This is my first time posting an Omori fanfic and I'm excited! I've written fanfictions since 2010, when I was 13 turning 14. Now I'm 25 and still self-indulging in fictional scenarios. Hopefully you can enjoy yourself in my antics!

I'm planning for this to be a series of oneshots based off random songs from my Spotify, starting with one from my favorite band, Phoenix. They recently released this song and I felt like it needed to be the starter. Starts off post end game, after the true ending, in an AU where Sunny moved but not too far away from Faraway Town (heh) and has transferred into a university that Basil also attends.

Tonight

Could you, could you come tonight?

Instead of going under

Could you, could you come tonight?

It was a shot in the dark, but it was a shot nonetheless.

Sunny rested his phone on his right side, locking it to prevent the white screen from penetrating the darkness of his room. The only light permeated from the full moon shining through the sheer blue curtains hanging by his window. It was 3:15 AM, anyone with a reasonable mind and a healthy sleeping schedule would be in deep sleep by this point. Unfortunately, Sunny had neither in his possession.

He had already spent the last hour mindlessly scrolling through his feeds on social media, refreshing the pages over and over from latest to popular and back again. Revenge Bedtime Procrastination was a bitch. Nowadays Sunny was busy focusing on completing college courses online during the day and attending a few hybrid courses throughout the week. After attaining his GED through alternative ways, he began to warm himself back up to the idea of furthering his education. Of course, he couldn't dive back into a typical classroom setting after everything that had happened. Even if he did move to a different city and his mother struggled to make the best of a clean slate for him, they both knew a slow transition would be best for him. His therapist had agreed and listened to him through the years as Sunny adjusted to life among the living again with suggestions on how to adjust back into integrating. He started with online courses only and when his sophomore year came to a close, he transferred his credits over and spoke with an advisor about hybrid courses with a mix of online.

So there he lay on his bed late at night on the weekend of Fall Break, a chill breezing from his open window and sneaking its way to his open legs and arms. He shivered and pulled a strewn blanket up to his body. Autumn was beginning to settle its roots into the college town with a vibrant array of red, yellow, and orange leaves on the streets and cloudy middays followed by cold nights. That was another reason why he liked this area enough to pursue college: all the trees and scenery reminded him of his hometown.

A buzz from his phone made Sunny quickly turn to his phone and tap the screen back to life. He was sure he wasn't to respond. I mean, who would blame him for not being awake this late–

But it was just a notification from Instagram of SweetheartPrincess going live.

Sunny groaned and slammed his phone back down. How obnoxious. He really needed to unfollow that account, she always posted at ridiculous times. He had only followed her for a giveaway for some Captain Spaceboy merch. A thousand new followers later, the winner was strangely never announced and any mention of the rare merch was dropped.

He sighed and ran his free hand over his black hair. He had been waiting on a response from Basil. They had finished speaking to each other for the day around midnight with Basil saying that he needed to go to sleep because the recent tests from his classes had sucked any remaining energy out of him. They said their goodnights quickly and Sunny moved through his usual nightly routine.

As each hour passed however, an impulse in him grew to message the boy out of the blue.

"Could you come by tonight?"

It was sent twenty one minutes ago. If Basil was still up, he would have responded by now. His phone most likely was silenced and charging on his desk beside his succulent, one of the few plants Sunny had gifted him. They had been wandering around a few weeks ago while grocery shopping for some weekly essentials for college life (frozen food, snacks, anything to make an easy meal out of) when they stumbled upon the garden section. It was small and held nothing special, at least not to Sunny, but Basil lit like a Christmas tree in early December and pulled Sunny and their cart over.

Basil began to blabber about each plant as they walked down each aisle. The poor state of the pots and overgrown roots, the dry soil, the way they used the wrong potting mix, and of course, secretly pocketing some "dropped" bits to propagate later.

When they came to the succulents, Basil's delicate fingers picked up a few droppings from the shelves as Sunny stared at an odd-looking plant in front of him.

Basil noticed his silence after no response from a question he had poised and looked over.

"Ah! That's tylecodon schaeferianus, also known as the Fairy Tale Plant! Nice eye, Sunny!"

"It looks like a bowl of grapes," Sunny replied, picking up the small pot to take a closer look.

Basil laughed at the reason behind his fascination. "Yep, it's got these egg-shaped bulbous leaves. It's a succulent, so for the most part they're easy to take care of as long as you water them properly and they prefer to be in the shadows. I'm kind of surprised we found one in a store like this. They don't usually carry anything this cool, heck, they even sometimes completely misname the plants or just leave them to die."

Sunny took this in as his friend continued to rant about the state of the store and how he wished his poor college student wallet could allow him to save every one of these plants.

"I'm buying it."

"Hm?" This piqued the blond's interest. "I mean, they're easy to take care of, so if you wanted it I can give you a few pointers and it should be fine in your dorm–"

"No," he interrupted. "For you."

At this, Basil flushed into a deep red and lost his easy going composure, dropping from a flower boy ranting about his fixations back to the stumbling mess that Sunny got a secret pleasure to see from time to time.

"F-For me? W-W-Why?"

Sunny shrugged. "Because you seem to really like it. And it's cool."

Basil laughed and cleared his dry throat, "O-Oh, well in that case I'll buy it–"

Sunny shook his head as Basil reached for the pot, placing it with his pile of things in their cart. "It's a gift for you."

He began to walk forward as if to signal that the decision was final. Basil stuttered to try to think of a response, but instead stewed with the warm feeling in his chest and shyly muttered a small "thank you."

What if I was the answer to your prayer?

Yeah, you need a little candor, need a little candor

They had come a long way since the ill-fated incident years ago. After the promise at the hospital, the two had finally begun to allow themselves to heal. It wasn't a linear journey, not by a long shot. But they had each other. They kept in contact since that day and even as they waited and worked for their friends' forgiveness after their confession, they had each other to rely on. To speak about their therapy sessions. To confide in when they were back to square one. To celebrate their wins, no matter how big or little. And how relieving was it to drop the rope that you had been wringing in your hands for years, twisting burning knots in your hands, holding on dearly because it was the only real thing you had left, and to find a soft hand tangled in yours, letting you know you weren't alone?

It was a messy trip. And still far from being over. But from death, there was reincarnation. And nothing was the same. It never could be, and that was never the goal. Their friendships, their lives, and their mental states. But with Basil, he had someone with him as he picked up the fallen leaves, grieved, and moved on to this new growth.

And in this liminal space, his feelings for Basil only grew.

What if we last till it's dawn like you promised me?

After learning that they had both applied to the same university to transfer their credits, Basil from the nearby community college in Faraway Town and Sunny from his online college, they began to hang out more regularly. Once Basil passed his driving test after the third try (driving a metal death trap on a road does produce some anxiety), the visits went from every school break to every month. And now that they both dormed near the other, they met in between classes and schoolwork.

And when they weren't physically together, their conversations carried over to text messages and the occasional meme through Twitter. It seemed like the two were glued hip to hip just as they had been when they were younger.

As hard as it was to believe, there were still a handful of times through the years that they messaged each other through the entire night, seeing the moon lower between them and the sun begin to peak its head to announce a new day. Sunny was guilty of trying to continue the conversation through text by bringing up new topics up until one of them would pass out on the other. It was fun to tease the meek boy and see his embarrassed reactions play out through messages with emoticons and an excess of emojis. And as much as Basil wouldn't admit it openly, he loved this kind of attention from Sunny and their friendly/flirty banter.

Are you still up thinking of me?

At this point, Sunny lay on his stomach, scrolling through his messages from Basil that night. He cringed each time as he scrolled back down to his pleading text. It was out of nowhere. He didn't want to concern Basil by having him think that he was possibly experiencing an episode or a panic attack. They still both experienced those, but not a fraction of the number of times as they used to.

Maybe he would send a follow up text with an excuse saying he was just excited to show his best friend a new vinyl he acquired that day. So even when Basil did wake up, he wouldn't be worried that he wasn't there for him during a tough time.

But his hands hovered over the keyboard on his screen, refusing to type it out. Something inside still hoped for the impossible. The message could wait for a moment longer.

I take all the blame

Is it hard to understand?

When it's all the same

I've played all the games

And lost almost everything

Now I talk to myself and it's quite surprising

The build up to this moment was a long time coming. Sunny's crush on the boy had budded when they first met all those years ago, when Aubrey introduced Basil to the group. He was unlike the was someone that finally made silence between another person comfortable. A peppy voice that was always excited to see him. A new set of eyes into a world that Sunny had never seen before and was eager to explore. As the group began to create more and more memories with each other, his bond with Basil deepened its roots. And like a flower, he wanted to lean more and more into Basil's warmth.

When he was younger, he couldn't place a label on his feelings; didn't know why his body felt like it burned when Basil breezed by his skin, but still so at peace when the two sat next to each other. Day by day, his heart yearned to be even closer to the boy, something more than friends, something more–

Then everything happened.

And for a while,

A long while,

Sunny had given up on the chance of any of his friendships surviving the heavy burden that the truth carried. And there was Basil. The one person who knew it all. The one person who shouldered the same burden as he did. The only person who could possibly understand what he was going through.

And Sunny abandoned him.

And as if life hadn't been cruel enough to him, those feelings had already taken root. Basil was the one constant in his life.

Can't you see the sign up on the wall?

In the middle of a fight

I talk to myself and it's quite surprising

That was the exact reason why his resolve to reconnect with Basil was absolute.

It fucking terrified him to begin this new, wobbly relationship with his friend after everything Sunny had done to him. There was a reason why his conscience had so deeply tried to eradicate Basil over and over again. If he was going to come back into his life, Sunny would need to face the truth of their deed every day. And if he was going to commit to their friendship again, he could only do it if he promised himself to never leave Basil in the dark again.

And Sunny had never felt a grace so freeing as Basil's willingness to try again.

I wish I could be someone like you

Wish I could be someone else, someone like you

He learned so much through his best friend. In him, he could see the same self-loathing that took hold and for years prevented him from feeling deserving of love. And just like him, he knew just how desperate he was for some form of kindness and love from others after starving from any intimate connection. Even after it all, Basil was still the same Basil. In the sunny days, he grew. In the rainy days, he grew. And he always tried his best to face the sun.

They had expressed to each other before just how appreciative they were to keep their friendship. Basil still thanked him for each kind gesture and for listening to him. They had a few late night chats filled with cheesiness and vulnerability, thanking each other for not giving up and holding onto the hope. But there was still one sentiment left unsaid.

And that's what led Sunny to the late night text. Sure, through the years there had been close calls. He'd be an idiot if he didn't take note of all the times Basil tensed up around him with a blush each time Sunny praised or teased him. And he didn't doubt that Basil had a semblance of a clue of his feelings with how forward some of Sunny's flirty attempts were. The number of times one or the other leaned in close were too many to count. And the times they glanced at each other's lips–even more.

Sunny was finally ready to take the next step. But… requesting the blond to come over to his dorm at 3 AM probably wasn't the way he wanted to ask.

Sunny grunted once more and opened up their text thread. Fine. He'd apologize for the weird message and excuse himself away, then ask if Basil would be down to go to a farmer's market this weekend. He was always down for that sort of thing. Coupled with coffee from their new favorite coffee shop around the corner and the excitement Basil would have from all the quirky shops set up at the market, the moment to pop the question would be perfect.

He began to type it out, starting to finally feel the threads of sleep pull down on his eyelids as well. Finally, he could get some shut-eye and think about this rationally.

Then suddenly he heard a soft knocking coming from his door. Sunny shot up and dropped his phone. Surely that was the sound of something in his room adjusting, or maybe something from his desk had fallen?

He scrambled to his feet and checked the floor, but sure enough, it was cleared from his earlier cleaning.

His head shot back up as the knocking came again.

No. It couldn't be.

"S-Sunny, are you in there?"

That idiot. What was he doing up so late? Why did he actually listen to him? He should be asleep! He had been working so hard studying and for all those tests, tiring himself out with the new Photography club he had joined too, and now he responded to his friend's selfish request–

Sunny made his way over to his door, opening it wide to show the dark hallway. There stood Basil, holding a small overnight bag on his shoulder and a bag of snacks in another. He gave a sheepish smile and waved at his friend.

"Sorry for being late, I forgot to respond to your message because I thought it'd be nice to have some snacks when I came over, so I stopped by the convenience store–"

Sunny threw himself into an embrace with the blond, nuzzling his head into Basil's shoulder and hugging tight. Basil tensed up straight and dropped the bag of snacks, his hands shaking above Sunny's waist.

"S-S-Sunny? Are you o-okay?"

Sunny nodded into his shoulder, feeling his smile spread across his features. "Yes, I'm just fine. Perfect, actually, now that you're here."

When the hug didn't end, Basil eased his hands down and hugged him back, smiling and resting his chin on Sunny's opposite shoulder. His pajama shirt smelled homely and felt soft, and the tingles going down his back from the electric feel of Sunny's tight hold soothed him in return.

"Of course. I'm always glad to be with you."

I hope you all enjoyed the start of this! I recently got into Omori and I literally have brainrot over Sunny x Basil, so what better way to treat that than to write about it over and over again? Once I begin to write more chapters I'll upload a Spotify link of the songs in case anyone is interested. And follow me on Twitter at karenkagamine if you're interested in seeing my shitposts.

Until next time, thank you for reading!