Archive of Our Own ^beta

Sunny’s hairbrush easily dragged through her hair.

Of course, considering that her hair was a little short, it was easier to maintain. She'd learnt from watching Mari(whose hair was much longer than Sunny’s) do her own hair sometimes.....hissing a little too harshly as her brush got caught in a deceptively neat-looking strand of hair.

Mari.....

Unintentionally, she bit her lip until a final, absentminded jerk on her scalp brought her back to reality again.

There.

She ran her fingers through her hair, satisfied with the result.

Right next to her, lying on the bed she was sitting on, was one....no, two hair ties.

Had this been an ideal world and universe, both the hair ties would have been red.

...

Well, Sunny couldn’t, and wouldn't complain. At least they were hair ties.

Just as she had finished tying the first pigtail, concentration barely visible on her face, the faintest thump of something near the (very)open door to her room reached her ears.

Gathering the untied portion of her hair to tie it into another pigtail with the black hair tie, Sunny let out a heavy exhale.

"You could come in. You know that."

There was little time to worry about whether she'd come off as too harsh or blunt, as the footsteps approached, followed by something dropping on the floor. No, someone.

Even a quick glance to the right wasn’t necessary for Sunny to figure out that Aubrey was sitting on the floor, crisscross applesauce, staring up at her with those round brown eyes.

"What."

"Nothing. Just wanted to watch you do your hair."

This time, Sunny spared her a glance, which became much more than just that of course, when she found a little smirk tugging at Aubrey’s lips. The girl rested her chin on the palm of her hand as some of her brown hair gracefully(in Sunny’s opinion) fell over her eyes.

"Hmm," Sunny’s face turned slightly pink as her eyes darted away from Aubrey’s face. Quickly, she realized that no progress was being made on her other pigtail. "Sure."

About three years, and then some in their childhood, of knowing Sunny was enough for Aubrey to know when she was being sarcastic.

"Awww, Sun-bun! You don't believe me???" She leaned a little forward with (cute)puppy eyes.

Sunny could tell that Aubrey was summoning her extremely cringey, sickly-sweet voice for this moment. Her fingers stopped combing through her hair....and as a result, she stopped trying to tie that other pigtail.

And worst of all....that nickname-

"S-Sun-bun?" stuttered the blushing Sunny with a frown, looking directly at the other girl(who wore a dirt-eating grin like a badge of honor) now. "D-Don't be.....stupid...."

An eyeroll later, Aubrey leaned back, planting her hands on the floor to rest her weight on them. "Nope! That's not a stupid nickname! You really do look like a Sun-bun."

The situation's utter ridiculousness snapped Sunny out of her flustered stupor, and she tilted her head to look down at Aubrey, letting some of her loose hair hang...well....loosely.

"That doesn't even make any sense. Just admit it," Sunny stated bluntly, her brows furrowing. "She asked you to come up here."

Aubrey sighed, and slouched a little forward again, staring decidedly away from Sunny’s face.

"Ugh, fineee...." she muttered so quietly that had Sunny not been focusing intently upon her, she may have gone unheard, "your mom was cooking some stuff so I asked her if I could come upstairs...."

Silence.

The pale pink bow securing Aubrey’s hair in its high ponytail seemed to droop down along with her mood.

Now that Sunny thought of it....from looking at Aubrey’s hair....

Maybe....

With a deep breath of resolution, Sunny pushed herself up from the bed, hair brush and her other hair tie in hand, and walked towards Aubrey, whose eyes flickered with a hint of apprehension. At this brief expression, Sunny pursed her lips, her brows knit together as she recollected all the times Aubrey had vented to her on the swings.

And what - no, whom she had vented about.

Lately, her mother had gotten much, much worse. Especially after Aubrey’s father...... If the fresh scratches on Aubrey’s face - which definitely weren't from mistreatment courtesy of a certain ex-friend - were anything to go by.

She bit her lip and quickly sat down next to Aubrey, cursing herself for unintentionally being a cause of Aubrey's momentary distress.

"Sorry." She told Aubrey simply, looking to her side and letting her hairbrush and hair tie fall in her lap.

"Huh? For what?" Aubrey raised an eyebrow. "I- I just got a little startled from you suddenly getting closer. Anyone would...unless...." she wore a mysterious smile, showing that continuing off of what she had just said wasn't going to go anywhere.

Sunny stiffened and took a hard look at Aubrey, searching for....something.

"Am I that pretty? Sunny? Did you get frozen or something-"

"Don't change the subject."

So taken-aback was Aubrey by these sudden words, that Sunny couldn't find it in herself to press further. Not that she'd wanted to in the first place....but wasn’t it what a good friend would have done?

A good friend like....Kel?-

Nervousness was a rather weird look on Aubrey’s face....

"Forget it," Sunny deadpanned, her expression softening. "Just....forget it. Turn around."

Just like that, the nervousness vanished in place of Aubrey's excitement...though she did anything but turning around for Sunny. "Oh? Are you going to give me a surprise present?"

"No."

In response to annoyed look on the other girl’s face, Sunny sighed, her eyes closed for a moment. "Fine. It's not a surprise. I'm just going to brush your hair."

"....I put it in this really fancy ponytail though...."

Sunny rolled her eyes at this obvious display of seriousness' evil twin. "Just turn around."

"Fine..."

Once Aubrey did so, Sunny slowly pulled the pink bow hair tie off....gently so as not to hurt Aubrey.

As expected, the hair fell on Aubrey’s back immediately, some tangles visible.

"Yeah yeah, I know it's not neat or whatever you're thinking," huffed Aubrey with a nonchalant wave of her hand back at Sunny. "But at least I still look cute!"

Sunny scoffed, taking the hairbrush in one hand and working on Aubrey’s hair from the bottom of it first. "Won't be cute anymore when the knots get so big that you can't fix them anymore."

"You're saying that like I won't just cut them off- ow!!!" Aubrey’s hand instinctively went to the back of her head.

"Sorry." Sunny grit her teeth a little. Should've not brushed Aubrey’s hair so fast in its middle. There was no rush. She should take her time. "Really? Cutting them off?"

"Hey! Don't judge."

Fortunately, the knots in Aubrey’s hair weren't that hard for Sunny to get rid off.

"I'm tying it up again," Sunny told her.

"Whoa. That was fast! I didn't even feel it. Thanks Sun-bun!"

There was that nickname again....

She hid her blushing face as Aubrey turned around with a smile. A devious one, yet a smile nonetheless.

"Whatever. Turn back around. I haven't tied it up yet." Sunny scowled at her.

Aubrey muttered under her breath and violently turned back around. Due to this sudden movement, some of Aubrey's hair grew scattered and a little messy again....

Sunny’s scowl deepened as she lightly brushed Aubrey’s hair again, but this time, without the knots of course. Then, she gathered it up into a high ponytail and tied it back up with Aubrey’s pink bow hair tie again.

The moment her hair was finished being tied up, Aubrey turned a little to the side and felt her hair on either side with her hand.

"Thanks! I never knew you were secretly a hairdresser! You've got so many hidden talents!"

"So many" was an overstatement, according to Sunny. Second of all....

Aubrey also seemed to be hiding things.

Especially after....Hero-

No.

Just...no. She can't remember him....or that incident now.

There was a sudden warmth on her shoulder. Looking down, Sunny saw Aubrey’s head, leaning on her.

"You're a really good pillow, Sun-bun...." murmured Aubrey drowsily.

Oh. It was around evening.

And Aubrey had been invited for a sleepover....

She glanced over at the other bed in the room, the one which would be Aubrey’s for the night....

For a few, long minutes, Sunny contemplated her own existence in silence...and even finished tying her second pigtail.

With a burning face, she decided she couldn't take it anymore.

"Aubrey." She gently pushed Aubrey off of her shoulder, ignoring how her heart skipped a beat and butterflies were cooking up a storm in her stomach. "We'll get called down for dinner soon."

"Already?" Aubrey complained with a hint of a whine. Though she got up from her seat on the floor and headed over to the door, turning to look at Sunny with a flip of her ponytail over her shoulder. "You coming?" Well, wasn’t that a mood swing. She impatiently tapped her foot.

"Yes." Sunny also got up after a bit of hesitation. "Don't fall down the stairs."

"Of course not! I'm not that clumsy!"

She followed Aubrey down the stairs, attracted to the smell of dinner.

The promise of food drove away her worries....for now.