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“Lunch is ready, everybody!”
Hero and Mari came out of the kitchen carrying plates and bowls and sat down in front of the TV. A new Captain Spaceboy episode had just aired, right in time for Sunny’s twelfth birthday. It was a commercial break, however, so everyone turned to look at the two who had just come out of the kitchen. Sunny’s eyes widened.
“Happy birthday, Sunny.” Hero continued, also carrying a large cake.
“Is… this really for me? Thank you…” Sunny was a boy of few words, and so Hero was happy to hear his gratitude.
“It’s no problem, Sunny! It is your birthday, after all!”
Sunny smiled, and thanked Hero again.
Kel quickly jumped into the conversation. “Guys, shhh! It’s coming back on!”
“Kel…” replied Aubrey, a look of slight disgust on her face. “Hero was doing something nice for Sunny, you didn’t need to butt in like that…” she eventually fell silent, though.
Kel shrugged, not taking his eyes off the screen.
-----
Once the episode had finished, Sunny’s parents came into the lounge room, both smiling happily.
“Hey, champ!” Sunny’s dad put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “We’ve got a surprise for you!”
Sunny’s eyes widened. He looked at his mum. “Really?”
She nodded, and Sunny smiled brightly. It was a nice sight, Hero thought.
Sunny continued. “So… what is it?”
“We’re taking everyone to the new arcade that just opened in Nearby City!”
Kel immediately shot up out of the couch. “Really? The arcade?” He asked, excitedly. “I wanna try VR! And basketball games! And table hockey! I know a way to rig crane games, we should do those!”
Hero walked up to Kel and put a hand on his shoulder. “Kel… you do realise this is for Sunny, right?”
Kel pouted. “Yeah, but they said everyone!”
Mari laughed. “Oh, Kel, you’re so funny.”
Kel looked confused. “I am? I mean, yeah! I am!”
Sunny’s mum laughed. “Alright everybody, in the cars!”
Everyone cheered.
-----
“So, Sunny, where do you wanna go first?” asked Kel.
Sunny didn’t seem to hear him. He was too busy looking around the arcade with wide eyes.
“Hello? Sunny? Earth to-”
Aubrey smacked Kel on the back of his head. “Geez, Kel, give him some space!”
“And what would you know about giving people space? You just slapped me!”
Hero thought he heard Sunny’s dad grumble about the two fighting again from behind him, but he couldn’t be sure.
“Alright, you two.” Said Hero, stepping in. “Break it up.”
The two looked away from each other, angrily.
Hero looked towards Sunny and saw him talking to Mari and Basil. He walked over.
“Hey, it’s your birthday!” He heard Basil say. “Today is all about what you want to do, don’t worry about us!”
“Yeah!” Agreed Mari. “Basil’s right, Sunny. You should get to choose everything we do here!”
Sunny looked down and nodded.
“Hey, Sunny.”
Sunny looked up at Hero.
“Don’t sweat it, alright? I’m sure everyone will have a great time with whatever you choose!”
Sunny smiled slightly and nodded.
Kel and Aubrey walked over.
“Hey, Sunny!” Said Aubrey, brightly. “Have you decided what you wanna do yet?”
Sunny pointed at a part of the wall that had two machines next to it, with flashing lights and colours.
“DDR, huh?” Hero hummed. “Alright, I don’t see why not! Let’s all take turns. Sunny, who do you want to verse first?”
Kel shot his hand up. “Ooh! me, me, me!”
Sunny thought for a bit before pointing to Basil.
“Wh-who, me? Sunny, I’m terrible at dancing!”
Mari placed her hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Basil. You’ll be fine!” She leaned in to whisper something in his ear, and he laughed.
“Alright, I’m ready when you are, Sunny!”
Everyone walked over to the machines, and as Aubrey told everyone what to do, as she had used one before, Mari walked up to Hero.
“I’m assuming you want to be my partner for DDR?”
“I was gonna ask that, but then I remembered your knee. Do you think you’ll be okay to play?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. I asked Sunny if he’d be okay with me sitting out, and he understood.” Mari smiled slightly. “Would you like to do something, just the two of us?”
“If Sunny’s okay with it.”
“He is.”
“Then sure! What do you wanna do?”
“You know, I’ve always wanted to try VR. What do you think?”
“Sounds great! What did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking something like Beat Saber or Minecraft. I looked at the catalogue earlier, and they’re definitely better than some others…” she shuddered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, Richie’s Plank Experience just seemed straight up awful.”
Hero thought for a moment. “Is that the one where you’re on a skyscraper, and-”
Mari cut him off. “Yeah, that’s the one. Sorry, I just get the chills whenever I think about it.”
“I can see why.”
“Well, ready to go?”
“Sure, ready when you are!”
Hero and Mari walked over to the VR station while Sunny was absolutely decimating Basil in DDR, which came as a surprise to Hero. He didn’t take DDR as Sunny’s type of game but didn’t suppose it was too strange.
Once they entered the VR room, they found a station with two headsets, and got themselves properly set up in them.
They opened up Beat Saber and tried the tutorial levels for a bit, before moving on to more difficult things.
“So, Hero…” said Mari, with a grin. “We seem to be about as good as each other. How about a friendly competition? Whoever gets the highest score in expert mode wins. You in?”
Hero laughed. “You bet!”
They both took a deep breath and began. Hero made a few mistakes here and there, but nothing too major. He ended up winning, but only slightly. He and Mari took off their headsets to see the other person’s score.
“Dang it!” Said Mari. “I was so close!”
“Don’t worry.” Someone spoke up from behind them, making them both jump in surprise. It was just Basil, who had finished his DDR round with Sunny, and was red-faced and sweating. “You could do a best two out of three!”
“Well, Mari?” Asked Hero. “You in?”
Mari nodded. “Sure! Let me just get something from the snack bar first. Do you two want anything?”
Hero shook his head. “I can pay for my stuff.”
“Me too.”
“Alright then!” She turned to the woman manning the VR station. “We’ll just be a few minutes!”
The woman nodded and placed their headsets down on a couch next to her desk.
-----
Hero, Mari, and Basil entered the VR room, followed by Sunny, Kel, and Aubrey, who was boasting about her recent victory in DDR against Kel, who was moping.
“Alright, Hero.” Said Mari. “You ready to get thrashed?”
Hero chuckled. “I’m pretty sure you said something similar last round and look where that got you.”
Mari pouted, and Kel snickered.
“You guys ready?” Asked Basil. “I’ll count you down.”
“Sure thing, Basil!” Said Mari, as she put on her headset. Hero did the same.
“Three… two… one… start!”
Hero and Mari started their games. Hero felt a lot more confident than the last time he played, since he had experience. He knew he was ahead, since he could hear slight grunts of annoyance coming from Mari’s side, and he hadn’t yet messed up a single time.
…
Hero froze.
He tore of his headset, unplugged everything as fast as he safely could, and ditched it at the couch, which, luckily, was soft. He could see himself getting errors on his screen, and eventually game overing, but all he could think about was his headset.
“Hero…?” Asked Aubrey. “Are you okay?”
Kel’s eyes widened. “I know that expression. Is it what I think it is?”
Hero nodded.
“In the HEADSET?”
Hero nodded again.
“No, that can’t be right.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Hero saw Kel nudge Basil, but didn’t pay it any mind.
“That can’t be right.” Kel continued. “It just can’t!”
Hero began to calm down. What Kel was saying made sense. It was probably just his eyes playing tricks on him. There’s no way that…
By this point, Mari had finished, and was watching Hero intently, along with everyone else. The woman at the desk had left for some unknown reason a few minutes earlier.
Hero picked up the headset and took a closer look.
…
Click.
-----
When the sun was setting, Sunny sat on his bed, looking at the gifts that he had gotten. A new notebook and some pens, more stuffed toys, some plant stuff (he was thinking of beginning to get into plant care), and a jumper with a cat on it. He moved the jumper out of the way to reveal his other, impromptu, gift.
A picture of Hero, with a spider crawling up his arm, coming from the VR headset. Hero looked terrified and was in the middle of a scream. Sunny remembered the scream well. It was one that you would compare to a four year old girl, not a fifteen year old boy. Sunny chuckled as he put the photo on his nightstand.
This was his best birthday yet.