“It’s a big topic of conversation is all I’m saying.”

Finally, Hero managed to pull his hands away from his face, if only because his eyes were beginning to burn from the soapy dishwater. “Can you please tell them that I’m very flattered,” he stumbled, still blushing furiously. “But I’m just so busy with school that I’m just not…really looking for a relationship right now?”

Zoey shrugged. “Tried and failed, but I’d be happy to tell them again. Don’t expect them to believe me though. At this point, everybody’s making up their own theories.”

“Theories?” Hero choked.

“You know you have your normal ones like you’re too busy for a relationship or you had a bad relationship in the past and just aren’t ready to put yourself back out there again. Then there are the ones that you actually already have a relationship, but you’re very private about it so no one has ever seen or heard of her. There are a couple of wild ones in this category like she’s a celebrity so you have to keep it a secret so the press doesn’t find out and you end up in a tabloid.” She winked at him. “Just like in a movie.”  

“You are making this up.”

Zoey shook her head. “No, I swear I’ve heard that one, and that’s not even the craziest one. I’ve also heard a rumor that you’ve been promised in an arranged marriage since birth so that you can take over as the CEO of a toaster strudel empire. And, of course, my personal favorite: that you have an eccentric billionaire uncle who wants you to inherit his vast fortune but only on the condition that you remain a reclusive bachelor just like him.”  

Hero laughed in spite of himself. “That’s—none of those are true…” He cleared his throat. “Except the first one about me being too busy.”

“I know, and that’s what I always say. Everybody keeps coming to me and asking about it like I have some secret, inside knowledge or something, but I have a theory just like everybody else,” she joked waving her hand dismissively.

“You have a theory?”

Zoey stopped but shrugged. “I mean…not one that I just sit around and think about, but you can only be asked the same question so many times before you start thinking…” Her voice trailed. “It’s not one I ever tell anyone,” she insisted. “If anyone asks me, I always tell them exactly what you just said, which is that you’re flattered but too focused on school and your future to worry about a relationship right now.”

“Then what’s your theory?” he asked half-jokingly, half-actually-interested.

“You really want to know?”

Hero put down the plate he was scrubbing and shrugged. “Kind of.”

Zoey paused, and when she sighed, Hero fidgeted. “But you don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to,” he hurriedly added.

“No, I…” She stopped though there was the slightest tint of rose in her pale cheeks. “But it’s just a theory. I don’t want to offend you or…”

Hero’s brow furrowed. Offend him? What in the world could she possibly be thinking? His breath caught in his throat. She couldn’t…know…could she?

“I won’t be offended,” he reassured her quietly, but his heart was beginning to pound. “Do you…not believe me? Because it really is true. I’m very busy with school and—”

“No. It’s…it’s not like that,” she cut him off with a sigh as she placed her sponge on the counter. “I really do think that you are very busy with school—studying for your classes and the MCAT and all of that. You just don’t have the time or energy for a relationship right now, but…I don’t think that means you don’t want one.” Zoey paused, her voice growing quiet, and she met his eyes. “I think you do want a relationship—otherwise you wouldn’t be so lonely.”

Hero inhaled sharply—his breath getting caught in his chest. Biting his lip, he looked away from her, staring down at his trembling hands. He wanted to hide—curl in on himself—maybe figure out a way to laugh it off like Kel or Kyle might be able to do, but he was frozen, shocked. Of all the things she could have possibly…? No, that wasn’t the question. The real question gnawing at him was had it really been so obvious?

“Hero?” He could hear the concern in her voice, but he wouldn’t—couldn’t look at her. “Listen, I can just…stop there…”  

“Is there more?” The question slipped out before he could stop it.

Zoey sighed. “Yes, but I feel bad. I can…”

“Go on,” Hero squeaked, barely managing a nod.

Zoey sighed again, and Hero wasn’t sure if she was even going to continue until she finally said, “But…the thing is…you don’t just want a relationship with just anyone. You—you want a relationship with someone you can never be with. And even though you know your love is doomed…”—she paused—“you gave your heart to her a long time ago and you can’t even imagine being with anyone else.”

Something ached in Hero’s chest. Somehow he knew that was what she was going to say, but he had to hear it for himself. He wished he could sink into the floor, could hide from her, from his memories, from himself again. And yet…there was a part of him that didn’t want to.

“Wow…” he barely managed, after a long, heavy silence.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“No,” he quietly interjected, his voice hitching. “That was…pretty spot on actually…”

“Oh Hero…” Zoey sighed. “I’m sorry…I…”  

“Don’t be.” He fiddled with the sponge in his hands, and after a few intense scrubs at a particularly stubborn stain, he finally added as nonchalantly as he could manage. “I asked, and you were right…”

“I didn’t want to be right about this.”

Hero bit down hard on his lip as something burned behind his eyes. Scratching the nape of his neck, he let out a breathy, self-deprecating chuckle. “I guess I had just hoped that it wasn’t so obvious that I was so sad and pathetic...”

“I don’t think you’re pathetic.”

Truthfully, he hadn’t realized that he had even said those words aloud until she had spoken them back to him.

“And I don’t think it’s obvious—except to your close friends maybe?” She paused, sighing and placing a gentle hand on his arm. “She must have been special and very important to you. I think it’s sweet that you’re still devoted to her and there isn’t anything wrong with that, unless, you know, she’s married or something, in which case…”—she began to quip breathily, probably in an attempt to make him smile again—“but I don’t think you’re the type…”

Hero’s mouth twitched in the corners, but the ghost of his smile faded as he shook his head. “No, she…uh…” The words caught in the back of his throat. “She passed away.”

“Oh Hero, I’m so sorry.” Zoey wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. He took a deep shaky breath, staring up at the ceiling ignoring that prickling feeling in his eyes. When she pulled away from him, he somehow managed the slightest twitch in the corners of his mouth.

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago…” He wasn’t sure if his weak reassurances were for her or for himself. “I should probably be over it by now.”

As he couldn’t bear to look at her, he could only imagine what her face looked like right now. He shook his head. He didn’t want to think about it. “I’m—I’m sorry,” he spluttered. “I’m sorry for making you sad. I—”

“No,” Zoey cut him off. “You didn’t make me sad. Hero…if you want to talk about it, you can tell me. I’m your friend—I care about you.” She paused, and Hero bit his lip. He could feel her gentle hand running comfortingly across his shoulders. “You’re not going to hurt me. I can take it.”

Hero finally breathed—a long deep exhale of the breath he had been holding for far too long. She had no idea how reassuring those words were. Still…try as he might, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her. He opened his mouth, but the words got garbled in the back of his throat.

“Take your time,” she whispered.

After several deep breaths he finally choked out, “Her name was Mari.” His voice hitched, then the words began to tumble out of his mouth. “She lived next door for as long as I can remember, and I…I always thought she was just the most amazing person. She was smart and funny and very talented—she was wonderful at arts and crafts and gardening and a really gifted pianist. We even used to play together sometimes, and she was so kind and very generous—she was always going out of her way to help someone and make them happy. And when she smiled”—his voice cracked—“You would have thought the sun shined brighter.”

He paused, sniffled. “I think I loved her before I even knew what that was…And I couldn’t believe it when she felt the same way about me.” As a bittersweet smile tugged at his lips, his eyes grew misty. “We were high school sweethearts, until she died.” He swallowed hard—that familiar, hollow pang in his chest ached.

“We were 15. It’s kind of a long story but…at the time, we didn’t know how she died. We thought—I thought—she had ended her own life”—he inhaled sharply, shakily, unable to stop the words even if he wanted to—“It was probably the darkest time of my life. I was a wreck, and I blamed myself. I…I didn’t even know she was depressed. I thought if I had just talked to her—had just held her tighter, just loved her more—better then maybe she…” He stopped. Blinking back the tears in his eyes, he sniffled and cleared his throat. “But it was an accident. There were…witnesses…we found out later. She—she had a bad knee, you see, and…and she fell down the stairs…landed wrong and…” He stopped abruptly. “You—You’d think learning that would make the guilt go away but it…”

Hero swallowed hard, but he managed a shaky sigh. “But…But with time…eventually I just…threw myself into school and work and extra-curriculars. My parents had always wanted me to be a doctor, and all I could see was years of school, years of residency, long hours of studying and clinicals and work and I thought I could just bury myself in it—stay so busy that I wouldn’t feel it anymore, but it doesn’t ever really go away.”

He sniffled and wiped his eyes again with a shaky chuckle. “I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but I…I’m usually pretty okay. It’s been so many years now, and it doesn’t hurt like it used to. But…but sometimes I’ll see a wave of dark hair or hear a name that sounds like hers or someone playing a waltz on a piano or our song on the radio and”—his voice hitched—“I just don’t know if I’m ever really going to be over it.”  

He swallowed hard. “And you’re right. I can’t even imagine being with anyone else. It wouldn’t be fair—to her, to that person, I mean. What if—I couldn’t love her as much? And you know, I think maybe we all get that ‘once in a lifetime’ love in our lives and I’ve already had mine. It would be greedy to even want anything else. But…but mostly I think it’s just that I wanted to be with her forever, and”—there was a hitch in his voice as tears began to pool in his eyes again—“even now, all these years later, I guess I…I just still don’t know what forever looks like without her.”

A tear finally struggled free from his eye and splashed down his cheek, followed by another, then another. Hero frantically swiped at them, but they wouldn’t stop. Zoey’s arms wrapped around his shoulders again, and she pulled him close.

He wasn’t sure how long she held him. How long he listened to the sound of her steady breathing, felt her hand gently tangling in the hair at the base of his neck. How long it was until she whispered, “I wish you had gotten your forever…”

It wasn’t until he felt the tremble of her shoulders, heard the way her voice had hitched over her words that he realized she was also crying.

He pulled away from her and finally looked in her green eyes—warm and teary. Hero swallowed hard. He had never learned what to say to someone who was crying for him. “Please don’t cry.”  

“Sorry,” she said with the twitch of a bittersweet smile. “I’m not sure I can do that.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” he began to ramble. “I just—I…I really should be over it and I just completely dumped all of that on you and I was so…”—he struggled to find the words—“weepy and melodramatic and needy and…”

“No,” she gently cut him off. “You were real. Don’t apologize for that.” She wiped her eyes, and her expression softened. “Hero, what happened was so awful, and the idea of you having to go through something like that, it just—” She stopped. “That’s why I cried. You didn’t hurt me. I told you I can take it, and I’m okay.” She sighed. “And you know for what it’s worth, I think the whole idea of ‘getting over it’ is bullshit. There are some things in our lives that we’ll just never get over. We can get past them, but they’re still going to be there—we just have to learn to build a new life around them, so don’t beat yourself up. You’re still entitled to feel sad. Heck, you’d be entitled to never leave your room again after something like that, but here you are, out living your life, so give yourself a break, okay?” She nodded at him with a slight, reassuring smile before she patted his hand. “And for goodness sakes, stop worrying about me of all people. You don’t have to be the hero all the time. I know it’s your name, but…you don’t have to take it too literally.”  

A light chuckle reverberated in his chest, and a smile twitched in the corners of his mouth. Before he could say anything, however, Kyle burst through the patio door.

“Woah…what’s goin’ on?” He stopped abruptly, and his expression softened. “Are you okay?”

Flushing, Hero swallowed hard nodding and sniffling as he frantically wiped at his eyes. He had completely forgotten himself and couldn’t believe he had just shared what was arguably his biggest, deepest secret in the middle of a house party.

Zoey thankfully jumped to his rescue with a remarkably believable, “We were doing dishes, and poor Hero got some dish soap in his eyes. We’ve been trying to rinse them out, but they got all watery.”

Though it took a few moments, Kyle eventually nodded in understanding. “Oh. That sucks, man,” he said patting him on the back. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Hero managed a slight smile but shook his head. “No, Kyle. Thanks, but it’s okay. I’m fine.”

Kyle nodded again, but Hero saw him glance over at Zoey as if waiting for additional reassurance or instructions. When she nodded at him, Kyle sighed. “Alright, well if you need anything let me know, okay?”

Hero nodded at him then handed him a glass of water. Kyle took it with a smile then walked off towards the living room. When he was gone, Hero sniffled again and turned back to Zoey, sheepish and embarrassed.

“Zoey, I’m sor—” he began to apologize again, but she cut him off.

“No. None of that, Henry,” she insisted with a pointed emphasis on his real name. He could tell she was trying her best not to smile as she said it, probably strange and unnatural for her, if Hero had to guess. It was strange and unnatural for him too. No one ever called him that, ever. He had, of course, told her that she could if she wanted, but she never had—not until now that is. Hero’s eyes widened. Strangely enough, he felt a smile tugging at his mouth and the light flutter of a chuckle reverberating in his chest listening to her say it.

“I’m serious. I’m going to keep calling you that until you stop that,” she insisted. “Stop being a ‘Hero’—stop worrying about everybody else for just a second. It won’t kill you to be a little selfish for once…and it’ll honestly make the rest of us look better,” she quipped with a slight smile, clearly trying to brighten his mood.

It worked. His mouth twitched into a small smile as he replied dryly, “I’m sorry. I’ll try…”

“Good,” she said, but her expression softened as she reached out her hand to him. “But really…how are you? What do you need? What makes you happy when you feel like this?”

Hero shrugged his shoulders. If he was being honest, he didn’t know—even after all these years, he didn’t know, but… just having someone there, having someone listen to him…he already felt better. His face softened, and he felt something warm spreading through his chest as he met her kind eyes.

“Maybe a hero sandwich?” he shrugged his shoulders with a gentle smile, and her face brightened.

She gently nudged him in the arm before playfully taking his spatula. “Great,” she said. “I’ll make you one.”

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Double Date [Hero x Brandi and Bebe x Mikhael Fic for OMORI Rare Pair Week 2023]

When Brandi discovers that Bebe and Mikhael have made their relationship official, she asks her friend, Hero, to accompany her on a double date with them in the hopes of convincing her sister to raise her standards. Hero hasn't even thought about dating in years, and though he knows this isn't a "real date," a fun evening out, the company of a good friend, and maybe even a surprisingly deep conversation with Mikhael might just get him thinking that maybe he'll be ready to put himself out there again someday. And, who knows, maybe "someday" might even be closer than he thinks...

Relationships: Hero/Brandi [Intimidating Girl] Developing Relationship and Friendship. Mikhael [The Maverick]/Bebe [Short Hair Girl] Established Relationship. Hero & Mikhael Friendship.

Characters: Hero (POV Character), Brandi [Intimidating Girl], Bebe [Short Haired Girl/Fountain Girl], and Mikhael [The Maverick].

Genre: Slice of Life, Fluff and Humor, Double Date, First Date, Developing Relationship, Heart-To-Heart Chats, Open Ending, Hopeful Ending, Post-Good Ending, Hero Deserves To Be Happy

Rating & Warnings: Rated T for brief depiction of college partying and some mentions of drinking. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death. Some OMORI spoilers.

Link to work on AO3. Full text below the cut.

A/N: Thank you so much for supporting our newest contribution to the "Hero Deserves To Be Happy" genre (if that isn't already a genre, it definitely should be)! We think that Hero and Brandi's relationship (whether romantic or platonic) is very underrated and have always been extremely fond of Mikhael x Bebe so we were really excited for the opportunity to write about them for OMORI Rare Pairs Week 2023 hosted by @omorirarepairweek Day 6 Prompt: "Double Date." Thank you for reading! 💙

“Tequila shots?” asked Hero with a concerned expression. Brandi huffed as he took a seat beside her on the rickety metal bench that was one of the only pieces of furniture in the backyard of her sorority house. She quirked an eyebrow at him and his bottled water, then stared him dead in the eyes as she threw back her shot glass.

“I don’t want to hear it tonight, Hero.” As she shook her head, Hero’s face flushed. He hadn’t meant to pry into her business or offer any sort of judgment on her beverage preferences. He had just been a little surprised. Brandi was the one familiar and often the only other mostly-soberface at the wild college parties he often found himself roped into, and while she usually indulged in a beer, a hard lemonade, or a rum and coke, he had never seen her throw back multiple shots of tequila. She always insisted the cheap booze they had at these parties wasn’t worth the headache she’d have the next morning, but he supposed it was none of his business—even if she was his friend and he was worried about her.

Before Hero could begin to apologize, however, Brandi huffed, then shrugged her shoulders. “My sister, Bebe, called earlier—completely ruined my night.”

“Is everything alright?”

“That bozo, Mikhael, finally made it official.” Rolling her eyes, she reached for another shot of tequila from a nearby table.

Hero scratched the back of his neck. “Well…uh…they have been talking for a while, haven’t they?”

“Don’t remind me,” huffed Brandi rolling her eyes. “I guess I was just hoping he’d eventually get bored before he asked her to be his girlfriend.”

Hero sighed. He didn’t know Mikhael very well but from what he had heard from Kel he was so desperate for a relationship that he was actually paying girls to pretend to be interested in him at one point. Hero couldn’t imagine him giving up on a girl who was actually interested in him, but he wouldn’t say that to Brandi.

“I have no idea what she sees in him…” She huffed shaking her head bitterly again. “I’ve tried to tell her he’s bad news, but she never listens to me.”

“Well…you know…the Hooligans aren’t really that dangerous, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Hero tried to reassure her with a gentle smile. “Sure they mildly inconvenience people and engage in some petty theft, a little vandalism, and some bullying, but they’re not hardened criminals or anything like that so I’m sure Bebe is safe—”

“Yeah, I know they’re pathetic,” Brandi interrupted. “It’s not about that. It’s about Mikhael being a moron—running around town in that stupid wig, calling himself ‘the Maverick,’ and acting like he’s in Dragon Ball Z.”

Hero chuckled awkwardly. “Well…uh…it’s good have hobbies…and…you know, maybe he’s just…spirited…?” His voice hitched at the end of his sentence, as if he wasn’t entirely sure himself.

Brandi huffed—raising her eyebrows at him before she replied in her blunt, matter-of-fact way, “You’re too nice for your own good, you know? Sometimes people are just morons. You don’t have to reach to find something positive to say about them.”

“I’m not…reaching…” The crack in Hero’s voice implied otherwise. He had always been a bad liar. “I’m sure Mikhael has lots of good qualities. I mean…Aubrey is friends with him.”

“And does she have anything nice to say about him?”

Hero swallowed hard—his face growing warm. The honest answer was no. Aubrey had nothing but complaints about Mikhael even harsher than the ones Brandi had. “You know, Aubrey is not a very…openly…complimentary…person…” he stumbled, and Brandi just blinked at him with a huff.

“That’s what I thought,” she said shaking her head, but she sighed. “You know, as much as it pains me to admit it, the real problem here is Bebe. If she had higher standards and didn’t want to go out with him, it wouldn’t matter how much of a bozo Mikhael is. But she’s so…trusting and naïve.” Rolling her eyes, Brandi frowned, but Hero’s expression softened. He could tell she was worried about her sister, even if she wouldn’t admit it.

Brandi sighed again. “If I was home, I could keep a better eye on her, but I’m not sure what I can do from here…”

With a tilt of his head, Hero patted Brandi reassuringly on the arm. “I’m sure Bebe will be okay, and you know, even if you were at home, she probably wouldn’t let you tag along on her dates or anything anyway.”

“Yeah…I’d have to go on a double date with her and Mikhael which would be awful.” Brandi stopped abruptly—her brow furrowing, as she tilted her head thoughtfully. “I wonder if that would work. Maybe if Bebe saw me with a guy who was actually decent, she’d realize she should raise the bar. I just don’t know who that would be—it’s been slim pickings out there ever since I broke up with Trent.”

“Well…I have a lot of fraternity brothers who would be happy to go out with you. They think you’re…” Hero stopped—thinking of the best way to clean up his fraternity brothers’ penchant for referring to Brandi as his ‘hot friend.’ He cleared his throat. “Very attractive…”

Brandi shook her head. “No, I don’t date frat guys. I already told you. They’re barely a step up from Mikhael.”

“Okay…but some of them are nice…”

“You don’t count,” Brandi interjected with a pointed stare. Hero blushed. He hadn’t been talking about himself. “You’re not a frat guy—you’re a den mother. They just keep you around to do the cooking and cleaning and laundry.”

Hero supposed this was all true. He had basically been begged to join that fraternity, and ever since had been giving his fraternity brothers kind and helpful lessons about how to prevent their house from once again turning into a toxic wasteland. In exchange for teaching them how to wash windows, use fabric softener, and cook food that wasn’t instant ramen, they had affectionately given him the nickname “Mama.” He decided it would be best not to tell Brandi about that, but from the look she was giving him now, he was sure she already knew.

“What about a pre-med major? I have some friends in my classes I could ask. Steven is a really nice guy, and I think he’s here tonight actually…”

Brandi blinked at him, then asked with a blunt, matter-of-factness. “Is Steven the guy currently choking on that beer bong?”

With a roll of her eyes, Brandi tilted her head towards the far corner of the yard where,  sure enough, Steven was surrounded by a rowdy group of cheering people guzzling copious amounts of alcohol from a neon beer bong.

Hero sighed. “You know, he’s actually very smart and very polite…when he’s…not drunk…”

“I’m sure,” quipped Brandi, before she shook her head again. “Listen Hero. The goal here is to get Bebe to raise her standards. Drunk party guys are not going to cut it.” She sighed. “I’d need to take someone like you. You’re the nicest guy I know. If I showed up with someone like that, then maybe she’d start thinking she could do better, but that’s not going to happen if I show up with beer bong boy.”

Hero swallowed hard, and his face flushed red. “You…you want to take me? I…I don’t know…” he stumbled, but thankfully she cut him off.  

“It’s okay. I wasn’t going to ask. I figured it would be insensitive all things considered. I know you’re not ready to put yourself back out there.”

She paused, and Hero fidgeted with his hands. He wasn’t sure if it was more that Brandi knew him so well or if he was just obvious about it.  

“Um…it’s not…I mean it is…but I just meant…” With a heavy sigh, he stopped—running a hand through his unruly hair. “I haven’t been on a date since I was 15. I think I’d be terrible company.”

“Eh,” shrugged Brandi dryly. “Something tells me you’d be better than at least half the first dates I’ve ever been on. I’ve been on some pretty bad dates.” Brandi laughed, and Hero tried his best to stifle a chuckle behind his hand. He felt guilty for laughing. “But I get it. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I know you don’t feel right about dating anyone when you still…” She stopped abruptly, but Hero nodded. She didn’t have to finish that sentence. It was no secret he really hadn’t been interested in dating at all since Mari… It just didn’t feel fair to her, to her memory, and to whoever Hero could be with. They all deserved better. He swallowed hard. Maybe someday he’d be ready to put himself back out there, but he wasn’t there yet.

“I mean I hope you’ll put yourself back out there someday…” Brandi continued with a shrug of her shoulders. “If not for yourself then for the sake of the world and all the women out there desperate for decent men,”—she chuckled dryly—“but I just don’t think this is the way to do it. I mean, it wouldn’t be real, and”—she grimaced, gritting her teeth—“Mikhael would be there.”

As Brandi rolled her eyes, Hero stifled another laugh, but his brow furrowed thoughtfully and he tilted his head. “It…it really wouldn’t be real?”

“No, of course not.” She waved her hand dismissively. “We go out to dinner all the time. It would be just like that.”

“But Mikhael and Bebe would think we were dating…Do you really think they’d believe that?”

“Bebe believes Mikhael was in Top Gun,” quipped Brandi. “He was a toddler when that movie came out.”

A slight smile tugged at Hero’s mouth in spite of himself, but he bit his lip. “I just don’t feel right lying to them.”

Brandi shrugged with a lopsided smile. “You don’t have to. It’s not lying if you just leave out some information, and if someone runs with the information they do have, then that’s their problem.”

Hero chuckled and gently teased, “You’re going to be an awesome lawyer.”

“I know,” laughed Brandi playfully bumping him with her elbow, but she tilted her head at him. “You’re really considering it, huh?”

Though his face flushed, Hero somehow managed a nod. “You’re…one of my best friends, I…um…I want to help.”

Brandi’s expression softened, and she playfully ruffled his hair. “You’re really sweet, you know that?” Hero’s blush deepened. “Tell you what: if you agree to do this for me, we can take my car back to Faraway Town for the weekend and I’ll pay for all the gas and everything. You’ll get to see your family and your friends, and you’ll miss out on that awful keg party your frat is hosting. There’s a couple of unpleasant hours with Mikhael, but we’ll pick a good restaurant so hopefully the food will be worth it. Then we come back here and carry on like nothing ever happened—what do you say?”

Hero took a deep breath, but a smile twitched in the corners of his mouth as he met Brandi’s eyes. “Okay,” he said. “I’m in.”

*-*-*

“And then I said, ‘No. No, Mr. Mayor you don’t have to give me the key to the city. It was all in day’s work for I, The Maverick…” Mikhael flipped his hair—upsetting his wig which he swiftly readjusted, shifting in place in his booth at the nicest economically-priced Italian restaurant in Faraway Town. It had been difficult to pick a restaurant in Mikhael’s price range after Brandi had staunchly ruled out Gino’s—which Hero, somewhat guiltily, suspected she had done for his sake knowing that he had taken Mari there on their first date years ago. Hero appreciated her sensitivity but felt guilty for making things more difficult for everyone. After all, Hero supposed it didn’t really matter where they went—it was going to feel strange going out anywhere after all this time and after everything that had happened. Even though he knew it wasn’t a real date, Hero had been worried about it for days and spent far too long trying to pick out his clothes and get ready. He even picked up a potted plant for Brandi to be polite—an orchid which Basil had assured him was low-maintenance. Hero supposed that suited her best. She had always been so independent, strong, and self-reliant. Plus, he thought with a slight flush in his cheeks, it was pretty like her.

Hero cleared his throat pushing the thought away and turning his attention instead to Bebe who was staring at Mikhael positively enraptured. Despite what Brandi said, Hero honestly thought it was kind of sweet how smitten Bebe was with Mikhael. She was perhaps a little infatuated and misguided, but she was sincere and Hero could tell she thought the world of him. How Mikhael felt about Bebe, however, had yet to be seen and was likely the real problem.

“Wow!” she sighed wistfully. “You’re so amazing, the Maverick.”

“I know,” he hummed with a somewhat smug grin.

Brandi pressed her hand to her forehead and shook her head—rolling her eyes for what had to be the twentieth time that night. Hero sighed. It had only been half an hour. Their food hadn’t even arrived yet.

She shot Hero an exasperated look as she reached for her nearly empty glass of wine. “Regretting your decision to agree to this yet?” she quipped through her teeth. Hero stifled a laugh, but he shook his head.

Surprisingly enough, if he was being honest, Hero was actually having a really nice night so far, but he didn’t think it was the right time to tell Brandi that. Perhaps he never would, but he did sheepishly admit, “No.”

“I suppose it is better than that keg party…” Brandi twisted her mouth to one side, and Hero shrugged—his brow furrowing.

“I hope my fraternity’s okay. I made a bunch of food before I left and cleaned up the house and did everyone’s laundry. I even left some emergency numbers on the fridge and twenty bucks.”

“You’re such a mom,” Brandi teased. “You know they’re just going to use that money to buy beer.”

Hero sighed. “I left them a note asking them please not to use the money for alcohol.”

“Oh, a note. That’ll stop them,” Brandi replied with a dry sarcasm. With a slight shake of his head, Hero sighed again.

“Don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine. And who knows, it might be good for one of them to pass out on the lawn. Some lessons they need to learn the hard way, and if they trash the house, you make them clean it up—okay, Mama?” She shot him a lopsided grin, and Hero tried his best not to laugh.

“Brandi…” he began to protest, but she interrupted—pointing her finger at him.

“It’s like I always say—they can’t treat you like a doormat if you don’t let them. Saying ‘no’ every once and a while isn’t going to kill you. I say it all the time.”

“Most of the time,” teased Bebe, and Brandi rolled her eyes.

“Nice to see you’re acknowledging I exist,” she quipped as Mikhael continued to ramble on about “spirit bombs” and his “true form” or something.

“Of course, I acknowledge you. Just because I have a boyfriend now, doesn’t mean you’re not still my sister. You have a boyfriend too—you know what it’s like. You’re not going to forget about me just because you’re with Hero now, right?”

Hero’s face flushed—unsure of what to say and still very uncomfortable at the prospect of lying to Bebe. Future-lawyer, Brandi on the other hand jumped in immediately, “There isn’t a guy in the world that would make me forget about you, okay?”

“Okay but do you think there’s anyone who could make my sister forget about me?” Mikhael interrupted. “And my brother too?”

“Why do you want your siblings to forget about you?” asked Hero in concerned confusion.

Mikhael dramatically leaned across the table motioning for them all to come closer then he whispered, “Because they’re evil.”

“Evil?” scoffed Brandi. “How are they evil?”

“They always want to spend time with me, and they’re always asking me all these questions—trying to keep tabs on me so they can report back to my nemesis and help him thwart my plans. And they keep wanting to play evil hide-and-seek.”

“Hide and Seek?” Brandi repeated with an exasperated expression.

“Evil hide-and-seek,” Mikhael forcefully corrected.

With a bitter shake of her head, Brandi reached for her wine. “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but how exactly is hide-and-seek evil?”

“Well, they’ve got these cardboard cutouts of themselves, and they hide them all around the house which makes them really hard to find. It’s horrible.”

Bebe wrapped her arm around him. “That sounds really awful, but Daphne and Bowen are so nice, maybe if you talk to them and tell them you don’t want to play anymore, they’ll understand.”

“I can’t talk to them!” exclaimed Mikhael so loudly that several people in the nearby booths turned to look at them. “They have spies everywhere, and they’ll just use what I say against me. I’m telling you—they are in league with the enemy. Your sister is too.”

“What?” Brandi asked, rolling her eyes.

Mikhael frowned, clinching his fist. “Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on here. You’ve brought my nemesis’s brother down here to spy on me. Well it’s not going to work!” Hero jumped backward in surprise as Mikhael jabbed his finger at his face. “I’m not going to tell you anything. So there!”

“I…I don’t understand…” stumbled Hero.

“Oh my gosh, Mikhael, grow up!” huffed Brandi. “No one is here to spy on you. This is just a date. I can’t believe you actually have a date, but since you do, calm down, put your big boy pants on and stop acting like a toddler.”

“I—I know!” chimed in Bebe in a shaky attempt to diffuse the tension. “What if we ordered this chocolate cake? It looks good right? And everybody likes chocolate cake.”

As Bebe held up the little advertisement set up on their table, Hero watched as Mikhael’s face fell just for a moment and he mumbled, “I…I…uh…” Then he stopped abruptly—letting out a melodramatic gasp and declaring far too loudly for a restaurant, “That cake could be poisoned! We can never be too careful.”

Bebe stared down at her hands. “Oh…” she said quietly. “Okay…”

“For goodness sakes, Mikhael, the cake isn’t poisoned,” hissed Brandi before turning to Bebe. “Don’t worry. I’ll buy you the cake, Bebe.”  

“No…um…thank you, but it’s okay. I didn’t really want any anyway.” Bebe paused and sighed before standing up from the table. “I…um…have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

As Hero watched her go and watched Brandi get up from the table and chase after her sister, he also wished he had an exit strategy. Unfortunately, he did not and was left in heavy, awkward silence with Mikhael.

By the time their waiter came with their food, Hero had forgotten how long he had been sitting there in the heavy silence, swirling his straw around in his drink. He practically jumped at the chance to help the waiter pass out the plates of food, thankful Brandi and Bebe were still in the bathroom so he had something to do to make himself useful.

He was so busy setting the table that he almost didn’t hear Mikhael ask in a voice much quieter than any he had used all night, “Hey…uh…how expensive is this cake?” Mikhael reached for the advertisement Bebe had been holding up before, but when the waiter finally revealed the price, he set it back on the table with a somewhat defeated huff.

Hero bit his lip, unsure of what, if anything, he should say. He didn’t feel it was his place to pry especially since he didn’t know Mikhael very well, but he definitely had some sympathy for him, having once been that broke teenager who wanted to treat the girl he liked to something special but couldn’t afford it. It was one of his great regrets that he had never been able to take Mari out anywhere fancier than Gino’s when she had been alive, and he didn’t want Mikhael ever having to have similar regrets about Bebe.

“Hey uh…if you want to get that cake for Bebe—”

“Huh? What are you talking about? I was asking for me,” huffed Mikhael interrupting him, but there was a flush of pink in his cheeks.

“Oh uh…okay…” stumbled Hero, staring intently at his plate. He hadn’t started eating yet, thinking it was more polite to wait until the girls returned. Surprisingly, he noticed Mikhael was waiting as well.

“Bebe’s sister really hates me huh?” he mumbled folding and unfolding his napkin. Hero could tell he was trying and failing to appear nonchalant. “Do you think it’s because of the cake?”

“No,” Hero replied gently, shaking his head. “I think she’s just…worried about Bebe—just being a protective older sister.”

Mikhael frowned but wouldn’t look at him. “My sister loves Bebe. My brother too. They say she’s the best thing that ever happened to me. They always want to invite her over so she can teach her how to bake. She’s pretty good at it—wants to be a pastry chef now.” He paused and grinned then quipped, “I mean, she’s not as good as me but she’s alright.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Hero’s mouth, and his expression softened. “Bebe is a really nice girl, isn’t she?”

Though he tried his best to frown and shrug it off, Hero couldn’t help but notice the slightest flush of red in his face. “Well…yeah…I guess…She’s pretty awesome. Everybody thinks so. And you know…I’m awesome too, but not everybody appreciates that…” His smug smirk faded just a little. “But Bebe does… Brandi doesn’t though—faking a whole relationship just to break us up.”

“Wha—what?” choked Hero, though he was sure his blush had given him away.

“Listen, I’m not stupid. I knew from the first time Bebe mentioned it that it wasn’t real,” Mikhael shrugged. “Aubrey says you’re never going to love again.”

With a heavy sigh, Hero bit his lip. “Aubrey said that?”

“Well…I think what she actually said was that she hopes you put yourself back out there because, you know, you’re like a brother to her or whatever and she wants you to be happy,  but she knows you won’t.” Mikhael sighed, twisting his mouth to one side. “But I dunno…maybe she’d think differently if she was here tonight.”

“I doubt it,” Hero chuckled awkwardly. “Aubrey could always tell when I was lying.”

“Yeah, but you’re the only one here who’s actually having fun tonight. That doesn’t sound like someone who’s never gonna date again.”  

Hero blushed. It felt strange being called out by Mikhael of all people. He twisted his hands. “It’s…not like that. It’s not real.”

“Dude, you got her an orchid…”

“I was just trying to be nice,” Hero insisted hurriedly. “I…haven’t been on a date in a really long time, and I—” He stopped, realizing only then that he probably didn’t need to explain himself to Mikhael, but Mikhael just tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders.

“You wanna date Brandi for real?”  

The idea gave Hero pause, as did the fact that a resonant “no” did not immediately come to mind. The truth was he had never really thought about it. If he was being honest, he supposed up until this point he had agreed with Aubrey that he would probably never love again. He was okay with that, but now… ever since she had brought it up, ever since he was actually out at a restaurant on a date even if it wasn’t real… He just wasn’t sure anymore.

“If you do, you already have an ‘in’ you know?” Mikhael continued. “Brandi hates everybody, but she doesn’t hate you so…there you go.” Mikhael laughed before he took another drink of his water, and Hero sighed.

“She can do better than me.” Hero’s eyes widened. He hadn’t meant to say that aloud. He was half expecting Mikhael to laugh or make fun of him, but Mikhael just stared down at his food.

He muttered so quietly that Hero almost couldn’t hear him, “Like me and Bebe…”

As Hero watched Mikhael hang his head and absentmindedly push his food around his plate, something twisted in his chest.

“No,” he reassured him, shaking his head with a kind smile. “You and Bebe are just fine. Here…” He paused, pulling his wallet out of his pocket and handing a 20 dollar bill to Mikhael. “Why don’t you buy her that cake?”

A wide, smarmy grin spread across Mikhael’s face as he took the money from Hero’s hands. “Sucker,” he muttered with a laugh before flagging down their waiter to order two pieces of chocolate cake.

Hero sighed. He supposed it was to be expected. It was Mikhael after all.

Before anyone could say anything more, however, Brandi and Bebe returned from the bathroom, and Brandi let out a heavy sigh and said, “Look Mikhael, I’m sorry if I came off a little too harsh. I’d like us to get along for the rest of the night.”

Mikhael’s eyes widened in surprise for just a moment, but he laughed and shrugged it off, “I guess, I, the Maverick, can accept your apology.”

Rolling her eyes again, Brandi sighed, but she turned her attention to her food. Hero stopped and smiled at her. She was so bold, so honest. The truth was, he admired that in her—he had learned that tonight.

He had also learned that Mikhael was full of surprises, and it turned out he had one more up his sleeve. When the two chocolate cakes he had ordered arrived, he gave one to Bebe, of course, but the other he gave to Brandi. Mikhael turned to Hero with an almost imperceptible wink as he handed the cake to a very perplexed Brandi and said, “Yours is from Hero.”

*-*-*

As they walked home that evening, Hero and Brandi hung back letting Mikhael and Bebe walk ahead of them, holding hands and laughing together about who knows what. Hero couldn’t help but smile at them. It was nice to see them so happy.

“Mission failed,” huffed Brandi sarcastically, but her mouth twitched in the corners. “Back to the drawing board I guess.”

“I don’t know…Mikhael’s a nice kid, and Bebe seems happy.”

Brandi sighed, playfully poking him in the arm. “What in the world happened when we went to the bathroom? You’re on ‘Team Mikhael’ now?”  

“I thought you were on ‘Team Mikhael’ now,” teased Hero. “You did apologize to him. That was really nice of you.”

“Yeah well, after Bebe told me off for being mean, I thought I should probably try to be a little nicer. I’ve been told I’m pretty intimidating.” She laughed—shrugging it off. “I’d say I’m sorry for taking you out for nothing, but you actually seemed to have a good time tonight.”

“I did,” Hero admitted with a slight smile. “It was really nice. I’m glad you invited me.”

“Yeah, me too. It was nice to see you enjoy yourself again. It’s…been a while.” As Brandi’s voice faded, she shrugged her shoulders. The expression on her face softened. “I know we weren’t really close friends back then, but…I do remember what you were like—back when you were happy. I kind of miss it.”

Hero stared down at the pavement, and his shuffling feet before he mumbled, “Me too.” His face flushed. He hadn’t meant to say that. Brandi, however, didn’t seem to mind.

“Well…you know, if you do decide you ever want to put yourself back out there, you are going to make somebody really, really happy.” As Brandi smiled, Hero’s face grew warm, and he turned away from her. “Even though Mikhael was there, this is still one of the best dates I’ve ever been on. You’re sweet, attentive, a great listener, and you bought me flowers and cake. You’re a good one, Hero.”

“I don’t know about that,” Hero chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. “But I…uh…I did have a really good time tonight. You’re really great, Brandi.”

“Aww…” she teased before patting his cheek. “You don’t have to flatter me.”

“It’s…it’s not flattery. It’s just…I…want to thank you. I…uh…haven’t been on a date in a really long time, and this was really nice.” Though his face flushed, he somehow managed to meet her eyes. “Even if it wasn’t real.”

He turned away and bit his lip again—unable to face that look of confusion in Brandi’s expression.

“Did you…want it to be?” she asked, with as much bold bluntness as he would’ve expected from her.

“I…I…” he choked, the words getting caught in the back of his throat as his twisting hands began to shake. He thought he should try his best to be honest—to be bold like her. “I don’t know,” he admitted, but hurriedly added. “I’m sorry…is that okay?”

Brandi chuckled, but she smiled at him. “Yeah…that’s just fine, Hero. Tell you what…for now, how about we say, some of it was real.”

As her warm eyes met his, Hero felt a real, genuine tugging at his mouth and something warm fluttering in his chest, and Brandi leaned forward and lightly kissed his cheek with a kind, “Thank you, Hero. For everything.”

Then, she ran up ahead and grabbed Bebe right before Mikhael could kiss her and ran into the house. Mikhael started huffing about having had his chance at a goodnight kiss so rudely stolen away, but Hero didn’t even notice. He just stood there, frozen on the sidewalk, gently reaching up to pat his blushing cheek where Brandi had kissed it.

“Some of it was real…” she had said. Hero wasn’t sure what part of it was real and which part wasn’t. If he was being honest, he wasn’t sure he was even ready to even begin to decipher it. But for now, he knew that some of it was real—that he had a wonderful night and that for the first time in a very long time, he felt like he could, maybe, just maybe, be happy again someday. And for now, that was more than enough.

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Hearts for Hero Headcanon Requests

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Hi fellow Hero enjoyers! We've decided to open up Hero headcanon requests on this blog since the world could always use more Hero content!

Please send in an ask with a heart or two from the list below, and we'll answer it with a Hero headcanon that corresponds to that category:

💚-- General

🧡-- Childhood

💝-- Future

💙-- Hurt/Comfort

🖤-- Angst

🤍-- Fluff

❤️‍🔥-- Hopes & Dreams/Life Passions

❤️-- Secrets

💘-- Romance

💛-- Friendship

💗-- Family

💕 -- As a Parent

💖-- Alternate Universe (AU)

A couple of rules & considerations:

All requests must be Safe For Work.

Requests can be made anonymously.

The same category can be requested multiple times in different asks for a different headcanon in the category.

Any angst asks including heavy themes (i.e. grief & mourning, mental health issues ect.) will have proper warnings and be put under a cut.

Since this is a Hero Appreciation Blog, all requests must include & prominently feature Hero, but you can request for relationships with Hero in them (For instance, "💛 for Hero and Sunny's friendship." You can also mix categories like "💙 for Hero and Kel as brothers" or "❤️‍🔥& 🖤 for HeroMari"). Unless otherwise specified or in the case of HeroMari (which we know was canonically romantic), all relationships will be taken as platonic. [Please note: HeroMari is the main ship of this blog though we also like Hero/Brandi & a little bit of Hero/OC in "When Sun Shines Again." To make this blog super inclusive for all Hero appreciators regardless of their ship preferences for the other OMORI characters, no content that involves undeniably/explicitly romantic ships for Sunny, Kel, Aubrey, or Basil will be posted here as a general rule and any requests involving a ship in this category will be politely declined. Please see our pinned post for more info].

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If a relationship is not specified in the ask, the headcanon will just be about Hero as a character in general [i.e. "💘" would be general Hero romance headcanons (i.e. how he best shows or receives love) and "💛" would just be general Hero friendship headcanons (i.e. something he loves to do for all of his friends) ect.]

For AU headcanon requests, we are generally not comfortable creating headcanons for specific AUs that we did not create ourselves and with which we are unfamiliar. There may be exceptions for AUs we are extremely familiar with that follow the rules of our blog (listed under "Blog Considerations" on our pinned post), but for the most part, we would ask that you please choose something broad like a "Mari Lives AU" or a general type of AUs as seen across fandoms (i.e. "Coffee Shop AU" or "Fantasy AU") because we can put our own spin on it. You are also welcome to send in a request for AU headcanons without specifying a type of AU, and we will make one up for you.

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Thank you so much for playing! Cheers!!🥰

💙EVENT MASTERLIST LINK!💙

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

When Sun Shines Again Chapter 4: "To Lead A Better Life:" Part 3

⛅CHAPTER 4⛅ "To Lead A Better Life" Part 3

Chapter Description: When Hero visits Basil one last time before returning to college for the fall semester, Basil gives him a letter that forces him to confront bittersweet memories, painful truths, and the complicated feelings that Hero had tried so hard to bury.

This Chapter is Hero & Basil's Friendship-Centric.

Chapter Word Count: 6700. Link to Chapter 4 on AO3.

Description (for the entire work): When tragedy struck, Hero lost not only his dearest friend but also his dreams for the future. Even years later, Hero doesn't know what his "forever" looks like without Mari in it, but somehow he finds the strength to carry on and build a new life for himself. With his family and friends both old and new by his side, Hero struggles through life's ups and downs--the joys and sorrows he faces in a world without Mari. In the beginning, he's only looking to survive it all, but somewhere along the way, he might find a purpose, a reason he's still here. Maybe there really is a way he can learn to be happy again, and maybe, just maybe, when he's least expecting it, he might even find himself slowly opening his heart to love again--he might even find himself believing that even the darkest, stormiest of times will eventually pass and the sun will shine again.

A Hero-Centric story spanning 15 years of his life post-good end. Focuses on Hero finding healing & building a life for himself after the loss of Mari. Eventually includes him learning to love again after an extremely slow burn. All pairings are tagged upfront. Rated T for heavy themes & some language. Reading the prequel is recommended.

⛅Tags For The Story As A Whole (So A Lot Of These Are "Eventual" Tags):

Romantic Relationships: Main Ships: (Past) Hero/Mari and (Eventual) Hero/OC. Side Ships: Brandi/OC and a brief mention of Mikhael/Bebe are the only side ships involving canon characters.

Platonic Relationships: Hero & Brandi Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship. Some Hero & Kel Siblings Relationship & Brotherly Friendship. Hero & Aubrey Friendship. Hero & Basil Friendship. Hero & Sunny Friendship. Hero & His Family.

Characters: Major Canon Characters: Hero (POV Character), Brandi [Intimidating Girl], Mari and Mari's Memory, & Kel. Major Original Characters (Hero's college friends): Kyle, C.J., Zoey, Tamra, and Lorraine. Other Included Canon Characters: Sunny, Basil, Aubrey, Sally, Hero's Parents, Bebe (Short Haired Girl/Fountain Girl) & Mikhael (The Maverick).

Genre: Hero-Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Slice of Life, College Life, Lost Love, Finding Love Again, Finding Healing After Grief, Slow Burn, Developing Friendship, Developing Relationship, Greiving, Catharsis, Heart-To-Heart Chats, Hopeful/Happy Ending, Post-Good Ending, Hero Needs A Hug, Hero Deserves To Be Happy

Rating: T for some heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some language.

Warnings: Major Spoilers for OMORI! Heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some Language.

Link to Entire work on AO3.

⛅ Link to the "When Sun Shines Again" Masterlist. ⛅

Full chapter text below the cut. Thank you for reading! ⛅

“Do you have any sevens?” asked Kel.

Twisting her mouth to one side, Aubrey frowned at her cards, but she shrugged her shoulders. “No. Go fish.”

Curiously, Hero glanced down at his own hand, then at a nearby clock on the wall. They had been playing Go Fish for nearly an hour, and Hero couldn’t for the life of him understand how no one had managed to win yet. Even thinking back on the many rounds of Go Fish he and his friends had played in their youth, he couldn’t remember a game that lasted more than half an hour, at the most, but it seemed that ever since they had started playing cards with Basil whenever they visited him in the hospital the games were growing longer and longer.

Hero wondered if that was on purpose—if his companions were somehow purposely dragging the games out so they would have something to do, something to keep Basil distracted so he wouldn’t start crying again. After all, their first couple of visits had mostly consisted of Basil weeping in tearful apologies, and Hero was certain he was not the only one who wanted to avoid that going forward.

Something ached in Hero’s chest whenever he thought of how emotional things had been in the beginning—how fragile Basil had been and that heartbreaking look on his face like he was always on the verge of tears. If Hero was being honest, it scared him, and though it made him feel overwhelmingly guilty to admit it, somehow he couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what his family had seen every time they had looked at him after Mari had died: a shaking, shivering shell of a person they had once known and loved. It was painful to watch, and as much as his heart ached seeing Basil suffer, he could only imagine that his family had suffered even more in watching Hero, himself, suffer in the same way. Knowing he had put his family through that… It was nearly enough to make Hero not want to get out of bed in the morning.

There was something surreal in being on this side of it all. Even having gone through a similar period of deep depression himself—even knowing firsthand how painful and hopeless that darkness and numbness could be, Hero felt completely helpless when it came to Basil and his suffering. He had no idea what to do—if there was even anything he could do to make Basil feel better. This feeling of helplessness coupled with the sickening, twisting feeling in his gut whenever Basil burst into tears at the mere sight of him had given Hero a new and incredibly painful appreciation for Kel and what his brother must have been through these last couple of years stuck on the periphery of his loved ones’ collapsing world. But maybe that was Kel’s strength. He could be so supportive and attentive to the needs of the other people around him, and he just had this way of knowing what might help someone, even someone at their lowest, feel better. It had been his idea to start playing cards to cheer up Basil, after all.

After a long and ongoing debate about whether or not the three of them should just stop visiting Basil altogether, Hero, Kel, and Aubrey had sat down with Polly to discuss whether or not their visits were actually helpful or were just hindering Basil’s recovery, which, Hero knew, was the last thing any of them wanted. When Polly had told them that she thought that it would be much more hurtful to Basil if his friends never came around, Kel had suggested that they try to think of activities to do when they visited so Basil would be too busy to think about being sad.

It turned out Kel was right. They soon found that their visits with Basil at the hospital went much more smoothly if they all did an activity together—sometimes a puzzle, other times arts and crafts. They quickly settled into playing board games or, more frequently, cards just like they used to when they were kids.

As time went on, Basil seemed much happier, especially when he was distracted. The color slowly returned to his face. He started tending some flowers in the hospital’s garden and even started taking some photos again. Most promising of all, the last time they had visited, Hero saw Basil laugh for the first time in possibly years at a silly joke Kel had told them about a pirate’s pet parrot of all things. It was good to see Basil beginning to heal and come back to his old self again. Still, they didn’t want to undo any progress so they kept playing infinite games of cards which, if Hero had to guess, they probably did drag out on purpose, at least on a subconscious level.

“Are you sure you don’t have any sevens?” asked Kel, pulling Hero out of his thoughts. His brow furrowed as he glanced over at Aubrey with narrowed eyes.

“No,” she huffed, growing more exasperated. “I don’t have any sevens, Kel.”

 “I—I have sevens,” sniffled Basil “You—you can have my sevens…”

“Sweet!” exclaimed Kel, reaching across the table to take Basil’s cards, but Hero gently stopped him with a pat on the arm.

“Kel, that’s not fair. You can ask Basil for sevens on your next turn.”

Basil sniffled again, pulling his sweater tightly around his shoulders. “It…It’s okay. I don’t mind. Kel can—”

“You’re ruining the game!” Aubrey interrupted with a huff. “It’s just Go Fish. There’s no reason to get so competitive about it!”

“Competitive?” Kel repeated so loudly that Basil practically jumped. “If anyone’s getting competitive, it’s you!”

As Kel and Aubrey began to bicker, Hero looked over at Basil with a certain concern in his eyes. Hero had always known that Basil was almost as conflict avoidant as him, and it was obvious from the way he cowered at Kel and Aubrey’s bickering—twisting his hands and biting his lip—that he would give just about anything for this fight to be over, including an entire hand full of sevens, if he’d had them. If Hero was being honest, he felt the same way.

“C-c’mon now,” Hero gently interrupted, trying to keep the peace “This is just supposed to be fun. We’re here to visit Basil and spend time with him. There’s no reason to start fighting.”

Kel and Aubrey stopped—each letting out a heavy sigh as they stared down at their hands of cards. “Hero’s right,” said Kel “Who cares about this stupid card game—we’re just happy to see you Basil. We can even do something else if you want.”

Basil’s eyes widened, but a smile twitched in the corners of his mouth. “I don’t care what we do—I’m just glad you’re here. It’s really good to see you guys.” Basil paused and sighed. “It gets…kind of lonely here sometimes.”

Something ached in Hero’s chest, and his expression softened. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for Basil all alone in the hospital far away from his family and friends. Even if he knew it was the best thing for him and was glad that he was getting the help that he needed, it made Hero sad to think that Basil was going through such a difficult time alone.

Hero sighed. He supposed Basil had been suffering alone for a very, very long time, and regardless of the complicated feelings that Hero himself may have been feeling towards Basil and everything that had happened, it was more important to him that Basil wouldn’t have to suffer by himself anymore—that he would never have to suffer by himself again.

He supposed Aubrey had eventually realized she felt this way too. It wasn’t long after their conversation about Basil and her complicated feelings towards him a couple of weeks ago that Aubrey had started visiting Basil again. She had never talked to Hero about it, but he could only assume that, like him, ultimately the love, friendship, and concern she had for Basil far outweighed her own hurts and feelings.

It meant a lot to Hero to see Aubrey offer Basil forgiveness, even when it was hard, and he knew how much it meant to Basil that she was there for him—that they were all there for him, even after everything that had happened. These days, it felt like the only person who hadn’t forgiven Basil was Basil himself, but Hero knew that would be the hardest part of all.

“Don’t worry, Basil,” Kel reassured him, patting his arm. “I’m sure you’ll get to come home really soon.”

Basil bit his lip but nodded as he quietly admitted, “I hope so…I uh…I’ve been really worried…about my flowers.”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about those. Hero has been taking care of them for you!” Kel beamed at Basil, giving him a pat on the back.

Basil’s eyes widened, but his hands began to tremble as he turned towards Hero. “Oh…you didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Hero gently insisted with a slight smile. “Your house is on my way home from the pool, so I stop by on my way home from work. It barely takes any time at all, and it’s nice to have a hobby. Besides, Polly has been doing most of the work.”

“Aubrey and I have been helping out too,” added Kel. “But we’re not as good at gardening as you or Hero.”

Basil cleared his throat. “Well, thank you—all of you. I really appreciate it. I just…”  He paused, biting his lip and staring at his twisting hands. “I just…hope it’s not ruining your summer or taking up too much of your time.”

Aubrey, Kel and Hero quickly glanced at each other with somewhat awkward smiles—silently agreeing not to tell Basil that this had probably been one of the worst summers of their entire lives even without having to look after his garden for him. Hero had spent most of it working long hours at the community pool, cleaning his house, tending Basil’s garden, going for runs around the neighborhood, and desperately looking for anything else that would take his mind off of things. He craved being busy, but more than that he craved a distraction from his crumbling world. Sunny had moved. Basil was in the hospital. Kel and Aubrey were struggling. Everything in Hero’s life seemed to fall apart again this summer—collapsing under the weight of the truth. He could only imagine that Aubrey and Kel felt the same way. They couldn’t wait for this summer to finally be over…but they could never say that to Basil who stared up at them with frightened but hopeful eyes.

“How—how are you all doing?” Basil stumbled, in what Hero could only guess was a desperate attempt to fill the silence. “Is there…anything new and exciting in Faraway Town?”

Hero wracked his brain, but he couldn’t think of even one piece of good news to tell Basil. From the look on Aubrey’s face, it seemed she couldn’t think of one either. They both turned to Kel, who twisted his mouth to one side—his brow furrowing thoughtfully as if he, too, was scrounging to think of something positive to say.

“Uhhh… Hero got a postcard all the way from Venice, Italy.”

“Well…that’s pretty cool” said Basil with a slight smile.

Hero shrugged his shoulders. He supposed it was kind of sad that the most exciting thing that had happened all summer was that he had gotten a postcard from Italy, but his family, Kel especially, had been very fascinated by it. They had never gotten something in the mail from somewhere so far away before.

“It was really cool!” exclaimed Kel “It had a bridge on it.”

“Who was it from?” asked Basil.

“My friend from college, Kyle, sent it to me while his family was on vacation there,” said Hero. “It has the Bridge of Sighs on it. Kyle said he always buys postcards with bridges on them because one of his best friends is a civil engineering major and wants to build bridges someday. He gets her postcards of local bridges from all of his vacation destinations, but he had an extra one this time so he sent it to me.”

Basil smiled. “That was really nice of him. I think my parents went to Venice once. I saw pictures of it, and it was really pretty. I’ve always wanted to go someday”

“Then you should!” interjected Kel “We should all go. Someday when you get out of this place and we’re all grown up and stuff, we should all go to Venice—and then we can ride on those cool boats they have there!”

“They’re called gondolas, Kel,” Aubrey corrected with a huff.  

Kel rolled his eyes, but he beamed at Basil. “Sunny can come too. It’ll be an adventure!”

Aubrey sighed. “It’ll be years before we’ll be able to go to Venice, Kel. We might not ever be able to go there.”

“Well…” said Kel. “In the meantime, maybe Hero can bring his postcard to show Basil the next time we come to visit.”

“Oh wow!” Basil’s face seemed to light up as he smiled at his friends. “I’d love to see it.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, Hero tilted his head and gave Basil a bittersweet smile. “I’d love to show you my postcard, Basil. I’m sorry I didn’t bring it. I didn’t know that you wanted to see it. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to come visit you again because I have to go back to college next week.”

Basil’s face fell, but Hero could tell he tried his best to smile at him. “That’s okay” he said. “The doctor doesn’t think I’ll have to stay in the hospital for too much longer anyway. He hopes I’ll get to go home by the time school starts again.”

“That’s awesome Basil!” exclaimed Kel, and Aubrey nodded in agreement.

“I’m so happy to hear that,” said Hero. “I’m sure Kel and Aubrey will take really good care of you and help you get settled back in when school starts.”

“Yeah,” agreed Kel “And if anyone gives you weird looks or something, Aubrey will just beat them up with her nail bat.”

“Kel!” huffed Aubrey.

Before anybody could say anything more, however, the nurse came by to tell them that visiting hours were almost over and that they would have to leave soon. Aubrey and Kel both got up from the table to go to the bathroom before their long drive back to Faraway Town, leaving Hero and Basil alone.

“Are you excited—to be going back to college?” asked Basil.

Hero bit his lip. The honest answer was yes. In fact, he had never been happier to go back to anywhere in his entire life—though he supposed that wasn’t an entirely fair statement. It wasn’t going back to college that Hero was looking forward to—it was the idea of this long, horrible summer finally being over.

He didn’t want to upset Basil by telling him that, however, so he merely shrugged with half a smile and said “A little. It’ll be hard to leave my family again but…I missed school and my friends in the city. Plus, I made plans to see Sunny”

“Really?” asked Basil.

“Yeah. I called him last week and asked if I could take him to one of my favorite coffee places near campus. It’ll be nice to see him again and see how he’s settling in after the move.”

Basil’s expression softened, and he smiled. “I’m so glad to hear that. I’m sure it will mean a lot to Sunny that you want to visit him.” He paused, fumbling around for something in the pocket of his sweater. “That reminds me, I have a letter for Sunny. Do you think you could give it to him for me?”

Hero nodded. “Of course”

“I have one for you too,” Basil continued, handing Hero two envelopes. They were both heavy and lumpy like two small packages rather than letters. Whatever letters were inside must be several pages long.

Hero swallowed hard—trying his best to calm himself with a deep breath. He could only imagine what his letter said, but the truth was, he didn’t want to imagine it. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to read it.

For the entire summer, Hero had been trying his absolute best not to think about what Basil had done. He hadn’t lied to Aubrey when he told her he wasn’t angry with Basil, but he knew there were still complicated feelings, hurts, there under the surface. He supposed he had been running from them—pushing them aside like a kind of self-preservation or, perhaps more accurately, a somewhat desperate attempt at triage.

Triage, Hero thought. That certainly seemed like a good word for it.

In a medical ethics class he had taken last semester, Hero had learned about disaster triage or how to prioritize individual emergencies during a large-scale disaster. It was the best metaphor he could think of for how this summer had felt, especially as far as Basil was concerned. Whatever Hero may have felt or may have been dealing with on his own—it was small and inconsequential compared to Basil’s well-being when he was so fragile and such a danger to himself. Hero knew that he, himself, was hurting. He accepted that, but he couldn’t accept that that mattered, so he had buried his own complicated feelings so deep that he wasn’t even sure what he felt anymore. As he stared at the envelope in his hands, however, his stomach coiled and twisted with the sickening, sinking feeling that as soon as he opened that letter, he wouldn’t be able to run from it anymore.

“Do you…uh…want me to read this now?” Hero stumbled with a crack in his voice. He tried not to sigh too loudly in relief as Basil shook his head.

“It’s kind of long… You should probably read it when you get home. Or uh…”—his voice hitched—“you don’t have to read it at all, if you…”

As Basil’s voice tapered off, Hero reached out to gently pat his twisting hands. “No, um…I will. I’ll try to read it tonight. Thank you.”

“I have letters for Kel and Aubrey too, but I’ll see them when I get to come home so…” Basil’s voice trailed, but Hero nodded.

“I’m really glad that you’re going to get to come home soon, Basil. I’m sure Aubrey and Kel will look after you, but I’m always here too. If you need anything, just call” He reached for a nearby pad of paper and a pen, which Aubrey had been using to keep score during their card game and wrote down his phone number “This is my phone number at college. Feel free to call me anytime.”

As he handed the piece of paper to Basil, Basil smiled and muttered a quiet but grateful, “Thank you.”

Hero sighed. From the look on Basil’s face, he knew that Basil was never going to call him. If Hero had to guess, Basil was probably thinking that as soon as Hero read whatever he had written in that letter, he would regret giving him his phone number and would never want to speak to him again. Hero wished there was a way to reassure Basil that this wasn’t the case, that there was nothing that Basil could possibly say that would ever make Hero abandon him, especially when he needed him most. But as it was now, Hero just didn’t have the words…so he hugged Basil goodbye, wished him well and headed back home to Faraway Town, where he spent the rest of the evening staring at that thick envelope wondering when he would ever have the strength to open it.

When the clock at the bottom of the stairs chimed 8:00 PM, Hero, finally, tentatively reached towards the letter. He held his breath—biting his lip as he carefully opened the seal with trembling hands, bracing himself for whatever might be inside. He pulled out a dense stack of notebook paper which he slowly unfolded counting not two or three but ten pages filled with small, delicate script on both the front and back sides. Thankfully, the pages were numbered.

Hero swallowed hard and staring down at the paper in front of him, began to read.

Dear Hero,

This is the fourth time I have tried to write this letter. My doctor suggested that it would be good for me to be honest with you about my regrets to try to make amends and move forward. I don’t think I’ve been doing a very good job of that, and I’m really sorry if I, or this letter, am a burden to you.

I want to start by saying that I have always looked up to and admired you. I’m sure you know that my family wasn’t ever really around. For a long time, it was just me and my grandma. I never had any brothers or sisters, but I had you and the rest of our friends. You were all like a family to me, especially you, Hero. If I ever had a big brother, I imagine he would be a lot like you—always looking out for me.

You are one of the kindest people I have ever met in my whole life. You always think of everyone else before yourself and try to take care of everybody. Even now, when I know that you’re really hurting, you’ve still come to visit me. You still talk to me and take care of my garden. That really means a lot to me, more than I have the words to say, but I want you to know it’s okay if you’re angry with me. I know I would be. I really hurt you—hurt everybody with what I did, and I am so, so sorry.

I know there’s nothing I can say or do to make amends for what I’ve done, and I’m not writing you this letter to make any justifications or excuses. I only want you to know that you mean so much to me—that my whole life all I ever wanted was to be like you. I never meant to hurt you and knowing that what I did hurt you in ways that I can’t even imagine breaks my heart. But what hurts even more is knowing that even now, even after everything I did, you’re still trying to protect me like you always have.

But you don’t have to do that anymore, Hero. If after you read this letter, you never want to forgive me and never want to talk to me again, I completely understand. There are certain things that can’t be fixed with apologies and regrets. I have a lot of regrets—one of the biggest is hurting the one person in the world I knew would always be there for me. I am so, so sorry…

Hero’s breath got caught in his throat. His eyes burned. He couldn’t read anymore.

“I’m going on a run,” he choked out—frantically reaching for his running shoes. Kel looked up from the video game he had been playing with a confused tilt of his head.

“You’d better bring a jacket. It’s cold out there. I heard on the radio that there’s supposed to be a cold snap tonight.”

Hero nodded, but he couldn’t say Kel’s words really registered with him until he was running against the chilly wind. He wished he had listened to his brother and grabbed his jacket, but at the time he had just been so desperate to get out of there—or, he supposed, more accurately to get away from that letter. There was perhaps something poetic in literally running away from it, but Hero hadn’t really been thinking of that at the time. His jogs were his one lifeline—sometimes the only thing that kept him sane, kept him together when he was about to fall apart. It seemed like the only thing he could cling to now.

As Hero turned the corner out onto the main street again, a cold gust of wind blew past. He shivered. It was far too cold for this time of year. Cold snaps weren’t particularly common in Faraway Town, but they generally happened in the spring rather than the fall, at least as far as Hero could remember. He couldn’t recall a lot of cold snaps. As much as it pained him to admit it, a lot of his memories from before Mari had passed away were becoming hazier and hazier, but he could remember a particularly nasty cold snap from about five years ago…

*-*-*

“And watch out for that unexpected cold front,” said the disc jockey on the radio. “Temperatures will drop to the low 30s and below tonight, so you’ll want to get your coats and sweaters back out for the morning.”

“So much for that spring weather…” huffed Aubrey shaking her head as she stared at her hand of cards. “Also, go fish.” 

Kel groaned seemingly upset about both the upcoming cold snap and the fact he was losing at cards. “I don’t even know where my coat is.” 

“I’ll help you look for it,” said Hero patting his brother on the arm. “I think I just saw it hanging up in the closet.”

As Kel just shrugged and reached to draw some cards from the pile in the middle of the table, Hero felt a hand tugging at his shirt sleeve. Sunny blinked at him then motioned to his coat in the corner where he had left it weeks earlier, back when the weather had finally started warming up.

“That’s very nice, Sunny, but you don’t have to loan Kel your coat. He has one at home, and you’ll need it yourself tomorrow.”

Sunny nodded though his eyes widened in surprise as Mari snuck up behind him wearing his coat and wrapped her arms around him. She giggled as she playfully waved the sleeves around, and Hero stifled a laugh as she teased, “This coat is a little heavier than usual, isn’t it?” 

A slight smile tugged at the corners of Sunny’s mouth, and he let out two quick, heavy breaths—which Hero knew meant he was laughing. Seemingly pleased with herself, Mari’s smile widened, and she ruffled her brother’s hair before slipping out of the coat and handing it to him.

“I already boxed up my coat,” said Basil, nervously twisting his hands. “I think it’s under my bed. I’ll have to go home and check.”

Hero tilted his head at him. Somehow Basil seemed more nervous than usual. Mari seemed to notice as well as her face softened, and she gave him a reassuring smile.

“How about I walk you home?” she suggested. “So I can help you look for your coat.”

“Thank you, but you don’t have to do that, Mari,” sniffled Basil. “I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

“I don’t mind at all. It’ll be easier to look for it with several people helping.”

“I can help too,” said Hero. “After I walk Aubrey home, I’ll stop by and help you look for your coat.”

Basil’s eyes widened, and he held up his hands. “Oh no. You don’t have to do that. It’s really not a big deal at all.”

“And you don’t have to walk me home either,” huffed Aubrey with a slight frown. “I just live a street away.”

“But it’s dark out. I just want to make sure you get home safely.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes, but her mouth twitched in the corners as she shrugged her shoulders. “Alright, fine, but we should probably get going, huh? It’s getting late.”

As they all started to say their goodbyes for the evening, Hero watched as Mari gave him a reassuring smile and a look that said, “Don’t worry. I’ll find out what’s bothering, Basil.”

Hero sighed. Of course she had noticed there was something bothering him beyond just his lost coat. Mari was so good at reading people. She always knew when something was wrong and what to do to make someone happy again. It meant a lot to Hero to know that Basil was in such good hands—though he was sure he would feel a lot better once Aubrey was home safely and Mari had helped Basil work through whatever was troubling him.

After dropping Aubrey off at her house, Hero headed to Basil’s house where he was surprised to see Mari and Basil, who was now wearing his winter coat, out in the yard.

“Basil is worried that his plants will get too cold overnight so we’re going to cover them with some tarps and old picnic blankets,” Mari explained. How she had managed to get Basil to tell her this in such a short amount of time amazed Hero, but he supposed that was just Mari’s way with people. He always admired that about her.

Hero reached for one of the tarps and covered a nearby flowerbed. The cold wind biting at them, loosening the coverings as soon as they had been placed, made the task more difficult than it needed to be, but eventually every flowerbed in Basil’s garden was properly covered, warm enough to survive the cold night.

As the three of them surveyed their work, Basil sniffled. “Thank you so much for helping me. You really didn’t have to do that, but it means a lot.”

Hero smiled as Mari threw her arms around Basil and hugged him tightly.

“It was no trouble, Basil,” she said. “We’re always happy to help. That’s what family’s for.”

Tears pooled in Basil’s eyes as he choked out, “Family?”

“Of course. You’re like our little brother.” Giggling, Mari beamed at him and gently ruffled her hand through his hair. “If you ever need anything, we’ll always be here to help you—no matter what.”

Hero nodded in agreement and patted Basil’s shoulder before giving him a hug himself. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Basil sniffled again before saying his final thanks and goodbyes and heading back into his house.

As Hero and Mari started to walk home, Mari reached for Hero’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Hero smiled at her, but watching her shiver in the wind, he immediately let go of her hand and tried to disentangle himself from his jacket.

“Here, you can take this…” he said holding out his coat to her.

Chuckling, Mari wrapped the jacket around her shoulders and playfully teased, “What a gentleman! Thank you.” She took his hand again—intertwining their fingers. “You’re always so sweet, Hero.”

Hero blushed. He watched his feet shuffling on the sidewalk as his face grew warm. “You’re sweeter,” he gently insisted. “What you said to Basil back there was so kind. I could tell it really meant a lot to him.”

Mari’s expression softened, and something bittersweet passed over her eyes. “I feel so sorry for Basil. It’s just him and his grandma. He must be so lonely…and he’s such a gentle-hearted person. I…” She paused. “I worry about him sometimes. He needs somebody to look out for him.”  

Hero nodded solemnly, but he gave Mari’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Hero?” As Mari looked up with him with wide, kind eyes, Hero’s heart could have melted. A smile twitched in the corners of her mouth as she quietly continued, “Promise me…that we’ll always take care of Basil…?”

As Hero nodded, a bright smile once again spread across Mari’s face. “Of course, Mari. We’ll always take care of Basil…and his flowers too.”

*-*-*

Hero stopped. Basil’s flowers. What if it got too cold for them and they froze before Basil even got to come home and see them?

Rubbing his hands together for warmth, he took off running towards Basil’s house where he found Polly out in the yard putting tarps over some of Basil’s flowerbeds.

“Hi Polly. Can I help?” asked Hero with a slight smile. “I was out on a run when I remembered Basil’s flowers and…with this cold snap coming in…” His voice trailed, but Polly smiled.

“Oh that’s so sweet of you, Hero,” she replied. “I’m just about finished, but if you want to cover that flowerbed over there”—she paused, motioning to her left—“that would be a big help.”

Hero nodded, and he reached for a nearby tarp. His brow furrowed as he turned towards the flowerbed—his chest aching at the sight of the clusters of lilies. Lilies had been Mari’s favorite flower, and Basil had always used to say they reminded him of her. When they were kids, Basil had had flowers that reminded him of all of his friends. If Hero was remembering correctly, his flower had been roses—though he had never felt he deserved it.  

Hero’s eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head. There were rose bushes in this flowerbed too. When had Basil planted these?

“This is one of Basil’s favorite flowerbeds, you know?” Polly said quietly. “When I first came to work here, I once found him curled up in it in the middle of the night during a cold snap like this. He had covered the plants but was worried they still weren’t going to be warm enough, so he took the blanket off of his bed and dragged it out here and curled up next to them himself.”

Polly sighed. “When I tried to tell him that they were probably warm enough now and he could come back inside, he wouldn’t. He said he planted these flowers for his big brother and sister, and he wasn’t going to leave them. I was so confused because Basil is an only child, but…after everything that happened this summer…I started thinking…”

Polly stopped and turned to look at Hero. She didn’t say anything more, but she didn’t have to—Hero knew what she was thinking. He was thinking the same thing.

With a heavy sigh, he sunk to the ground. Something coiled and twisted in his chest as he thought about what these last four years must have been like for Basil. Not only was he grieving the loss of Mari, blaming himself for her death and everything that had come after, but he was grieving the loss of his family too, worrying that as soon as they knew the truth, they would see him as he saw himself: unredeemable, unforgivable, and unlovable. Hero could picture him shivering in the garden, desperately clinging to his few remaining memories of the only family he had ever known—waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to learn the truth and leave him behind forever.

As Hero stared at the flowerbed, the carefully tended roses and lilies that had always reminded Basil of him and Mari, Hero’s eyes burned and his vision grew blurred and misty. He could hear Mari’s words, “Promise me…that we’ll always take care of Basil…?”

Hero watched as Polly’s eyes widened in concern. As she leaned forward with an outstretched hand, his brow furrowed. He reached up and touched his cheek—cold from the chilly wind and damp from the tears that had finally struggled free.

*-*-*

“H—Hero?” stammered Basil in surprise as he walked into the hospital’s common area.

Hero gave him a slight smile. “Hey, Basil. How’s it going?”

“I…I thought you were going back to school.”

“Yeah…I…I leave Thursday, but I…” He paused—twisting his hands around the handles of the gift bag he had brought with him. “I wanted to see you one more time. I hope that’s okay…?”

As Hero’s voice trailed, Basil blinked at him with wide eyes, but he managed a brisk nod.

“I brought this for you,” Hero continued, handing Basil the bag. “They’re from your garden.”

Basil pulled out a jar filled with roses and lilies that Hero had carefully picked from his garden with Polly’s permission of course. Hero stared down at his hands and took a deep breath. “Polly told me that flowerbed was one of your favorites. It’s still in bloom and really pretty. I hope you’ll make it home in time to see it before the Fall.”

Basil nodded again but sniffled. “You…you didn’t have to do this. And you didn’t have to come either. I…I know you’re really busy.”

“I always have time for you,” said Hero with a smile. “And after I read your letter, I just…I wanted to come see you because…there’s…something really important that I have to tell you.” He swallowed hard with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I tried writing it down, but I just couldn’t find the right words and I—”

“It’s okay,” Basil quietly interrupted him with a wavering voice. “You can…say whatever you need to say. I’m ready.”

“No. Uh…um…Basil…I—” Hero stopped abruptly. As he watched Basil tremble, watched the tears pooling in his eyes as he braced himself for the worst, his heart ached. He completely forgot all the words of reassurance he had planned to say and practically leapt forward, wrapping his arms around Basil and holding him tightly. He could feel Basil’s shoulders stiffen—could feel him gasp in surprise.

“He—Hero?” choked Basil—his voice cut off by a strangled, garbled sob in the back of his throat. As he started to shake, Hero knew he was crying, and it broke his heart but not as much as his whispered, “I’m so sorry…”  

Hero pressed his chin to Basil’s shoulder as tears began to prickle in his own eyes. He hugged him tighter—hoping that simple gesture would say everything he didn’t have the words to until finally, at long last, he took a deep breath and said, “I forgive you.”

“What?”

“I forgive you, Basil,” Hero repeated in a trembling voice—taking a deep breath to brace himself for the next part, the hardest part, of what he knew he had to say. “I…what happened…it…it hurt me.” He paused—suddenly struck by the weight of those words and of finally saying them aloud. “But…but that doesn’t make you unforgiveable and that…that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you anymore. I forgive you, and I know it’s probably not my place to say this but…I think…Mari would forgive you too and…she’d want you to forgive yourself. It’s…it’s what I want too.”

Hero’s throat grew dry and burned, but he took a long, shaky breath and continued, “You’ve suffered enough, Basil—punished yourself enough. I know you think that’s what you deserve, but that’s not what Mari would want for you. She really loved you, and all she ever wanted was to take care of you. Beating yourself up about what happened, only hurts you…It’s not going to bring her back. I…I”—his voice hitched— “I know that better than anyone. Believe me…if it did, she’d be here.”

Hero stopped—a lump forming in the back of his throat as his eyes burned with tears. “Mari—Mari isn’t…here…anymore…” he stumbled over his words, until finally he pulled away from Basil, placed both hands on his shoulders and met his teary eyes. “But I am, and I will always be here for you.”

At these words, tears began to pour down Basil’s cheeks as if he had never needed to hear something more in his entire life. He threw his arms around Hero and broke down sobbing. Hero’s face softened, and he pulled Basil close. As he gently patted his back, as he often did whenever he comforted any of his siblings, he caught sight of the jar of flowers on the table: the much loved lilies and roses. Hero sniffled, wiping a tear from his eye, as he thought of Mari and her wish: “Promise me…that we’ll always take care of Basil…?”

“I will always take care of you,” Hero gently whispered. “For both of us…”

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Hero Ficlet Requests Open For A Limited Time Only

Hello friends and fellow Hero enthusiasts! We feel that there could always be more Hero-centric content in the world, so, for a limited time, we've decided to open up some requests for Hero-centric ficlets.

Please send in an ask with your ficlet request. You can specify a genre, topic, and/or Hero-centric situation or relationship (either platonic or romantic as long as it satisfies our blog rules), and we will write you a short story between 500 and 1000 words in length (possibly shorter or longer but most likely somewhere between 500 and 1000 words).

We will be opening 6 request slots.

Rules & Considerations for requests are listed under the cut. Thank you so much for participating in our small, limited-time event! 💙

Some request Rules and Considerations:

All requests must be Safe For Work.

Requests can be made anonymously.

All requests must include & prominently feature Hero, but you can request a ficlet about relationships with Hero in them (i.e. Hero and Sunny's friendship, Hero and Kel as brothers, or HeroMari"). Unless otherwise specified or in the case of HeroMari (which we know was canonically romantic), all relationships will be taken as platonic.

We will only take requests for romantic ships in which the other character is confirmed in the canon to be Hero's age since he is canonically an adult [i.e. Mari (who is the same age as Hero) or Brandi (who is confirmed to attend university with him) would be acceptable]. Requests including any ships between Hero and a canon character with an ambiguous age will be politely declined.

To make this blog super inclusive for all Hero appreciators regardless of their ship preferences for the other OMORI characters, we will not accept any requests that involve undeniably/explicitly romantic ships for Sunny, Kel, Aubrey, or Basil.

We are generally not comfortable creating content for specific AUs that we did not create ourselves and with which we are unfamiliar.

You may specify a genre (i.e. Hurt/Comfort or Fluff) and/or a situation (i.e. going shopping or having a picnic) in your request if you'd like something specific.

We reserve the right to politely decline a request (but we probably won't if you respect our rules). 😊

Please see our "Blog Considerations" listed on our pinned post for more information. Thank you so much for participating!!

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

When Sun Shines Again: Prologue "Hoping I'm Always There"

⛅CHAPTER 1⛅

PROLOGUE: "HOPING I'M ALWAYS THERE"

Description: When tragedy struck, Hero lost not only his dearest friend but also his dreams for the future. Even years later, Hero doesn't know what his "forever" looks like without Mari in it, but somehow he finds the strength to carry on and build a new life for himself. With his family and friends both old and new by his side, Hero struggles through life's ups and downs--the joys and sorrows he faces in a world without Mari. In the beginning, he's only looking to survive it all, but somewhere along the way, he might find a purpose, a reason he's still here. Maybe there really is a way he can learn to be happy again, and maybe, just maybe, when he's least expecting it, he might even find himself slowly opening his heart to love again--he might even find himself believing that even the darkest, stormiest of times will eventually pass and the sun will shine again.

A Hero-Centric story spanning 15 years of his life post-good end. Focuses on Hero finding healing & building a life for himself after the loss of Mari. Eventually includes him learning to love again after an extremely slow burn. All pairings are tagged upfront. Rated T for heavy themes & some language. Reading the prequel is recommended but not required.

Chapter Specific Notes: The prologue is HeroMari-Centric and Mari actually appears in this chapter.

⛅Tags For The Story As A Whole (So A Lot Of These Are "Eventual" Tags):

Romantic Relationships: Main Ships: (Past) Hero/Mari and (Eventual) Hero/OC. Side Ships: Brandi/OC and a brief mention of Mikhael/Bebe are the only side ships involving canon characters.

Platonic Relationships: Hero & Brandi Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship. Some Hero & Kel Siblings Relationship & Brotherly Friendship.

Characters: Major Canon Characters: Hero (POV Character), Brandi [Intimidating Girl], Mari and Mari's Memory, & Kel. Major Original Characters (Hero's college friends): Kyle, C.J., Zoey, Tamra, and Lorraine. Mentioned Canon Characters: Sunny, Basil, Aubrey, Sally, Hero's Parents, Bebe (Short Haired Girl/Fountain Girl) & Mikhael (The Maverick).

Genre: Hero-Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Slice of Life, College Life, Lost Love, Finding Love Again, Finding Healing After Grief, Slow Burn, Developing Friendship, Developing Relationship, Greiving, Catharsis, Heart-To-Heart Chats, Hopeful/Happy Ending, Post-Good Ending, Hero Needs A Hug, Hero Deserves To Be Happy

Rating: T for some heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some language.

Warnings: Major Spoilers for OMORI! Heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some Language.

Chapter Word Count: 2731

Link to Original Post on AO3.

Full chapter text below the cut. Thank you for reading! ⛅

“Can I open my eyes now?” giggled Mari—one hand over her eyes. The other held tightly onto Hero’s hand as he led her into the backyard.

“Almost,” he replied with a somewhat sheepish chuckle, and Mari laughed again.

“Okay…but can you tell me where we’re going?”

Hero bit his lip before he accidentally spoiled the surprise. He knew that Mari had always loved surprises, but he also knew that he himself was not much of a surprise kind of person. While he was trustworthy and could keep a secret if asked, he found it too difficult to keep things from his friends and family for too long, especially if they were good things that he was excited about. He had been planning this surprise for Mari for weeks now, and, he was sorry to say, had nearly slipped up and told her about it a couple of times already. Truthfully, a part of him even wanted to go ahead and tell her now, but they were almost there so he promised himself he’d manage to keep it a surprise for just a few more minutes.

“Almost,” he repeated, laughing a little at his repetition.

“Ooh…”Mari chuckled before she donned a frown and began her best impression of a serious commanding officer in one of the war drama films they sometimes watched with his dad. “It’ll be hard to break this one, general. His lips are sealed.”

Mari teasingly saluted at him, before covering her eyes again. For Mari’s credit she had kept her eyes firmly closed shut so the hand covering was merely a formality. “Bet I know a way to unseal those,” she giggled—her tone playful not sultry, though she did blow a kiss at him and Hero suspected she would have winked in his general direction if her eyes had been open.

“Mari—” His voice cracked, and Hero’s face flushed red as he shook his head.

“What? I just meant I bet you’d tell my pet tarantula.”

Hero’s face blanched. “That’s not funny,” he tried to insist though his breathy laugh seemed to imply otherwise. “Don’t even joke about having a pet tarantula.”

“Aww…” Mari pouted teasingly. “But I’ve really been thinking about getting one.” She paused, then added, “Just kidding. You know I’d never do that to you.”

Giving Hero’s hand a reassuring squeeze, Mari giggled again—her laugh light and tinkly like a music box. Hero had often thought it was a far prettier melody than even the most beautiful songs she played for him on her piano, but like any usual teenage boy, he was far too nervous and shy to even begin to tell her that. Still, seeing as Mari was his closest friend and knew him better than probably anyone else in the world, Hero had always suspected she already knew how he felt—how his heart raced whenever she met his eyes, how his chest ached whenever she called his name or how his stomach fluttered whenever she patted his back or held his hand or leaned her head on his shoulder. Mari had to know that whenever he was with her, he felt like they were in their own little world, had to know that he couldn’t see anyone else but her and that he could laugh or sing or just combust from how positively and completely happy he was to even be close to her, listening to what she had to say and trying his best to be supportive and make her smile.

With a sigh, Hero’s face softened as he watched Mari smile now—giggling as she stumbled with her eyes closed. Mari had the most beautiful smile—bright, beaming, and so warm that Hero could have sworn it made even the sun shine brighter.

He would do just about anything in the world just to see that smile—though the truth was he would do just about anything in the world for her, no matter what it was. He’d even spend all weekend cleaning off his patio just to plan a special afternoon for her before they headed back to school for the new term. And if she didn’t know that already, she’d probably know it as soon as she opened her eyes.

“But uh…oh, watch your step.” Hero reached out to steady her before she stumbled onto the uneven pavement of the patio, and his face flushed scarlet as she tripped a little—practically twirling into his chest as she clutched onto his arm. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, though I’d be better if you’d let me open my eyes so I could see where I was going,” she teased as a playful smile tugged at her mouth. “It’d be nice to see your pretty face too.”

“Mari,” choked Hero—his face blushing an even deeper shade of red. He looked away from her, even though he knew she couldn’t see him as long as she was respecting his wish that she keep her eyes closed, but she squeezed his hand and intertwined their fingers.

“You didn’t have to surprise me, you know? It’s not even a special day or anything.”

Hero shrugged his shoulders. “I know, but I wanted to. We’ll be going back to school soon so I wanted to plan something special for the end of the summer, and there’s”—his cheeks grew warm as he shuffled his feet on the pavement—“there’s something I want to show you.”

“Ooh…mysterious,” giggled Mari, but her smile widened.

“Not really…” Hero shrugged. “But I hope you’ll still like it.” With a long sigh, Hero took one final glance around the yard before finally saying, “Alright. You can open your eyes now if you want.”

As Mari dropped her hand from her face, her eyes fluttered opened—blinking in the bright sun. She gasped. “It’s beautiful.”

Hero smiled but shuffled his feet as his face flushed. He had been hoping she would say that. He had spent hours working on building that canopy out of plywood with his dad, and while it was somewhat crude, basic work, even Hero could admit that it did look very pretty when covered in the garlands of flowers he had made with Basil. Sunny and Aubrey had helped too—and Kel, for a little while before he got distracted and Hero asked him to move all the outdoor furniture to the perimeter of the patio leaving a big, empty square in the middle.

“What is all this, Hero?” Mari asked, turning to him with wide, smiling eyes.

Hero shrugged his shoulders and twisted his hands. “Well…I was thinking about how you had to miss the Spring Formal…”

“I told you that’s okay. I can always go next year,” Mari insisted giving him a reassuring pat on his arm.

Hero’s expression softened. He wouldn’t tell her but he knew she was putting on a brave face and had been genuinely disappointed when her bad knee had started acting up again back in April and her doctor had urged her not to put any weight on it for a while, meaning she had ended up back on crutches for the week of the dance and about a week and a half after that. Mari had insisted that Hero should go on without her, but he hadn’t wanted to and instead had gone over to her house where they baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies together and curled up next to each other on the couch to watch old black-and-white movies. Hero thought it had been a much more fun evening, especially seeing as he couldn’t dance, but he had been hoping to make it up to her for a while.

“I know,” he said with a gentle nod. “But I still felt bad that we never got to dance together so I thought…” As his face flushed, his voice trailed. He looked away from Mari instead glancing over at his suitcase record player which he had set on the patio table under the big sun umbrella. “There’s also a song I’ve really been wanting to play for you…”

Hero opened the record player suitcase and carefully took his vinyl copy of The Beatles’ Revolver out of its jacket and sleeve. Knowing that it was the first record he had ever purchased for himself filled him with a sense of pride. After wearing out his parents’ cassette of the album listening to a particular song over and over again for his own enjoyment and “Yellow Submarine” which was Kel’s favorite, Hero decided that he’d like to own the record and hear what it sounded like in vinyl. Hero had a small but growing collection of vinyl records—most of which he had gotten as gifts for his most recent birthday after having gotten his portable, suitcase record player for Christmas, but he had only recently started adding to it himself. Most of the money he made at his summer job cleaning pools and mowing lawns was being put away to help him pay for college when the time came a couple years from now and the rest was going towards having enough money to buy gifts for his friends and family for birthdays and the holidays when they rolled around, but he allowed him a little bit of money for himself and saved up most of to buy a vintage copy of Revolver that their local record store had proudly displayed in their window. He could have sworn he was walking on air when he had finally purchased it and though he had added several other records to his collection since then, this was by far his favorite and the most special to him.

Smiling brightly, Hero gently set the needle to his favorite song, the reason he had been so eager to purchase the record in the first place. At the sound of the opening chord and the first line, “To lead a better life, I need my love to be here…”, he held out his hand to Mari and asked with a somewhat shy shrug of his shoulders, “Would you like to dance?”

Mari beamed at him. “I’d love to.”

Hero flushed as Mari wrapped her arms around his neck, but somehow he fumbled his way to placing his hands on her waist. He took a deep breath trying to remember back to the dancing practice he had been trying out in his room for the past few weeks, much to Kel’s giggly confusion. Hero sighed. He wasn’t sure if his attempts at practice had helped much and he apologized, “I’m sorry. I’m not a very good dancer.”

“That’s alright. I’m not very good either so we can muddle through together.” Mari’s smile widened, and she tilted her head. “This is a beautiful song. I’m not sure I’ve heard it before.”

“It’s called ‘Here There and Everywhere’, it’s”—Hero’s voice cracked and he stared off intently over Mari’s shoulder as his face blushed red—“it’s my favorite love song. I actually bought this record because I couldn’t stop listening to it.”

“I’m glad to hear it’s your favorite because it’s our song now so we’ll probably be listening to it a lot,” she teased, winking at him.

Hero chuckled lightly, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck before remembering he was still supposed to be holding onto Mari’s waist. “Our song?”

Mari nodded. “Everyone knows that the first song that you ever slow dance to is special. That’s why a lot of people dance to it at their weddings.” Mari giggled behind her hand, and Hero’s heart raced as he took a deep breath hoping his face wasn’t as red as he feared. “But no pressure,” she added teasingly. “All I meant was that you’ll have to start thinking about us and about me when you listen to it from now on.”

Hero bit his lip shuffling his feet as he danced with her. “I…I don’t think I’ll have to start doing that…” he admitted, his face growing suddenly hot. Mari’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean, silly? You can’t just not make this our song—it’s our song forever now. You should have thought of that before you played it for me.” Giggling, she winked at him playfully. “Or were you planning to go around playing it for all the other girls?”

“No,” Hero insisted with an awkward, breathy chuckle—his face crimson as he tripped over his words. “There’s…there aren’t any other girls…that’s…that’s what I was trying to…” His voice hitched, and he swallowed hard. “I…I always…only think about you whenever I listen to this song. It’s…it’s your song.”

He bravely met Mari’s eyes, and she smiled at him—that beautiful smile that made the sun shine brighter. She reached out and pressed her palm to his cheek.

“Our song,” she gently insisted, and Hero nodded at her as she ruffled the tips of her fingers through his hair. Hero froze—his hands beginning to tremble as Mari’s eyes fluttered closed and she leaned forward. His heart pounded. Was she…? He swallowed hard. Was she going to kiss him?

“You guys are so gross and mushy!” exclaimed Kel jumping out from behind a nearby tool shed. “Why don’t you listen to a good song next like ‘Yellow Submarine’?”

“Kel!” scolded Aubrey’s voice though Hero couldn’t see her apart from her arm tugging on Kel to come back to his hiding place, but Kel shrugged her off.

“What? It’s a better song than this!”

“I think it’s sweet,” Basil’s voice gently interjected.

Hero was too busy blushing at the unexpected audience to say much of anything in response, but Mari just laughed returning to her best impression of a character in a military drama, “Looks like we have a few covert operatives on our hands.”

“You’ve been watching too many movies with my dad,” chuckled Kel as Mari motioned to him.

“Why don’t you come on out and dance too?”

Kel practically sprinted over the patio. “Awesome! I think ‘Yellow Submarine’s’ next right, Hero?”

Hero nodded as Aubrey, Basil, and Sunny followed quietly and somewhat apologetically behind.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt,” Basil insisted nervously twisting his hands as Sunny nodded in emphatic agreement.

“Kel is such a moron,” huffed Aubrey shaking her head at him. “Sorry Mari. Sorry Hero.”

“It’s okay,” Hero finally managed, patting Aubrey’s head reassuringly as Mari gave both Sunny and Basil comforting pats on the back.

“It’ll be more fun with everyone anyway,” Mari added before she turned to Hero with a kind, affectionate smile. “Besides that’s our song now so we’ll have plenty of time to finish our dance.”

Hero nodded at her, but before he could say anything he stumbled backwards, startled by Mari’s suddenly hug. Basil and Aubrey both giggled behind their hands—probably at Hero’s bright red face as Sunny watched with wide eyes and Kel was, naturally, far too distracted by his own prattling about “Yellow Submarine.”

Taking a deep albeit shaky breath and trying to calm his racing heartbeat and trembling hands, Hero wrapped his arms around Mari. “You’re right,” he said. “We have plenty of time.” Mari hummed, nestling her chin into his shoulder as Hero pulled her close—holding her tightly as if he never wanted to let go.

It was hard enough to manage that given the shy, awkwardness of his youth. In his mind, Hero thought of a day years down the road when he would be older and more confident, when hopefully it wouldn’t be so hard to tell her how he really felt. He had no way of knowing that that day would never come—that for years later he would think back on this moment—desperately wishing he had restarted the song, had finished that dance, had been brave enough to tell her how much she really meant to him. Hindsight really was 20/20. Hero knew that possibly better than anyone, but it didn’t stop him from wishing that he just held onto her tighter because someday the day would come when he was left alone with only a song and the memories of a wonderful girl he had always thought of when he listened to it. He still thought of her and probably always would, but she wasn’t there to dance with him anymore.

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Meet the Cast of "When Sun Shines Again" [Hero's Life After Mari]⛅: Kyle Davenport (OMORI OC)

Kyle Davenport

KYLE is an exuberant sports medicine major who is always up for a good time. He’s charming, outgoing, adventurous, talkative, and enthusiastic with a big personality and penchant for being the center of attention. The fact that he’d do almost anything for a laugh can get him into trouble from time to time, but even though he can often be reckless and impulsive and usually has absolutely no filter whatsoever, he has a heart of gold underneath all his charisma and truly loves his friends (even though he swears he’d love them more if they weren’t such wet blankets).

Birthday: February 3rd

Likes: Parties, Football, Meeting New People, Listening to Himself Talk, Nicknames, Flirting, Video Games, TV Sitcoms, Making People Laugh & Vacationing (particularly at the beach)

Dislikes: Studying, Housework, Being Lectured to by “Boring People,” Pros & Cons Lists, & Lime Jello

Bonus fun facts below the cut!

⛅You can read about Kyle and all of Hero's college friends in the "When Sun Shines Again" series. He just had his proper introduction in Chapter 5! ^^

Kyle would be the first to tell anyone that he’s a “trust-fund baby.” His family is extraordinarily wealthy—having made a fortune selling mouthwash and other dental care products. They live on a private beach in Seaport, four hours away from the city, and have numerous vacation homes. Needless to say, nearly everything Kyle owns is expensive. He often jokes that his parents buy him luxury items to make up for the fact they’re never around. Given the opulent and spoiled way he was raised, Kyle is particularly naïve about money and has very little concept of what constitutes “expensive,” which his friends often tease him about. He has to be given specific parameters about how much he can spend on presents for them. Zoey has made him promise that he won’t ever buy her anything that he couldn’t purchase at Other Mart, for instance.

While Kyle might come off as shallow sometimes, there isn’t an air of arrogance to him. He is extremely charming but genuinely likable, and he tends to be very generous with his money and his time. He, occasionally, purposely flaunts his wealth in an attempt to make friends or get dates, but he knows a lot of his relationships are surface-level and disingenuous for this reason, which is why he values his closest friendships so much. He knows that Hero, Zoey, Lorraine, Brandi, C.J. and Tamra genuinely like him and want to be around him, not just his family’s money which only makes him want to spoil his friends with expensive gifts. He also gives incredible tips for service industry workers.

There’s nothing Kyle loves more than a good party! He is always up for a good time and prides himself on coming up with wilder and wilder antics (like doing line dances on tables or singing Spice Girls karaoke). He is also a binge drinker and has several “levels of drunkenness” including “Karaoke Drunk,” “Touchy-Feely Drunk,” and “Will-Flirt-With-A-Floor-Lamp Drunk.” His friends, particularly Hero and Zoey, try to intervene before he reaches the final stage which is a serious and vulnerably honest drunk clarity which is very dark for the usually happy-go-lucky Kyle.

Kyle has always loved T.V. Sitcoms, especially “Saved By The Bell” which was very formative to him in his preteen years. He has often (drunkenly) told Zoey that she the “Jessie” to his “Zack” though Zoey often jokes that Hero’s the “Jessie” now seeing as Kyle has named him “Mama” (no one knows for sure if this was actually, intentionally, a “Saved By The Bell” reference). He is unfortunately, still waiting on his “Kelly”

Kyle was a big football star in high school (granted his private prep school was known more for its rigorous academics than its athletics but they did fairly well for themselves), but he suffered a terrible injury to his knee in his final season which required countless hours of physical therapy, a lot of mobility aids, and multiple surgeries, including finally a full knee replacement at the age of 18 when doctors were reasonably assured he had stopped growing. He missed a ton of school due to his injury and recovery, so his parents arranged to have Zoey tutor him in his math and science classes so he wouldn’t fall too far behind and that’s how they became friends. With Zoey’s encouragement that he was actually a lot smarter than he gave himself credit for (if he’d actually put in some effort) , Kyle decided to become a physical therapist to give back, grateful for everyone who had helped with his own recovery. His bad knee still bothers him sometimes, and he has to wear a brace if he overexerts himself. He also owns a very expensive, high-quality cane, but it makes him feel self-conscious so he purposely avoids using it (even when he probably should) and only relies on it as a last resort.

Kyle joined his fraternity as a freshman and is a legacy since his father joined the same one when he was in school. Greek Life was something he was most excited about when going to college, and he was thrilled when his charisma (and probably his family’s money) got him into a frat right away as a freshman. He moved into the frat house in the spring semester of his freshman year and after his previous roommate moved out into off-campus housing, he tried his best to convince Hero to join and become his new roommate.

Kyle loves traveling and loves to send his friends postcards from his vacation destinations. He always tries to find postcards with bridges on them for Zoey and ones with food on them for Hero.

Kyle is a terrible cook. He swears he could burn water and can barely even make a Pop-Tart. This is one of the reasons why he is so impressed by Hero and his culinary skills. Hero has tried to teach Kyle some basics of cooking on several occasions, but he is beyond help.

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Hello, fellow Hero enjoyers, and welcome to "Hero Deserves To Be Happy" our side blog for Hero Appreciation! We wanted a proper home for all our Hero love and devotion so here we are. 🥰 We are a fic-writer (Acacia) and a fan-artist (Sprinkles) on our mains, both adults, and the co-conspirators, co-owners & co-creators of the "When Sun Shines Again" series.

This blog is all Hero content and appreciation all the time--both created by us and lovingly reblogged from other Hero enthusiasts. We will have some HeroMari here too, of course! 💙💜 It is also the home of "When Sun Shines Again": our series focused on Hero's Life After Mari (post-good ending).

This blog is not spoiler-free, but we will try our best to properly mark all spoilers with the "Omori Spoilers" tag.

Feel free to drop by the ask box any time to talk about the best, the kindest, and the most delightful of all OMORI big brothers! 💙 (We'd say out of all the OMORI characters, but the rest of them are pretty cool too 😊).

This blog is and always will be 100% safe for work! Thanks for visiting!

A couple of blog considerations:

All Safe for Work (SFW) Hero content is acceptable here including art, fanfiction, headcanons, and character analysis posts. There will never be any NSFW content here and any of our content containing any heavier themes as seen in the OMORI canon (i.e. grief/mourning, mental health issues, ect.) will include proper warnings.

All major OMORI spoilers in our content will be tagged as "omori spoilers," and we will try to tag spoilers in reblogged content as well.

All platonic Hero friendships will be celebrated on this blog, and the main romantic ship here will be HeroMari (Hero x Mari). 💙💜 There will occasionally be some Hero/OC (in the "When Sun Shines Again" Universe) and maybe some Hero/Brandi (though we tend to write them as platonic friends). Please note: This blog will only entertain Hero x Canon Character romantic pairings in which the other character is confirmed in the canon to be Hero's age since he is canonically an adult [i.e. Mari (who is canonically the same age as Hero) or Brandi (who is confirmed to attend university with him) would be acceptable, but we are personally not comfortable with anything explicitly romantic between Hero and any character of an ambiguous age. Platonic content for such relationships is okay. Please see this post for more information if needed.]. All Hero relationships both platonic and romantic will be properly tagged.

To make this blog super inclusive for all Hero appreciators regardless of their ship preferences for the other OMORI characters, no content that involves undeniably, explicitly, and/or intentionally romantic ships for Sunny, Kel, Aubrey, or Basil will be posted here as a general rule.

Constructive critiques and thoughtful discussion are allowed and even encouraged; however, there will be no meanspirited slander of Hero or any other OMORI characters or relationships on this blog. We recognize that there are many possible interpretations of Hero, the other OMORI characters, and their interpersonal relationships with each other, and we want to state upfront that we personally tend to have positive interpretations, especially as far as Hero's family in concerned. Though they are not perfect and they do make mistakes, we really believe that they are ultimately a loving family, and this blog will reflect that viewpoint and interpretation.

Thank you for being mindful and respectful of our blog rules & considerations!

Featured Tags (Listed in Alphabetical Order):

"hero character analysis" for Character Analysis

"hero fanart" for Art

"hero fic" for Fanfiction

"hero headcanons" for Headcanons

"heromari 💙💜" for content including/featuring HeroMari

"hero and kel's brotherly bond" and/or "it's the brothers 💙🧡" for content including/featuring Hero and Kel's sibling relationship & brotherly friendship

"hero friendships" for content including/featuring any Hero platonic friendships with the other OMORI characters [A/N: There are also specific tags for each friendship with the following naming convention: "Hero and [Canon Character's Name] friendship"]

"hero plush's adventures" for posts featuring the official Hero plushie

"hero polls" for polls about or featuring Hero

"hero songs" for posts with or about songs that suit Hero

"omori spoilers" for content involving, including, or featuring major OMORI spoilers

"our content" for content created by Acacia and/or Sprinkles [both created for this blog and reblogged from our mains]

"When Sun Shines Again ⛅" for content related to the "When Sun Shines Again" universe

⛅WHEN SUN SHINES AGAIN [Hero's Life After Mari]

A Post-Good Ending series focusing on Hero finding healing and building a life for himself after the loss of Mari. Eventually includes him learning to love again after an extremely slow burn. Romantic Relationships: Main Ships: (Past) Hero/Mari and (Eventual) Hero/OC. Side Ships: Brandi/OC and a brief mention of Mikhael/Bebe are the only side ships involving canon characters. Platonic Relationships: Hero & Brandi Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship. Some Hero & Kel Siblings Relationship & Brotherly Friendship, Hero & Aubrey Friendship, Hero & Basil Friendship, Hero & Sunny Friendship, and Hero & His Family.

Prequel: "Am I Ready For Love? Or Maybe Just A Best Friend" [Hero Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, & Slice of Life; Post-Good Ending. Special emphasis on Past Hero/Mari (Angst) and Hero's platonic friendships with his college friends (Brandi & OCs) in the present. Could be Hero/OC if you really wanted to see it, but this work focuses on their platonic friendship] (**intended to be read prior to "When Sun Shines Again"**) [A/N: originally posted on main]

⛅️"When Sun Shines Again" MASTERLIST ⛅️

Links to Some More Content Created By Us:

Hero Content:

Hero Character Analysis and Some "Post-Truth" Headcanons (feat. some songs that suit Hero) [reblogged from main]

"Hearts for Hero" Headcanon Request Event Masterlist

Hero Birthday Art

Hero Platonic Relationships Poll

HeroMari Content: 💙💜

HeroMari Headcanons and a Song [reblogged from main]

HeroMari Sketchdump [reblogged from main]

Hero and Kel's Brotherly Bond Content: 💙🧡

Brothers Headcanons Request Event Masterlist

Hero and Sunny's Friendship Content: 💙💛

Sunny and Hero's Friendship Headcanons (Mod Sprinkles' Birthday Event) Masterlist

💙CURRENT EVENT: Hero Month Long Celebration feat. Hero Ficlet Requests 💙

(The banner of this post and this blog's pfp are include official OMORI art edited by us)

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Meet the Cast of "When Sun Shines Again" [Hero's Life After Mari]⛅: C.J. Watkins (OMORI OC)

C.J. Watkins

C.J. is a very reserved and go-with the-flow Pre-Law major. He is pretty much up for anything, but despite his love of a good time, he always finds time to study and is generally pretty responsible. He is hard-working, easy-going, and very sincere with a strong sense of justice and loyalty to his friends.

Birthday: July 12th

Likes: Camping, Hiking, Comic Books, Sweets, Hanging Out With His Friends, and Scary Movies

Dislikes: Doing Laundry, The Strong Smell of Kyle's Cologne, Monopoly, and Fishing.

Bonus fun facts below the cut!

⛅You can read about C.J. and all of Hero's college friends in the "When Sun Shines Again" series.

C.J.'s full name is Charles Jamal Watkins, but he has gone by C.J. pretty much his entire life and insists nobody calls him "Charles" except his grandma.

He is the middle child and only son in his family. His sisters Shawna and Lisa are older, but his younger sister Camille (Cami) is only six. C.J. tries to keep in touch with her and calls her multiple times a week, and he and Hero really bond over having a much younger sibling.

C.J. is often the only member of Hero's fraternity who cleans up after himself, and he will offer to step in and help Hero with chores around the house from time to time.

Though he always enjoys a good party and takes full advantage of the college experience, C.J. makes sure he leaves time for studying too, gets good grades, and is generally pretty responsible (he's just quiet about it so most of his friends don't know).

He loves camping, hiking, and most outdoorsy activities besides fishing which he finds very boring.

Joining the debate team in high school inspired him to become a lawyer one day, but he isn't particularly argumentative and is hoping to draft contracts and wills rather than argue cases in court when he eventually becomes an attorney.

C.J. met Brandi first out of the whole group since they are the same major (Pre-Law) and have a lot of classes together. He thought she was amazing immediately and developed quite the (fairly obvious) crush on her, but it took Brandi a little while to warm up to him. He asked Hero to put in a good word for him, and Hero talking him up to her eventually helped.

His high school girlfriend once told him he "looks like Usher with glasses," and it is now his best (and possibly only) pick-up line.

It is nearly impossible to phase C.J. He is incredibly easy-going and pretty much up for anything. While he gets roped into a lot of Kyle's antics, he usually knows when to draw the line and doesn't get into too much trouble.

He has a pretty big comic book collection, but he didn't bring it to college with him.

Since C.J. has a summer birthday he is technically "the baby" of the friend group, and his friends tease him about this from time to time.

C.J. has a major sweet tooth and has been rumored to have a secret stash of candies and desserts hidden somewhere in his room. He likes to reward himself with a trip to the bakery when he passes his exams.

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

When Sun Shines Again Chapter 5: "To Lead A Better Life:" Part 4

⛅CHAPTER 5⛅ "To Lead A Better Life" Part 4

Chapter Description: After returning to the city for his new college semester, Hero spends the day with Sunny, showing him around town and taking him to one of his favorite coffee shops. Though Sunny may be surprised that Hero still wants to spend time with him after everything that has happened, Hero knows that Sunny will always be a brother to him, and Hero will always take care of him...

This Chapter is Hero & Sunny's Friendship-Centric.

Chapter Word Count: 11,600. Link to Chapter 5 on AO3.

Description (for the entire work): When tragedy struck, Hero lost not only his dearest friend but also his dreams for the future. Even years later, Hero doesn't know what his "forever" looks like without Mari in it, but somehow he finds the strength to carry on and build a new life for himself. With his family and friends both old and new by his side, Hero struggles through life's ups and downs--the joys and sorrows he faces in a world without Mari. In the beginning, he's only looking to survive it all, but somewhere along the way, he might find a purpose, a reason he's still here. Maybe there really is a way he can learn to be happy again, and maybe, just maybe, when he's least expecting it, he might even find himself slowly opening his heart to love again--he might even find himself believing that even the darkest, stormiest of times will eventually pass and the sun will shine again.

A Hero-Centric story spanning 15 years of his life post-good end. Focuses on Hero finding healing & building a life for himself after the loss of Mari. Eventually includes him learning to love again after an extremely slow burn. All pairings are tagged upfront. Rated T for heavy themes & some language. Reading the prequel is recommended.

⛅Tags For The Story As A Whole (So A Lot Of These Are "Eventual" Tags):

Romantic Relationships: Main Ships: (Past) Hero/Mari and (Eventual) Hero/OC. Side Ships: Brandi/OC and a brief mention of Mikhael/Bebe are the only side ships involving canon characters.

Platonic Relationships: Hero & Brandi Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship. Some Hero & Kel Siblings Relationship & Brotherly Friendship. Hero & Aubrey Friendship. Hero & Basil Friendship. Hero & Sunny Friendship. Hero & His Family.

Characters: Major Canon Characters: Hero (POV Character), Brandi [Intimidating Girl], Mari and Mari's Memory, & Kel. Major Original Characters (Hero's college friends): Kyle, C.J., Zoey, Tamra, and Lorraine. Other Included Canon Characters: Sunny, Basil, Aubrey, Sally, Hero's Parents, Bebe (Short Haired Girl/Fountain Girl) & Mikhael (The Maverick).

Genre: Hero-Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Slice of Life, College Life, Lost Love, Finding Love Again, Finding Healing After Grief, Slow Burn, Developing Friendship, Developing Relationship, Greiving, Catharsis, Heart-To-Heart Chats, Hopeful/Happy Ending, Post-Good Ending, Hero Needs A Hug, Hero Deserves To Be Happy

Rating: T for some heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some language.

Warnings: Major Spoilers for OMORI! Heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some Language.

Link to Entire work on AO3.

⛅ Link to the "When Sun Shines Again" Masterlist. ⛅

Full chapter text below the cut. Thank you for reading! ⛅

Hero shifted his weight from one foot to the other, balancing the box he was holding against his side as he walked up the stone steps to Sunny’s apartment building. The buildings in this part of town were different than the modern, minimalist high rises downtown or the streamlined, boxy apartments near Hero’s  university. This part of the city was quaint, historical—full of craftsman and art deco buildings and brownstone townhouses turned into apartments, like the one where Sunny and his mother were currently living. Hero had never really been to this part of the city before. With traffic, it was nearly an hour away from his university and half-an-hour from the hustle and bustle of downtown. It was quiet here. Hero thought Sunny would like that.

After Hero was buzzed in, he walked up three flights of stairs until he reached the door marked “3B” in shiny silver letters. Shifting the box again, he knocked on the door. He could hear rustling behind it—the sounds of turning locks and twisting doorknobs. Finally, the door opened, and there was Sunny, blankly blinking at him with his dark eye—the other or what was left of it still covered by an eyepatch.

Hero sighed in relief. He had color in his cheeks again, appeared far less pale and less frail than the last time Hero had seen him, more like the Sunny he remembered, the Sunny he had been before…

Hero stopped, and cleared his throat, pushing the thought away. “Hey, Sunny,” he said with a smile. Sunny nodded, blinking at him again.

“You came…” he mumbled. Hero’s face flushed. It was true he had gotten stuck in traffic on account of a football game downtown today, but was he really that late?

“Sorry. I didn’t know how long it would take me to get here. I’ll plan ahead better next time.”

Sunny nodded before tilting his head slightly towards the box in Hero’s hands. “Oh uh…this is for you,” he said. “Kel and I went through all this old stuff at home this summer, and we thought some of this was actually yours or that maybe you’d want it. There’s some grape soda in there for you too, from Aubrey, and I have a letter for you from Basil…”

He paused, handing Sunny the box and fumbling around in his pocket for Basil’s letter. Sunny set the box on the kitchen counter—rifling through its contents with the slightest twitch in the corners of his mouth, but he held onto the letter, staring at it for a long time. When he flipped the envelope over in his hands, presumably to open it, however, Hero gently suggested, “Uh…maybe you should read that later…when you have some privacy.”

He stumbled over his words, fidgety and awkward as he thought back to his own letter from Basil—how guilty, heart-wrenching, and utterly tortured it had been. He could only imagine what Sunny’s letter had in it…But whatever it was Hero didn’t feel it was any of his business and the idea of being there when Sunny read it made him feel intrusive and uncomfortable. There were some things that should be kept private.

He hadn’t even wanted to know what was in Kel’s letter, though he had listened when Kel talked through it a little with him, if only to share his worries about Basil. Aubrey hadn’t even opened hers yet, but she promised him that she would eventually, whenever she was ready. Hero had assured her that she could call him when she did, if she needed support or someone to talk to—in fact he had assured her she could call him any time, for any reason, just like he had reassured Kel and Basil of the same thing. But he knew they wouldn’t. It was one of the reasons it had been so painful to leave them behind to go back to school again.

While he had been looking forward to coming back to college and finally leaving this horrible summer behind him, he hadn’t wanted to leave Kel, Aubrey, or Basil, even after they assured him they were okay. It was only when Kel had confessed that it was a big comfort to him to know Hero would be in the city with Sunny that he had started to feel better about things. They worried about Sunny too—if their care-package was any indication, but now that he had moved away, it was only Hero who could check in on him and take care of him. Kel, Aubrey, and Basil would have each other now, but Sunny only had him.

No amount of phone calls from Kel, even though there had been many, or mailed newspaper articles about the upcoming Captain Spaceboy movie from Aubrey or novels of letters from Basil could ever have the impact of being physically present. They all knew this. So they had put their hopes in Hero—trusted him to keep an eye on Sunny, to be there for him, and to make sure he was okay. If Hero was being honest, it was nice to be trusted again—to be needed. He had been looking forward to showing Sunny around the city, to taking him to his favorite restaurants, museums, parks, or coffee shops—anywhere he wanted to go. Kel had specifically asked if he could help Sunny make some new friends so he wouldn’t be so lonely, but Hero thought that would probably be much easier for his more outgoing and sociable younger brother and suggested Kel lend a hand with that himself the next time he came to visit, which Hero was hoping would be soon. For now, however, he fully intended to try to spend a lot of time with Sunny as long as he didn’t mind the company. Truthfully, Hero was glad to have an old friend in the city now. After all, he had been a little lonely here too. He wondered if Kel knew that, just like Aubrey had, and that’s why he had been so insistent on Hero hanging out with Sunny just like the old days.

Hero sighed. Whatever the reason, he was glad to be here—glad to see Sunny looking so well, especially given everything he had been through.

As Sunny set Basil’s unopened letter on the box, Hero asked, “Do you…uh…want to go out somewhere or just stay in and play games or something? I know we talked about going to the park, but it looks like rain.”

Sunny pursed his lips together, then glanced over his shoulder out the window at the gray and gloomy weather—stormy and overcast as if it would start raining at any minute. He frowned, but Hero gave him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry. We can just do something inside like go to a museum or a restaurant or—”

“That coffee shop?” Sunny mumbled, quietly interrupting him. Hero’s brow furrowed. It took him a minute to remember that he had mentioned his favorite coffee shop to Sunny the last time he had talked to him on the phone. He hadn’t realized that Sunny was so interested in going there. After all, he had always seemed so much more interested in grape soda than coffee or tea.

“Sure. I can take you to a coffee shop,” Hero answered. “But uh…Layla’s is on the other side of town—way up by my school. I’m sure there’s a closer one.”

Blinking at him, Sunny frowned again, and Hero felt strangely guilty. He quickly added, “But of course, it’s no trouble to drive up there. It’s actually a really nice place. It’s in this shopping center by the river and you can walk down by the water and see the Wilbertson bridge, but it won’t be the best view today since it’s so stormy and overcast.” He paused, sighed. “But I guess we could go shopping there a little too, if there were any stores you wanted to go to. Honestly…wherever you want to go, Sunny—I’m up for anything.”

Sunny’s head tilted, almost imperceptibly. “Layla’s is your favorite, right?” he asked in his quiet, matter-of-fact way, and Hero nodded.

“Yeah, I go there all the time—mostly to study and have tea. They have great coffee too, of course, and really delicious muffins and cookies.”

“I’d like to go there,” Sunny quietly interrupted, a subtle sign of his enthusiasm for the idea. A smile tugged at Hero’s mouth, and his expression softened.

“Okay. Sounds good to me! You about ready to head out, then?”

Sunny nodded again. Then followed Hero through the front door, locking it behind him. He didn’t need to tell Hero that his mother was at work. His mother was always at work. Hero couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what he would become if left to his own devices. When he was Sunny’s mother’s age, would he be throwing himself into his job to desperately avoid his grief? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

Hero shook his head, as if he could literally shake the thought away, and he fumbled with his car keys in his pocket as he and Sunny made their way out onto the street. As Sunny climbed into the passenger seat of his car, he glanced around with a thoughtful tilt of his head. “Nice car,” he mumbled.

“Thanks,” replied Hero, stifling a chuckle. It was probably the nicest compliment his old, beaten-up station wagon had ever gotten. Kel often referred to it as a “grandpa car” or, when it gave them any sort of trouble, a hunk of junk, though Hero liked to think his brother was just kidding about that. Truthfully, he was grateful to have a car. His dad and Papá Miguel had helped him fix it up, and though it had given him a little bit of trouble every now and again, it had run pretty well for the most part, probably impressively well considering how old it was. Hero’s brow furrowed, realizing it was very possible that Sunny had never actually seen his car before. He hadn’t had his license when Sunny had isolated himself in his home four years ago and during his last few days in Faraway Town they had just walked everywhere. Hero’s brow furrowed as he started the engine. Was this really the first time he had driven Sunny anywhere?

It was a strange thought to have—given how often he had driven Kel and, more recently, Aubrey around, but he supposed he had never really had the opportunity to drive Sunny anywhere. Now that they were both living in the city, however, that might change in the near future. This drive to Layla’s was a decent start, after all, even if they ended up getting stuck in traffic.

When Hero agreed to drive Sunny across town, it hadn’t really occurred to him to take traffic into account. After barely inching along through the streets downtown trying to make his way onto the highway, however, he realized he probably should’ve given it more thought and perhaps, tried to find an alternate route. Hero sighed. He supposed it was too late for that now.

While stopped a red light, he glanced at Sunny who was staring almost wistfully out of the window. He didn’t seem to mind. If anything, he seemed content, peaceful even, so Hero didn’t want to disturb him with his apologies for traffic outside of his control. Instead, apart from a few small talk niceties about how Sunny had been settling in and about the stormy weather they’d been having, their drive was mostly a comfortable silence. If Hero was being honest, he found it kind of refreshing—especially after all those drives with Kel who often talked faster than Hero could keep up with. Sunny had always been a very quiet person, and Hero himself generally preferred to listen, so it made sense they wouldn’t be talking for hours like he might have with Kel or with Mari, when she had been alive. Sunny had always preferred to do things with his friends rather than sit around talking to them. The group of them had spent hours upon hours playing at the park, having picnics, building sandcastles, jumping in puddles, making crafts and flower crowns, watching cartoons, and cooking and baking delicious food together. Even though he didn’t talk much, Sunny always seemed happiest when he was spending time with his friends. It was one of the main reasons Hero wanted to visit him today. He hoped they could spend time together again—even if they were just riding in silence in his car, listening to the low hum of the radio.

Hero paused. No, he thought, his brow furrowing. It wasn’t just the hum of the radio. Sunny was humming along to the song, so quietly Hero almost couldn’t hear him. He tilted his ear towards him, trying to make sure he wasn’t just hearing things. But no, he was sure that was Sunny—humming along warmly if a bit inaudibly.

Curiously, Hero turned up the volume to the radio. But he stopped—recoiling his hand as the other gripped even more tightly around the steering wheel.

Something ached in his chest as he suddenly remembered driving in the car with Mari, Sunny, and Kel what felt like a lifetime ago. He could hear Mari’s warm tinkly voice singing along, “Sweet dreams 'til sun beams find you. Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you. But in your dreams, whatever they be, dream a little dream of me.” He could hear her teasing her little brother that this was one of his favorite songs, could see her poking him in the arm until he joined in, finally humming along with the music.

When was the last time Sunny had hummed? Hero didn’t know, but, as his chest panged. He knew Mari would be happy to see him humming again, to see him enjoying music, enjoying life again. It made Hero happy too. Honestly, he wasn’t even really aware of how much until he caught himself quietly singing along to the song, “Dream a little dream of me…”

He was truthfully a little embarrassed when he caught Sunny staring at him, blinking up at him with an unreadable expression as the song ended. He scratched the back of his neck with a light chuckle. “Sorry, I’m not the best singer.”

“That was nice,” mumbled Sunny. “I like that song.”

“Oh yeah?” Hero replied with a smile. “I didn’t realize you were such a big Mama Cass fan. You know I have a few The Mamas & The Papas records you’re welcome to borrow. They’re all back home, but next time I’m in Faraway Town, I’ll pick them up for you or, you know, maybe you can come back to visit with me. I’m sure my parents would be happy to let you stay with us, and I know Kel, Aubrey, and Basil would love to see you.”

Sunny sighed. “You really think so?” His delivery was monotone, unreadable, but something twisted in Hero’s chest all the same. It was no secret that ever since Sunny had told them the truth, he had been worried that his friends would never forgive him and would never talk to him again, and unlike with Basil who they could just visit in the hospital to reinforce the idea that they weren’t going anywhere, Sunny had moved away and was isolated from them again—alone with his thoughts and his fears that they weren’t ever coming back.

“You came…” The words Sunny had first said to him when he arrived at the apartment echoed in Hero’s head, and they broke his heart. Had that really been what he meant? Had he really been worried that Hero wouldn’t come? Hero sighed heavily, running his hand through his unruly hair. He was truly at a loss here, just as he had been with Basil. He cared about Sunny and Basil as if they were his own little brothers, and truly there was nothing either of them could do that could ever change that. No matter how intense, painful, and complicated the feelings he had towards the truth were, there were some things in life that were and would always be stronger.

Hero just wasn’t sure what he could possibly say that would convince them of that, besides reassuring them time and time again that, “Of course, Sunny. Everyone cares about you—misses you. They’d love to see you.”

Sunny pursed his lips together and stared down at his hands, but he nodded curtly. “Okay.” He paused. “I should have a fall break, I think.”

Hero’s smile brightened. “Me too. We’ll have to see if they line up or maybe we can just go for a three-day weekend sometime. And I talked to Kel about maybe coming to visit here too. He said he might have a tournament in the city when basketball season starts up again—you’d like to see that wouldn’t you, Sunny?”

Sunny nodded with an almost inaudible hum, and Hero chuckled. He supposed Sunny had never really gotten to see Kel play basketball before—at least not in an organized league or anything. A few times in Faraway Park of course, or playing around with the hoop that had once been in their yard and now was in the street in front of their parents’ house, but Kel had gotten so much better since then and was truly an impressive athlete, though Hero supposed that may just be his biased opinion seeing as he was his proud older brother who, himself, had the coordination and athletic prowess of a brick wall.

Hero sighed. If he didn’t need his morning jogs to stay sane, he probably wouldn’t be very physically active at all—choosing instead to lock himself in his room and study, but it had actually been Kel who had inspired him to take up running in the first place, after insisting that exercise always helped him feel better. At the time, Hero had been so desperate for any relief that he likely would have tried anything, even though he was certainly skeptical at first. Still, Kel had been right. He felt his best after a run—felt a mental clarity, an increase of energy, and almost a sense of ease as if that storm of negative emotions and misery inside of him somehow lost part of its edge. And, of course, the more he learned about endorphins, the more this started to make actual, scientific sense. He craved those runs—clung to them like a lifeline. At his worst, he'd go on several a day—convinced they were the only thing standing between him and complete mental collapse. He was so desperate that he’d often even run in inclement weather—snow, sleet, and, more often than not, rainy days just like this. It was just one of the many reasons he didn’t care for them very much.

Hero sighed as raindrops began to beat against his windshield—spit out of the sky in random bursts before stopping again. Even though it wasn’t a steady downpour yet, it surely would be soon. He’d have to dig out his umbrella from under the seat when he parked the car so Sunny wouldn’t have to walk around in the rain.

By the time they crossed the Stanley Wilbertson Bridge, however, the spurts of rain had let up again—leaving the sky damp and overcast and shallow puddles around the Riverfront Center parking lot. Despite the rain, it was surprisingly busy today. Hero wondered if some of the shops were having end of summer sales events.

Whatever the reason for it, there was no parking in front of Layla’s, and Hero turned to Sunny with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders. “We’re going to have to park farther away. Is that okay?”

Sunny nodded. He didn’t seem to mind too much when Hero finally found a parking space in front of a mattress store several shops away from the coffee place they were headed. “Hold on, Sunny,” Hero gently insisted as he turned off the engine. “I have an umbrella.” Hero got out of the car and crawled into the backseat, digging under the driver’s seat for his umbrella which he eventually held out to Sunny with a somewhat triumphant smile.

Sunny tilted his head at it almost curiously, and Hero’s brow furrowed. Was there something wrong with it? It was just a boring old umbrella. Nothing fun or exciting about it like the bright pink one Aubrey had had when they were kids or Basil’s green one or Kel’s orange one or—Hero’s chest panged—Mari’s purple umbrella, the one that matched her beloved rainboots. Now that he was thinking of it, he had never actually had a colorful umbrella before. His parents had offered to get him a blue one when they had gotten Kel’s orange umbrella, since it was his favorite color, but Sunny had had a blue umbrella at the time and Hero was worried they would get mixed up or confused somehow and he didn’t want to cause any sort of trouble or confusion, so he had opted for a standard black one. It had held up pretty well, he supposed, considering he still carried it around in his car after all these years. He honestly had no idea where Kel’s orange umbrella was. They had been wondering if they’d stumble upon it again while going through all those old boxes over the summer, but it was nowhere to be found. He wondered if Aubrey had her pink one or Basil had his green one. Did Sunny still have his blue umbrella? And what had happened to Mari’s purple one after she had passed away…? Hero shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He’d give anything to see it again—to hear her squeaky rainboots clip-clopping along the sidewalk, splashing him with water as she giggled and jumped in puddles. Mari had loved rainy days. Hero wished he did. After all, every day without her was rainy and there was no umbrella—colorful or not—that could ever weather that storm.

With a heavy sigh, Hero pushed the thought away then turned to Sunny with a smile. “Can you hold onto that, Sunny? It’ll probably start raining again pretty soon, and we parked so far away—I don’t want you to have to get drenched walking all the way back here.”

Sunny nodded, slipping his wrist through the loop at the end of the umbrella’s handle. He swung it a little as they walked through the parking lot, up onto the cobble-stoned walkways of the shopping center. The riverfront area, where the University of Somewhere City was located, was a particularly ritzy part of town, and Riverfront Center certainly reflected that—with fancy stone facades on the shops and patterned pathways. There was even a large fountain in the middle of the shopping center, near a small amphitheater where they sometimes had live music when the weather was nice. There were also walkways down by the river which couldn’t really be seen in this fog, and the glistening steel and bright lights on the nearby Wilbertson bridge. The shopping center was always pristinely clean and bustling with people skittering in and out of fancy boutique shops for brands Hero had never even heard of before, having grown up modestly in the suburbs. He sometimes felt a little out of place amongst the opulence, but he had never been made to feel unwelcomed. His favorite place in the whole shopping center was, of course, Layla’s: a small, privately-owned coffee house that, at least in his experience, was much quieter and, therefore, more conducive to studying than the more chaotic and rowdy coffee shops closer to campus. He hoped Sunny would like it—would find it a pleasant and peaceful place as he had.

As he turned to head towards the coffee shop, however, he felt a light tug on his sleeve. Curiously, he turned to Sunny who pointed to the large shop to their right and the sign above the doorway that read “Sweet Dreams” in swirly, cloud letters followed by much smaller cursive “Mattresses and Bedding, Co.”  

Hero’s brow furrowed. “You…want to go in the mattress store?” he asked somewhat confusedly. Sunny nodded emphatically.

Hero stifled a light chuckle, but he scratched the back of his neck with a shrug. “Okay…”

Sunny practically sprinted into the store, leaving Hero whirling a little before he finally got his bearings and followed him through the jingly doorway. Hero blinked. It was just like any other mattress store, he supposed with beds made up all over the shop. He supposed the fact they had a few made beds against the far wall was a little different, but the sign had read “mattresses and bedding, co.” so he supposed it made sense. His brow furrowed as he looked for Sunny amidst the shoppers, mattresses, and aisles of sheets, blankets, duvets, and throw pillows. It was a relatively large store compared to the boutique shops in this shopping center, but Hero could still see the back wall in the distance. There’s no way Sunny could have possibly disappeared in here…right?

Hero’s hands began to tremble. He could hear Mari’s warnings about Sunny’s tendency to wander off echoing in his head—though that had been back when Sunny was five. He was sixteen now. Surely, he wasn’t going to get lost in a mattress store…

After combing through aisles with no sign of him, however, Hero began to get worried. “Sunny…” he quietly whispered, trying not to draw too much attention to himself or disrupt any shoppers. “Sunny, where are you?”

Finally, as he turned out of an aisle of king-sized sheet sets, he sighed in relief, finding Sunny lying down with his eye closed on one of the made beds pressed up against a wall. Hero’s face flushed. Could he do that? He wasn’t really sure you were supposed to.

“Uh…Sunny…?” he awkwardly stumbled.

Sunny’s eye fluttered open, and he blinked at him before he mumbled, “6 out of 10.”

“Wh—what?”

“This is a 6 out of 10,” he repeated, patting the floral duvet with his hand. Then he pointed to another bed nearby with striped bedding. “That one’s a 6 out of 10 too.” Then at another covered in messy throw pillows. “But that one’s only a 5 out of 10—it’s too soft.”

Hero tilted his head in confusion. “Are you…uh…rating the beds in the mattress store?”

Sunny nodded. “It’s one of my hobbies.”

“Oh well…uh…” Hero stumbled. He wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that, but he supposed it was good Sunny had hobbies again so he somehow managed a smile. “That’s nice, but uh…” He bit his lip as he caught one of the store employees staring at them in blinking confusion. “I really don’t think you’re supposed to lay on these beds. They’re just for show.”

“But it’s a mattress store,” Sunny insisted—dry, matter-of-fact. “How will you know the quality if you don’t test it out?”

“Well…I think you can probably test the mattresses over there”—he pointed to the unmade beds—”But this is for bedding, so I think these mattresses are kind of like mannequins.”

Sunny blinked at him. “Don’t you want to test bedding before you buy it too?”

Hero shrugged. He supposed he couldn’t argue with that logic, but he decided it would probably be best to change the subject. “Are you looking for new bedding, Sunny?”

Sunny’s shoulders twitched. “Maybe, but my bed is a 10 out of 10.” He paused, then turned to Hero. “You? What’d your bed at college like?”

“Uh…You mean what would I rate it?” Sunny nodded, and Hero ran his hand through his hair. He had never really thought about it before, but truthfully, it was pretty uncomfortable. He supposed his university had more important things to spend money on than mattresses in student housing, so it had never really bothered him. He generously rated it, “Um…I guess a four or five maybe?”

Frowning, Sunny shook his head slightly. “That’s awful. You deserve at least an 8 out of 10.”

Hero chuckled awkwardly, but he shrugged. “I’m not sure that’s possible in on-campus housing. Maybe if I got an apartment or joined a fraternity or something…”

“Can you do that?” asked Sunny, cutting him off. “Your sleep is important.”

Hero’s expression softened. “Don’t worry Sunny. I get plenty of sleep,” he gently insisted. He decided it was probably best not to mention to Sunny that his friend, Kyle, had been pestering him all summer to join his fraternity in the new pledge term. He wasn’t sure what their mattresses were like there, but it wouldn’t surprise him if they were more comfortable than the ones they had in the dorms. But of course, Hero thought with a sigh, that was a very low bar.

Sunny simply blinked at him, but he didn’t say anything more. Hero wondered if he had used up all of his words, but as Sunny strolled through the store aisles, reaching out his hands to pat the mattresses, pillows, or beddings, he would mumble quietly, “5 out of 10,” “7 out of 10,” or “3 out of 10.” Hero had listened curiously—trying to figure out what rating criteria Sunny had been using. When he finally declared a mattress was a “9 out of 10,” Hero had impulsively reached out to touch it himself—not even really realizing what he had done until he watched his hand sinking into the soft foam.

“It’s polyurethane,” muttered Sunny with a twitch of an impressed smile.

“Wow. You really know a lot about this, Sunny.” Hero chuckled tilting his head towards the ‘Help Wanted’ sign in the front window near the door to the store. “Looks like they’re hiring. Maybe you can come work here someday.”

Sunny stared at him then at the window thoughtfully before he nodded.

“Are you ready to go?” asked Hero before he opened the door for Sunny. He didn’t want to rush him, but he was pretty sure he had rated everything in the store at this point so he wasn’t sure there was much left to do there. Sunny, it seemed, agreed with him—nodding his head and following him back outside.

As they made their way, once again, across the cobbled-stone walkway towards the coffee shop, Hero looked up at the sky. It was much darker than it had been before they had gone into the mattress store, but the rain seemed to be holding off—at least for now. It must’ve been perfect timing, however, because as soon as they shuffled through the jingly door into Layla’s the sky started spitting water again. The sprinkling rain beat against the coffee shop windows, making the place seem even more cozy and warm with its bright yellow walls and plush, mismatched furniture. As they walked up to the counter, a friendly barista took their order—earl grey tea for Hero and a caramel latte for Sunny, who had always had a bit of sweet tooth.

“There’s not a tea shop you can go to…?” Sunny teased—dry and deadpan, but Hero laughed as he took his cup of tea from the counter.

“I haven’t found one yet,” he answered with a shrug. “And I don’t mind coffee. I don’t love it as much as Kel but…”

“Nobody loves coffee as much as Kel,” Sunny interrupted, the slightest twitch of a smile in the corners of his mouth before he took a sip of his latte.

Hero shrugged his shoulders again. “You’re probably right about that. We’ll have to come back here with him someday. He’ll love it.”

“Do they have Orange Joe?”

Hero laughed. “I don’t think so. Not a lot of places carry Orange Joe anymore.”

“Good,” Sunny mumbled into his coffee, and Hero snorted a laugh behind his hand—feeling somewhat guilty for poking fun at Kel’s favorite drink of all-time.

As they took their seats at a nearby table, Hero asked, “So what do you think of your coffee?”

Sunny shrugged. “It’s okay—better than Orange Joe.”

A smile tugged at Hero’s mouth. He supposed that wasn’t all that difficult of an achievement. He stifled another laugh thinking of what Aubrey might have said if she was here—some dry quip about how even pond scum would taste better than Orange Joe. And then, of course, she and Kel would probably bicker like the old days and Basil would start fidgeting and kindly ask them not to fight and Sunny would thoughtfully watch everything unfold with blinking eyes until he started zoning out again. And Mari…

Hero stopped himself before he could even finish that thought. His insides twisted. He supposed there was really no point in thinking of what Mari would have done. Kel and Aubrey might bicker with each other again. Basil might stress over his friends’ conflict again. And Sunny might observe and might zone out into his own little world again. But Mari…Mari would never get to do anything again. Even if they all stuck together—starting hanging out again like the old days, there would always be something missing, something palpably different than before. Even now, just sitting in the coffee shop, Hero’s eyes lingered on the empty seat at their table. He could imagine Mari sitting there—giggling as she sipped her cup of coffee or tea, playfully nudging Sunny in the arm or shyly reaching for Hero’s hand under the table. His chest ached, and he looked away abruptly, staring intently at the clouds in his cup of tea.

He supposed he should have prepared for this—prepared to have been so reminded of her. After all, Sunny was her brother. He could see her in the way he tilted his head when he was thinking, in the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth, in the wistful, dreamlike innocence in his eyes. Hero supposed he had never really noticed or appreciated their similarities until after Mari was gone. He wondered if that was something Sunny noticed about himself—something that made it painful for him to look into the mirror, but he would never want to cross any boundaries and ask.

The truth was Sunny was his own person, and he was and had always been his friend—another little brother, just like Kel, in his mind. Mari had always used to say that was good thing—teased him that he wouldn’t have to adjust to having Sunny as a brother if they married one day when they grew up. But even now when that could never happen, even now when Mari was gone, they were still family. Sunny would always be a brother to him, and Hero would always take care of him.

But he never imagined there would come a day when it would be just the two of them sitting alone in a coffee shop with a painfully empty space between them…And the truth of that was hard to accept.

Hero cleared his throat—trying his best to pull himself out of his deep introspection, but before he could say anything, he felt Sunny tugging on his sleeve. His brow furrowed. “Yeah, Sunny?”

Sunny tilted his head towards the giggling barista and the tall, blonde man who was leaning over the counter on his elbows, presumably, to chat with her as she handed him his coffee. He winked at her but waved at Sunny and Hero.

“Do you know that guy? He’s been waving at us,” mumbled Sunny, and Hero nodded.

“Yeah, that’s Kyle. He’s a sports medicine major so we have a lot of classes together.”

“Hey, Mama!” Kyle exclaimed with a warm laugh and a wide smile as he headed over towards their table with his coffee. “What are you doing here?”

Hero chuckled, a little in spite of himself at the nickname Kyle had given him months ago. He really hadn’t expected it to stick as long as it had. “Hi Kyle. How are you?”

“Living the dream,” he chuckled as his grin widened and he leaned his elbows on their table, pushing his curtain bangs out of his eyes. It seemed like every time Hero saw Kyle, he looked more and more like he belonged in a boyband—with his preppy clothes, curtain-bangs haircut, and a watch Hero was pretty sure was more expensive than his parents’ TV. He supposed it was a look that suited Kyle given the fact that he was extraordinarily wealthy, very charismatic, and, as Hero had been told by many drunk girls, “conventionally attractive” given his broad-shoulders, high-cheekbones, and somewhat playfully boyish smile which seemed almost excessively bright today in contrast to the tan he must have gotten over the Summer spent on private beaches in Italy.

Hero stifled a laugh as he could have almost sworn he heard Sunny mumble, “Shiny…”

Kyle must’ve heard something too as he turned to him with a curious tilt of his head and held out his hand for a handshake. “Oh hey. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Kyle.”

“Sunny.”

Sunny answered so quietly that Hero wasn’t sure Kyle had heard him, so he politely added, “Sunny’s an old friend of mine from back home in Faraway Town where I grew up. He just moved to the city, so I’ve been showing him around.”

Shaking his head, Kyle snorted a laugh before he teased, “You’re showing him around, and you bring him to Layla’s? You’re such a grandpa.” He paused, laughing again, and Hero sighed with a somewhat helpless shrug of his shoulders before Kyle patted him on the back. “I’m just messin’ with you,” he chuckled before turning to Sunny with a smile. “It’s nice to meet ya, Sunny. You know, I’ve never met any friends of Mama’s from back home, except Brandi, and she’s—”

“Intimidating,” mumbled Sunny. Kyle must’ve caught that at least, because he burst into raucous laughter.

“Exactly! See you get it,” he laughed, motioning to Sunny with his hand. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, Brandi’s gorgeous, wicked smart, and if I’m ever arrested I really hope she’ll be my lawyer, but she’s got teeth, man.”

Sunny nodded emphatically in agreement, but Hero just shook his head—pressing his palm to his forehead.

Kyle’s laugh wavered a little. “She’s not right behind me, is she? You know I love you, Brandi,” he teasingly declared to the universe, before he laughed again. “Real talk, Brandi’s great—a fine girl…what a good wife she would be.” He paused with a cheeky smile, seemingly amused by his own jokes and references to old songs that, before this moment, Hero wouldn’t have guessed Kyle even knew, before he quickly added, “Not for me though ‘cause I don’t wanna die. But totally for someone else—like Mama maybe, if he ever decides he doesn’t want to be a monk anymore.”

Hero’s face flushed. He and Brandi were just friends, and he was not interested in  a relationship with anyone. He couldn’t be—wouldn’t be, not anymore, not since Mari… He stopped and swallowed hard. He supposed there was no way Kyle would know that, and given how important his relationships were to him, he doubted he would understand why Hero didn’t want one, even if he tried his best to explain. He knew Kyle’s teasing stemmed from a good place—it was fun, good-natured, and non-malicious. He also knew, or at least liked to think he’d stop if he told him the whole story, but it wasn’t something he was particularly comfortable talking about with even the people closest to him, he couldn’t imagine ever telling an acquaintance from school about it.

After all, he barely even knew Kyle and was sure Kyle knew even less about him. He liked him well enough when they had quite a few classes together seeing as he was a sports medicine major and Hero was pre-med, and he thought he was friendly, funny, and personable. They had studied together a few times, and Kyle had invited him to some of his frat parties and sent him a postcard all the way from Italy. Hero supposed that, of course, he considered him a friend, just not a close one. The fact he had thrown up in the back of his car a couple of times while plastered didn’t quite make them “share-about-the-time-your girlfriend-died-in-an-accident-when-you-were-15-and-now-you’re-convinced-you’re-never-gonna-love-again” kind of friends. Hero sighed. He wasn’t sure those type of friends even existed, and even if he did, knowing himself and how worried he was about dumping his problems onto other people, he probably wouldn’t tell them about Mari anyway.

“Tell me, Sunny,” teased Kyle. “Has Hero ever actually had a girlfriend or has he always been like this?”

Sunny turned to him—blinking at him with an unreadable expression that made Hero’s stomach coil guilty and uncomfortable. His face flushed. He had no idea what Sunny was thinking—if he was worrying he had been purposely trying to forget Mari or treating his relationship with her like some big secret. Biting his lip, he swallowed hard, realizing he couldn’t really address this right now.

“Kyle…” he began, hoping he’d think of something to say to change the subject when he paused, noticing the way Kyle shifted his weight to one side, how he tightened his grip on the edge of table, how his leg wobbled ever so slightly. “Is your knee bothering you?”

Kyle quirked an eyebrow at him, before he chuckled. “How do you always know that?”

That question had an easy answer, but it wasn’t one Kyle would ever get to know. Sunny knew, however, and he turned to Kyle immediately, blinking at him intently as he waited for him to actually answer the question.

“You’re gonna be a great doctor, Mama,” Kyle teased with a good-natured smile. “But you worry way too much about that. It’s fine. I was at this crazy party last night, and it kinda gave out on me when I was doing the electric slide. It hurt something awful this morning and I couldn’t find my brace”—he huffed—”I can never find that freaking thing when I need it, but it’s no big deal—nothing compared to this hangover.”

“You have a bad knee…” Sunny observed quietly. His tone was so flat as usual that it was impossible to tell if he meant it as a question or not.

Kyle sighed, rolling his eyes at Hero. “Now you’ve gone and worried, Sunny. It’s okay,” he insisted with a pointed look at Hero, but his face softened when he met Sunny’s wide, blinking eye, and he gave him a reassuring smile. “I got injured playing football a few years ago—had a bunch of surgeries, was on crutches forever, but after a ton of physical therapy, it’s fine now. I mean, I won’t ever play again, but I can walk and stuff.” Kyle sighed, ruffling his hand through his hair. “I mean, it gives out on me sometimes, but it’s fine. Mama acts like it’s gonna kill me.”

Hero’s face flushed red. He bit his lip, staring down at the table, unable to look at the expression on Sunny’s face. He could only imagine…

He swallowed hard. Trying not to think about it.

“You should still be careful,” Sunny said—quiet but emphatic, before he motioned to the empty chair at their table. “Do you want to sit down?”

“Oh, I don’t want to impose or anything.”

“It’s okay,” Hero gently insisted, after Sunny gave him a pointed tilt of his head and an emphatic nod. “Why don’t you just rest a little bit—get the weight off that knee?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Kyle playfully rolled his eyes then let out a breathy laugh, “If you insist, I guess…” he teased though Hero could tell he was kind of relieved to be able to sit down. “You know, you should consider sports medicine too, if you’re that interested. It’s why I wanna be a physical therapist, but you wouldn’t have to do that—you could do PM&R or something and still be a M.D., if you’re so set on being a doctor.” He paused, glancing over at Sunny. “What do you want to do, Sunny? You in college yet?”

Sunny shook his head. “No. But I think I’d like to work at the mattress store. Hero suggested it.”

“Oh yeah? That sounds cool. I don’t know much about mattresses, honestly, but I just got one of those Swedish memory foam ones and—”

“You have a high-density viscoelastic polyurethane mattress?” Sunny interrupted—swiftly and at a normal volume as his face seemed to light up. Hero could only blink at him, wondering when he had last seen Sunny so excited. Kyle, it seemed, could only blink at him too, though he seemed confused.

“Uh…I don’t know what any of that means,” he admitted with a light chuckle and somewhat sheepish grin. “But it’s pretty cool, I guess—really soft.”

“Is it an 11 out of 10? I’ve always thought it would be an 11 out of 10, but I’ve never actually seen one in person.”

Kyle shrugged. “Well I guess you can see mine sometime. I don’t mind.” Kyle’s smile widened. “If you help me convince Mama to join my fraternity, you can come over to visit him.”

Thoughtfully pursing his lips, Sunny blinked at him before he asked, “If Hero joins your fraternity, will he get a high-density viscoelastic polyurethane mattress?”

“Sunny,” Hero gently interrupted, his face flushing in embarrassment, but Kyle didn’t seem to mind and Sunny didn’t seem to notice as he continued.

“He says the bed in his dorm is only a 4 out of 10. He deserves at least an 8 out of 10.”

“Well yeah, of course. Those dorm beds suck,” agreed Kyle with a nod, but he tilted his head to the side. “Honestly, I dunno how I’d rate the beds at the fraternity house, but they’re definitely better. If one of those Swedish mattresses will get Hero to join, though, then he can totally have mine or maybe I can ask my dad to get him one or something.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” Hero insisted somewhat flustered, but Kyle just waved his hand at him dismissively.

“It’s no problem. I’m a trust-fund baby. My parents buy me stuff to make up for the fact they’re never around, and they love it when I make responsible friends.” Kyle laughed, practically beamed at them with a bright teasing smile. Hero sighed. He made jokes like this all the time, but Hero had never thought they were funny. “They did not like my old roommate at all. He was a fun guy—really knew how to party, but he partied a little too hard I guess, got a girl pregnant and now lives in off-campus housing with her. My parents have really been on me to find a new roommate that won’t do that, and I immediately thought of you.” Chuckling, he patted Hero on the back. “Not that I wouldn’t be totally on board if you wanted to get a girlfriend or something, just…I think you’d be more responsible and Brandi says you’re not even gonna hold hands ‘til you’re married so…”

Hero’s cheeks grew warm, and he buried his face in his hands. He honestly kind of took it as a compliment, but he was mortified Sunny had to hear all of this. “Kyle…” he sighed heavily, though he wasn’t even sure what to say. Ultimately, he decided on a dry, “I think I’ll leave the relationship stuff to you.”

Kyle laughed. “Thanks. Not sure I could compete with you really. I swear girls think you’re some kind of prince charming or something.”

“He’s universally loved,” mumbled Sunny, and Hero’s face flushed. He never could take a good compliment.

“You can say that again,” chuckled Kyle with a nod of agreement. “If you ever change your mind about the whole monk thing, I can totally set you up.”

Hero sighed, but he somehow managed, “Thanks, Kyle, but I’m good.”

“Suit yourself,” he replied with a shrug before taking a drink of his coffee. As he twisted the cup around in his hands, his smile widened. “Well I’m glad I’m not a monk ‘cause it looks like I’ve got a date this weekend with a barista.” He pointed to the phone number carefully scrawled across the sleeve of his coffee cup before glancing over his shoulder and winking at the giggly barista again. “Her name’s Kristin. She likes dogs and macchiatos, goes to our school, and is an English major.”

Hero tilted his head. He was honestly kind of impressed Kyle had managed to learn so much about the barista in such a short conversation.

“And she’s super cute too, don’t you think?” Kyle asked with a playful click of his tongue.

Sunny nodded in agreement. “She has pretty eyes.”

Hero’s brow furrowed, and he bit his lip—wracking his brain, trying to remember what color eyes the barista had even had. As he stared awkwardly at his hands, he was forced to accept that he just honestly didn’t know and, truthfully, he could barely even call to mind a vague image of how she looked. He fidgeted in his seat—guilty and awkward, fighting the temptation to glance at her over his shoulder to remind himself what she had looked like. But the truth was…it wouldn’t make a difference. He hadn’t noticed—honestly, he never really noticed anyone’s attractiveness anymore. He struggled to call to mind the features of their faces, their physical attributes, or even the color of their eyes. It wasn’t a conscious thing or something he specifically avoided, but it just didn’t register with him—almost as if, even now, he just couldn’t see anyone but Mari.

It truthfully made him feel a bit guilty, especially in cases like these when he was sure the barista truly was lovely. It seemed wrong not to have noticed or appreciated how pretty she was. But the more he thought about it, the more he thought it was probably a good thing. After all, he was terrified if he looked at someone else too long, he’d just start wishing she was Mari instead. And that wouldn’t be fair, to any of them.

For Kyle’s sake, however, he managed a slight twitch of a smile and a quiet, “Yeah, she seems really nice.”

Kyle laughed again, but his bright, toothy grin widened. Before he could say anything more, however, there was a repetitive, melodious beeping noise. Sunny perked up in surprise—blinking as Kyle pulled a cellphone out of his pocket. They weren’t particularly common in Faraway Town to begin with, and with Sunny having been isolated in his house for four years, Hero wasn’t entirely sure if he had ever actually seen one in person before. He didn’t want to embarrass Sunny by drawing attention to that, however, so he just sat back quietly and watched as Sunny’s eye widened while Kyle quickly and somewhat apologetically waved his hand at them with a swift, “Hold on, just a sec—I’ve got to take this” and pressed the phone to his ear.

“Hello—” He paused, then huffed. “Zuzu, where the hell are you?” There was another pause, followed by Kyle rolling his eyes and shaking his head. Hero turned away, trying his best not to eavesdrop on Kyle’s conversation, but that was easier said than done when Kyle loudly exclaimed, “I thought they broke up…!” He ran his hand through his hair. “Well tell her if she’s that desperate for a boyfriend, I’ll date her.”

Kyle stopped, trying and failing to stifle a laugh that came out as more of snort, before he scolded, “That’s not funny.” He twisted his mouth to the side. “I don’t care if it’s true—it’s not funny.”

Hero tried his best to turn to his attention back to his cup of tea, but it was empty now. He fidgeted in his seat—feeling awkward as if he had intruded on something he shouldn’t have. Sunny, however, was positively enraptured—curiously watching Kyle as he continued his conversation. Kyle didn’t seem to mind this—turning to smile at them with a light chuckle.

“It’s fine,” he finally said to the person on the other line. “I actually ran into some friends. You remember Mama, right—the guy I told you about? He’s basically a grandpa, like you—boring, responsible, studies all the time. He’s gonna be a doctor… And he can cook and he uses fabric softener—”

Hero twisted his hands. It was strange and somewhat embarrassing to think of Kyle talking about him to strangers, even if what he was saying was nice. It certainly wasn’t something he thought he should be listening to.

“That’s so mean!” Kyle exclaimed with scoff. “You know, if you ever do meet, you’re gonna feel so bad about saying that because, I’m tellin’ you, he’s like a literal saint.” He paused—his nose wrinkling as his frowned, but he emphatically insisted, “I am not trying to set you up! But it would totally do both of you some good…” As Kyle  teasingly shook his head, Hero could have sworn he shot him a playfully pointed look. His face flushed—blushing even more red when he realized Sunny was sitting right there. “When was the last time that you—hey! Don’t hang up on me!” He paused, pouting, and Hero sighed in relief. “Well tell the Admiral, I’ll pay for more minutes”—he sighed with a conceding shake of his head—”Fine. I’ll see you soon... Ciao!”

Shaking his head, Kyle clicked the phone off then turned to Hero and Sunny with a shrug of his shoulders. “Sorry about that. My friends are parking. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Oh well…we should probably get going. We wouldn’t want to intrude,” said Hero, but Kyle just waved his hand.

“You’re welcome to stick around,” Kyle insisted. “You’ve never gotten to meet Zuzu before, ‘cause, you know, she’s boring and doesn’t party.” He chuckled before he poked Hero in the arm. “Kinda like you actually. You know, you guys have a lot in common—I bet you would be friends.”

Hero sighed. Kyle had been telling him this for months now and, just like the girl on the other end of his phone call, Hero had also suspected that he was trying to set them up which was definitely not something he wanted. Truthfully, he had been avoiding meeting her on purpose, for this reason, because he didn’t want to make things awkward or give her the wrong impression or, he supposed, encourage Kyle to keep doing things like this. He’d be better off with Kyle thinking he actually wanted to be a monk, just so he could avoid the discomfort and awkwardness of him trying to set him up with his friends.

Hero sighed. He knew Kyle was well-meaning, and to be perfectly fair, from all accounts, his friend Zuzu sounded like a lovely and very accomplished person. She was the salutatorian of their extremely competitive private high school and was now studying civil engineering on a full-ride scholarship. Kyle said she was witty, spunky, responsible, and self-assured. He joked he couldn’t understand what she was saying half the time and she had absolutely no patience for any of his antics, but he swore she was often the only thing standing between him and an extremely stupid and reckless decision that could ruin his life. As guilty as Hero felt thinking about it, he had always wondered how such wildly different people could have become friends in the first place. But he supposed it was none of his business.

“Why don’t you stick around—just for a little while?” Kyle asked, pulling Hero out of his thoughts. He sighed heavily. He didn’t want to argue. In any other scenario, he’d likely acquiesce, but Sunny… Hero glanced over at him now—blinking with his usual blank expression. He didn’t want Sunny to have to have to see that. It was bad enough that he had to sit there and listen to Kyle make all those jokes about Hero’s love life or lack thereof. He didn’t even want to imagine what he’d think if Kyle actually tried to set him up with a girl in front of him—how disrespectful that would be to Mari, as if she was in any way replaceable.

Hero’s chest ached, and he swallowed hard. He steeled himself with a shaky breath and tried his best to be nonchalant as he forced a smile. “Thanks, Kyle, but Sunny lives across town, and I really need to be getting him home. His mom will be worried.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Kyle chuckled, but he threw up his hands and conceded, “Alright fine. Next time then.” He turned to Sunny with a smile. “It was nice meeting you, Sunny. Help me get Hero to join my frat, so we can see each other again. I’ll look into that mattress stuff too—what’s it called again?”

“A high-density viscoelastic polyurethane mattress,” Sunny answered with a emphatic nod.

“Gotcha.” Kyle laughed, then patted Hero on the back as he stood up from his seat at the table. “If I get you one of these, you’re gonna join, right?”

Hero’s sighed—sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “Kyle…I—I’ll think about it.”

“Sweet!” exclaimed Kyle waving his fist excitedly in the air. “Pledge week is coming up. I’ll send you the details, okay?”

“Okay,” sighed Hero, but a slight smile tugged at his mouth. “See you around, Kyle.”

As Kyle waved goodbye to them, Sunny and Hero stacked their dishes on the designated counter, threw away their trash, then made their way to the door of the coffee shop. Hero felt Sunny tugging on his sleeve—stopping him before he walked out into the now pouring rain. Glancing out at the rain pelting against the windows, Hero sighed heavily. What had been light sprinkles when they had arrived had somehow quickly become a torrential downpour. Sunny held up the black umbrella Hero had given him earlier, and Hero nodded at him with a smile.

“Good idea, Sunny,” he said. Sunny began to fidget with the umbrella in his hands, but since there was very little room in Layla’s cramped and crowded entryway, Hero stepped out into the rain, holding the door for Sunny so he could open the umbrella as he walked out onto the sidewalk. Within moments, he could feel the rainwater seeping into his shirt and his hair—dripping down into his face. He wiped his hand across his eyes—trying to clear away at least some of the excess water before he closed the door. When he looked up, he caught sight of two young ladies scurrying towards the coffee shop under a red umbrella. He shifted behind the door again, holding it open for them. It was the polite thing to do and besides, he was already wet.

One of the girls giggled a bubbly, “Thank you” as she ducked inside.

While the other quipped dryly, “What do you know—chivalry isn’t dead.”

Hero chuckled lightly, before he could stop himself, and tried to stifle his laugh with his hand since the delivery was so dry and deadpan, he wasn’t sure she was trying to be funny. Even so, it must have caught her attention. She shifted the red umbrella in her hands so she could look over her shoulder, smiling at him with bright green eyes.

“Thank you,” she said with a tilt of her head before she waved her hand, closed her dripping umbrella, and gave it a few shakes on the sidewalk for good measure.

“You’re welcome,” he answered as she finally disappeared through the doorway,

Hero could have sworn he heard her companion excitedly whispering between bursts of giggles, “Who is that? He’s so cute. We should talk to him.”

“Lorraine,” scolded the girl with the red umbrella, sounding thoroughly unamused. “He’s leaving, and he can probably hear you.”

“Oh let him,” huffed the other girl. “If he’s that good looking, he has to know it already.”

Hero blushed. He could feel the tips of his ears begin to burn. It was only then that he realized he was still standing there—eavesdropping on strangers’ conversations. Ruffling his hand through his damp hair, he looked up above his head, noticing the black umbrella Sunny was holding out to him.

“Thanks, Sunny,” mumbled Hero, his cheeks warm as he watched his shuffling feet on the sidewalk. He finally closed the door to Layla’s which jingled shut behind him and scratched the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle, “Sorry. Guess I zoned out there for a second.”

“That’s okay,” Sunny gently insisted with a nod. “You can stay with your friends if you want.”

Hero shook his head quickly, huddling next to Sunny under the umbrella as they took off down the walkway towards the mattress store and the place they had parked. “You know, Sunny, it’s fine. I don’t really know Kyle’s friends, and even if I did, I wouldn’t want to intrude.” He paused, smiled. “Besides, today is about me spending time with you.”

Sunny blinked at him. “But if you met Kyle’s friends, they could be your friends too, right?”

His face flushing, Hero pursed his lips together, but he managed a hum. “Yeah…I’m sure they would be.”

“Kel says that if you make friends with someone who’s really friendly then they can introduce you to all their friends and then you’ll have a lot of friends.”

“That’s really good advice,” Hero replied with a slight smile, but he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Had he worried Sunny somehow? His face flushed. He couldn’t stand the idea of people worrying about him. “Look, uh…Sunny…is this about what I said at Basil’s house about how I’ve been so busy studying that I haven’t made a lot of friends at school yet?”

Sunny blinked at him blankly—his expression as unreadable as usual, but the fact that he didn’t say ‘no’ made Hero fidget with his hands. “If you joined Kyle’s fraternity, you could study and make friends at the same time because your friends would live in your house.”

“I uh…suppose that’s true, but um…”

“Kyle is nice. I bet his friends are nice too,” Sunny quietly interrupted. “He wants you to meet his one friend, Zuzu, but you haven’t yet.”

Hero nervously fumbled around in his pocket for his car keys. He wished he could sink into the sidewalk. He did not want to have to explain this to anyone, but least of all to Sunny. He scrambled to think of another excuse. “Right well uh…I’ve been really busy and um…Kyle says she’s an engineering major so she’s really busy too, and neither of us really go to parties that much and—”

“Is it because he’s trying to set you up?” Sunny asked—monotone, matter-of-fact.

Hero’s trembling hands dropped his keys. Bending to the ground, he picked them up and unlocked his car. He left Sunny with the umbrella then ran to the driver’s seat—climbing inside the car and shaking off the excess water. When he turned towards Sunny again, he was still blinking at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Biting his lip, Hero sighed heavily. “I’m sorry you had to hear that, Sunny” he said. “Kyle means well, but uh…he doesn’t know about Mari.” He paused sighing again as something ached in his chest. “It’s not because it’s some big secret or I’m trying to forget about her or I don’t think about her anymore. I just…it’s actually kind of the opposite really… I think about her all time—miss her every day. I’m sure you do too. It’s just…hard to talk about—hard to explain. I don’t know if Kyle or anyone would really understand and then I’d just make them sad or worried. I don’t want them to feel bad for me, you know? But uh”—his voice hitched, got caught in the back of his throat—“I’m not trying to pretend or forget or replace her. I could never replace her…would never even want to try.”

“Not replace,” Sunny quietly interrupted. “If you make new friends, you can still keep your old ones.”

Sunny paused, and Hero could have almost sworn he heard him sniffle but he couldn’t bring himself to look at him as Sunny continued, “Mari wouldn’t want you to be lonely.”

Something panged and twisted in Hero’s chest. Tears prickled behind his eyes. He shut them tightly as Sunny’s voice hitched, something breaking in it as he said, “I don’t want you to be lonely either. I’m so sorry…”

Hero turned towards Sunny, watching the tear that struggled free from his good eye. He lunged forward over the center console of his car and hugged him tightly.

“No, Sunny. It’s okay,” he insisted, but he could feel Sunny shake his head.

“It’s all my fault,” he mumbled into his shoulder.

Hero cleared his throat, his eyes burning as he desperately stumbled over his words. “No—it’s…it’s not. I know it isn’t. It was an accident, and it’s not all your fault.”

Hero took a long, shaky breath, trying his best to comfortingly run his hand across Sunny’s back. The words started tumbling out of his mouth—whether as comfort for Sunny or for himself he wasn’t entirely sure. “Didn’t you hear what Kyle said earlier about his bad knee giving out on him? There’s a name for that. It’s called ‘patellar instability,’ and it’s a real medical condition, a complication that happens after someone seriously injures their knee. The joint’s weakened—just can’t support their weight sometimes. It’ll buckle, and the person will fall.”

He paused, trying to catch his wavering breath. “That’s how Kyle and I really became friends actually. We were at a party, and Kyle’s knee gave out when he was dancing on a table and he fell on the floor, really hurt himself. I helped patch him up and took him home.” Hero swallowed hard but admitted, “I’ve been thinking about that a lot over the past couple of months—ever since you told us the truth. I’ve been reading about it too—got a bunch of books from the library. And Sunny…” He pulled away from him—placing his hands firmly on his shoulders, waiting until he finally met his eyes. “You know that I forgive you, no matter what—even if I’m all wrong about this. I know I’m just a nobody—not a doctor or anything, at least not yet, but…I am telling you, I really think that’s what happened to Mari. Her bad knee that just never healed right—it gave out on her.”

“But…Hero…” choked Sunny, cutting him off. “I pushed her.”

His heart ached, and he shut his misty eyes tightly. “I know,” he admitted. “But I also know you didn’t mean to push her down the stairs—you loved Mari and didn’t want to hurt her. I know that we can’t ever really know for sure, but Sunny, I promise I know—I just…I’m not sure I can even really explain how, but I can feel it. I just know that if it wasn’t for that bad knee, she wouldn’t have fallen the way she did. It was a tragic accident.”

Hero could feel Sunny tighten his grip around him, could feel his fingers digging into the shirt on his back. He didn’t say anything—just hugged him in silence for a long, long time.

Hero honestly wasn’t sure how long it was until Sunny finally broke away from him—wiping his hand across his eye. “Thanks…” he quietly mumbled, though Hero knew the words meant infinitely more.

With a gentle smile, he reached out a hand to pat Sunny on the head. “Any time, Sunny. I’m always here for you, okay?”

Sunny nodded, and Hero’s expression softened. Something warm spread through his chest as he watched the smallest hint of a smile curve in the corners of Sunny’s mouth.

After another long pause, Sunny pursed his lips together, and his eyebrows twitched as he asked, “Is Kyle gonna be okay, you think?”

A slight smile tugged at the corners of Hero’s mouth. It was an unexpected question but very kind. Sunny had always been so thoughtful. “Yes, I’m sure Kyle is gonna be just fine.” Truthfully, Kyle’s excessive partying and underage binge drinking were probably much bigger problems than his bad knee could ever be, but he didn’t think it would be right to tell Sunny that.

“Can you join his fraternity and keep an eye on him?”

Hero rubbed his hand across the nape of his neck. “You really want me to do that, huh?”

Sunny shrugged, but he nodded. “You might get to sleep on a high-density viscoelastic polyurethane mattress. That’s an 11 out of 10.” A smile twitched in the corners of his mouth. “You deserve an 11 out of 10.”

Hero’s smile widened, just barely. “Thanks, Sunny.”

“And Kyle needs a babysitter—who knows what’ll happen to him without you,” he said matter-of-factly, with that deadpan humor he didn’t hear from Sunny as much as anymore. Hero chuckled in spite of himself. It was nice to hear Sunny joke again.

“I really think Kyle can take care of himself,” he reassured him. “He’s actually much smarter than people give him credit for. He’s in all kinds of difficult science classes with me because he wants to be a physical therapist.”  

“So he can help other people recover when they hurt their knees?” Sunny quietly interrupted, and Hero nodded.  

Sunny blinked at him, the lingering ghosts of tears in his good eye. “Is that what you want to do too?” he asked. “When you become a doctor, will you help other kids with bad knees—make sure they get better and nothing bad happens to them?”

Something in panged Hero’s chest, but his brow furrowed. He honestly hadn’t thought about that before. Truthfully, when he thought about becoming a physician one day he mainly just thought about the long hours of school and work it would require and figured that when the time came, he would just choose a specialty that would keep him exceptionally busy for the rest of his life. That was the goal, after all, but… Maybe Sunny had a point. Maybe like Kyle, he could choose a career path that was personally meaningful to him—could honor Mari by dedicating the rest of his life to trying to prevent another tragedy. His heart ached. He couldn’t save her, but maybe he could save someone else.

“Do you…do you really think I could do that…?” Hero hadn’t realized he had asked the question aloud until he heard Sunny hum and nod at him.

“You’re Hero,” he said matter-of-factly as if it was the easiest, simplest explanation in the world. “I think you can do anything.”

Sniffling, Hero wrapped his arms around Sunny’s shoulders and hugged him again. “Thank you,” he mumbled as he pressed his chin to his shoulder. With a deep breath, he pulled away from him to start the car. “We should probably head home, huh?”

Sunny nodded, and Hero turned the key in the ignition, starting the car and the low hum of the radio again. He stopped suddenly—the familiar chord progression making his breath catch in his throat. He hadn’t heard this song in ages—hadn’t let himself listen to it, but he’d recognize it anywhere, could feel the words “To lead a better life, I need my love to be here…” aching in his bones.

Instinctively, Hero reached out his hand to shut off the radio, but he heard Sunny’s breath hitch as he whispered, “Mari…Mari loved this song…”

Hero sniffled. He glanced over at Sunny almost pleadingly as his hand hovered in front of the radio dial. As he shut his eyes tightly, he felt a tear finally struggle free. “I’m so sorry, Sunny…I just…I haven’t been able to listen to it since—”

With a click, the music stopped. Sunny had tapped the button. “It’s okay,” he mumbled—something soft, something reassuring in his voice. “Maybe you will again someday.”