Work Text:
Growing up, Sunny always enjoyed drawing. And, as every artist does, always got upset if anyone looked at the drawings without his permission.
Hell, they could be looking at his new, blank sketchbook and he’d still be upset.
Although most (at the time) were just silly cat doodles, it still felt like…
an invasion of privacy?
And now
Oh, boy… now
It was exceptionally.. personal.
Now
His drawings were of self-hatred
Now
His drawings were of painful thoughts and even more painful memories
Now
His drawings were of
Eyes in jars
Bloody shears
His own demons
And who could forget the one of Mewo cutting him up on an operating table?
___
In the hospital, it was Hero who gave Sunny his first sketchbook in a while. That was nice of him.
One time, Hero asked him what he was drawing. He showed him.
And giggled at his reaction.
And then Sunny was confused.
It wasn’t a serious drawing.
Why was Hero so worried?
Sunny looked back at the drawing after he left. Should he be worried?
___
Kel had come by baring gifts— a pack of colored pencils and some candy.
Sunny took all the lemon ones (along with some grape and watermelon), making sure to leave all the strawberry pieces for Basil.
Kel talked about his day. Sunny would’ve too, but he didn’t have anything interesting going on.
Soon, Kel left and Sunny decided he should draw something. After all, Kel was so kind as to bring him colored pencils.
(They were definitely not new, they were all different lengths and all the points were dull. He probably had brought some he doesn’t use instead of buying them. Sunny didn’t know if he preferred them being specifically bought for him or not.)
So Sunny drew and drew. It took an hour but it was done! And
And
And
Him falling off the hospital roof with the purple sky of headspace greeting him.
… he didn’t want to look at it anymore.
He turned the page.
He drew a silly cat. Then a silly bunny. And then Basil as a strawberry gnome. ‘Cause why not.
Strawberry gnome Basil was probably the peak of his artistic journey. Yup. Nothing was getting better than that.
Maybe when they can see each other again… he’ll show him.
___
Aubrey came. Sunny made sure to draw a bunch of bunnies. And sharks. And bunny sharks.
He pointed to a bunny shark and told her it was her. She laughed. He colored it pink. She laughed louder.
…
She admitted she didn’t want to see Basil.
Sunny admitted the same but that they had to in order to properly apologize.
Aubrey drew some bunny sharks.
Smiled, then left, saying she would talk to Basil this week.
___
His mother came. Sunny doesn’t know why that surprised him as much as it did.
She was crying. He was too confused to cry.
Sure, he was a little bony and missing an eye, but was that enough to make someone cry?
Now Sunny was getting a little self-conscious.
She was muttering apologies over and over again.
Oh… that’s what this is about.
He tried to soothe her of the guilt like he had done before, but she wouldn’t back down.
She was the parent! She was supposed to protect and support him.
Sunny fidgeted a bit. Did she think he couldn’t take care of himself?
…
Don’t answer that.
Eventually, in the next lull of their conversation, she tried to take a peek at his sketchbook.
He snatched it up.
She apologized again.
He didn’t attempt to soothe her.
He opened to a clean page
And offered to draw with her.
___
It had been a week since they woke up in the hospital. At some point, Basil had been admitted out. And Sunny was almost ready too.
It had been a week since they last saw each other.
The others had gotten worried; the reassurance that they ‘just needed some more time’ was starting to lose its effectiveness..
Aubrey and Kel were visiting this time. They told him they were going to hang out with Basil today and that they couldn’t wait until they could all hang out together.
Sunny smiled, pleased that Basil had them— pleased that they all had each other.
When they were getting ready to leave, Sunny had a sudden thought and pulled out his sketchbook, telling them to stay put.
He bit his cheek lightly, wondering if he should go through with this. He shook his head and gently tore out a certain page.
He folded the sheet and handed it to Kel, told him to not look and to give it to Basil. Kel and Aubrey seemed happy with the progress and agreed to keep it safe.
___
Basil had come to visit the very next day. He shuffled around in the chair. “…hey, Sunny,” he greeted with a nervous but genuine smile.
“I hear… that I’m being released tomorrow.”
Basil looked up from his hands in his lap with a startled look. It.. almost reminded Sunny of that night and he had to keep himself from flinching.
“What?! Nononononono! And then you’re moving?! I’m such an idiot!!”
“Basil—“
“I could’ve been talking to you for a week!! A-an-and now we only have a day?!!”
“Basil, please listen—“
“I’m an awful friend! I s-s-sta-stabbed.. your eye, a-an-and I don’t even visit?!?!?!”
Basil had started crying and breathing irregularly, so Sunny held his hands, told him to take a deep breath, and counted.
It took a few rounds of breaths, but eventually Basil was mostly better. He wiped his tears and whimpered, “I’m pathetic.”
Sunny shook his head. “No, you aren’t.. you’re one of the strongest people I know.”
Basil huffed and looked away.
“I’m serious! You.. you were alone with-with.. everything and you managed to still keep going! I.. I broke instantly.
“Are you okay, now?” Basil nodded.
Sunny gave a humorless chuckle. “Well, it turns out I’m moving to the next town over. 30 minutes… by foot. My mom said she tried to make it seem more of a big deal so I might go outside.”
Basil laughed at the irony. “You know, I probably wouldn’t have stabbed you if I knew that…”
Sunny turned serious. “Don’t tell my mom that.”
Basil sat up straight and zipped his lips.
“Throw away the key too.” And he did.
They laughed together. It was hoarse, rough, and all together unappealing to the ears. But to them
To them, it was beautiful.
“Did you like my drawing?”