Work Text:
It had been about an hour after school had gotten out for the day, and everyone had gathered at Kel and Hero's house to finish up their work together, the oldest two members of the group promising the younger four that they could all go to the park together once everyone's homework was done. It was a beautiful day outside, and they were lucky enough to have lovely weather, so why let it go to waste?
Luckily for Hero and Mari, they knew their kids well, so they had everyone gather up in the living room all together. Unluckily for their kids, however, this meant that they were under supervision and actually had to do their homework, instead of messing around or making excuses to not have it done.
Well, okay, Basil at the very least was trustworthy enough to do his homework without supervision or prompting, and Aubrey was usually on top of her studies in regards to homework, but as for Kel and Sunny...
They were another story.
The older siblings often found their little brothers goofing off, playing video games, reading comic books, etc.
Essentially doing anything but what they were supposed to.
So that leads them to now.
Aubrey was lying on the floor on her stomach, kicking her feet as she concentrated on the textbook laid out in front of her, Kel was sitting at a desk (*coughcoughasidetablethatHerohadputthereforhimcoughcough*) glaring at a copy of the same textbook in confusion, unable to comprehend what it was he was reading at the moment, Sunny was sat down on the couch with his handheld, having already finished his homework for the day, and Basil had gotten up from his place on the floor, collecting his materials as he finished up the last of his own homework to place neatly into his backpack.
Meanwhile, Mari and Hero were in the kitchen, Mari preparing some of her famous (well, famous to them, at least) cookies, while Hero worked on a few sandwiches and fruit trays for a picnic, making sure to pop back out into the living room now and again to check on the kids and keep them on track.
Mari had just finished cleaning up the ingredients and dirty dishes from her batch, which had been put into the oven a few minutes prior, and decided that it was time to check on the younger four.
She decided to check on them all individually, just to make sure that everyone who needed help got the help they needed, starting with the two youngest members of the group, who were currently occupying the couch.
"Hey, boys! You two all finished?" She asked, reaching over to ruffle both her little brother's and his best friend's hair affectionately.
Sunny nodded, not looking up from his game for even a second.
"Yep! We're learning about plants in science, so I got it done really quickly!" Basil answered, smiling happily as he told their group's mother/older sister figure all about his achievement, quite proud of himself for being able to understand the material with such ease.
"Good for you, Basil! You having fun with this unit, then?" Mari responded, matching the blonde's enthusiasm.
"Mhm! I really like this one! The teacher said she was really impressed when I answered a lot of her questions in class today!" The gardener continued, happy that he had mustered up the confidence to do so for a change, normally remaining reserved, timid, and quiet.
"Hey, look at you go! Proud of you, Basil!" The pianist responded, giving him a big hug.
Sunny looked up at his sister now, giving her a slight pout at the attention that was being received by someone who was not him, despite him being the first to complete his homework.
Mari (obviously) noticed this and giggled, reaching over to hug Sunny as well.
"I'm very proud of you too, Sunny. Don't worry. You're doing great! Keep up the good work, little brother!" She praised.
Satisfied that he had also received attention and praise from his older sister, he slumped back into the couch and resumed his video game, Basil leaning in over his shoulder to watch.
Mari shook her head, amused with her little brother's behaviour as she stood and wandered over to Aubrey.
"Hi, Aubrey! How's your homework going?" She asked, kneeling down beside the little girl.
"Hi, Mari! I'm doing okay so far. I'm almost finished, but I just don't remember what this term means..." Aubrey replied, looking through her textbook pages to try to find a description.
"What's the term?" Mari asked, eager to help.
"It's... um..." Aubrey trailed off, reading the word to try to figure out its pronunciation.
"Need some help?" Mari giggled slightly, leaning in to take a closer look at the textbook.
"Yes, please! It's this one right here," The smaller girl responded, pointing to the troublesome word.
"Oh, you mean chlorophyll!" Mari read out.
"Yeah! I don't remember what it is," Aubrey responded.
"Hmm, let me remember here," Mari quickly attempted to run through her fifth-grade science terminology to find the response.
"It's the substance in plants that absorbs energy from the sun and makes the plants green!" Basil shouted helpfully from the couch, having heard the girls from across the room.
"Oh, well there you go!" Mari exclaimed, clapping her hands together, "Thanks, Basil!"
"Oh, ok! I remember now! Thank you, Basil!" Aubrey said, smiling at the younger boy.
"You're welcome, Aubrey!" Basil smiled back, happy he was able to help his friends.
"Thank you for the help, Mari!" Aubrey thanked, writing down the answer to a question.
"That's what I'm here for! Keep up the good work, okay?" The older girl replied sweetly, standing up and stretching briefly.
"I will!" Came Aubrey's last reply before the teen turned to check on Kel.
"Hey there, Kel! How's progress?" She asked, coming up behind him to peek over his shoulder.
"Ughhhh, I don't get this at aaaaall... I hate science," Kel whined, faceplanting on the desk.
Mari giggled at the melodramatic display before pulling up a chair beside him.
"Alright, what don't you get?" The pianist responded, sure, science wasn't her forte either, but she still did well in it, and she was still going to help regardless.
"The textbook keeps using science words. I don't know what they mean," Kel said, turning from Mari to glare at his textbook again for daring to not make sense.
"Alright, well which words do you not understand? I can help explain them to you," The teen offered.
"'Kay, well I heard what this one meant when you helped Aubrey, so I don't need that one anymore. Uh..." The athlete said, scanning his textbook for more troublesome words.
"Oh, this one! I dunno what this one means," Kel exclaimed, pointing to the word in question.
"Photosynthesis, okay! Photosynthesis is a process that plants go through where they absorb energy from the sun to feed themselves! It's also where oxygen comes from," Mari explained.
Kel blinked a few times, clearly having one of those episodes where everything went right over his head, so Mari hummed and looked around the room, trying to come up with an easier explanation to go with. Her eyes landed on a certain sight in the room, giving her an idea, her signature smug grin setting in as her eyes began to sparkle with mischief.
"Look over there, Kel! That's photosynthesis right there!" Mari exclaimed, pointing over to the couch, or rather, the two boys still occupying said couch. Basil had gotten tired of leaning himself over Sunny's shoulder to watch him play when they were at such a weird angle, so at some point, while Mari had been helping the older two kids he had given up and simply snuggled into her little brother, who had adjusted, resulting in the flower boy lying on Sunny's stomach, with the younger of the two still gripping the handheld, his arms wrapped around the blonde.
Mari's sudden, loud exclamation had all of the kids' attention on her before each turned to where she was pointing, and suddenly all eyes were on Sunny and Basil, with the said pair looking at each other confusedly before glancing around the couch for whatever it was Mari was supposedly pointing at.
Aubrey and Kel looked equally confused before something clicked with Aubrey, who gave a snicker, attempting to bury her face in a nearby cushion to hide her laughter.
"What's going on out here?" Hero asked, sticking his head out of the kitchen to see what the sudden rise in volume was about.
"Oh, nothing! Just showing Kel an example of photosynthesis is all!" Mari replied, once again pointing a finger at the poor confused boys on the couch.
"What do Sunny and Basil have to do with- Oh," Hero began, realizing what she'd meant right as he questioned it, beginning to chuckle a bit as well.
"Two out of five, not bad," Mari said, proud that at least some people got it.
"No, I'm with Hero, what the heck do those two have to do with science?" Kel asked, squinting and burying his face in the book as if there were some definition or something that he'd missed.
Aubrey rolled her eyes at his confusion, opting to avoid looking at Sunny and Basil, who were equally confused, both having been distracted enough to only have looked up when they caught their names at the tail end of the conversation, "Really, Kel? How are you not getting it? It's so obvious!" She complained.
"Hey! I'm not the only one who doesn't get it! If it's so obvious, why don't you explain it to us since you're so smart!" Kel retorted.
Mari shook her head and sighed at the usual antics of the older two, seeing Hero hit his head gently on the doorframe exasperatedly out of the corner of her eye, both clearly on the same page as the two continued to bicker.
Meanwhile, the flower boy's confusion gave way to his usual anxiety seeing the two fight. Sure, Kel and Aubrey fought near constantly, and as a member of this close-knit friend group (which at times became the closest thing he's ever had to family), one would think that he'd get used to it eventually, but the younger boy's anxiety always made itself known no matter how many times he tried to shake it.
Luckily for Basil, Sunny knew his best friend well, and upon taking his attention off of the bickering duo for long enough to notice the anxious squirming from beside him, he picked up two cushions off of the couch...
...And launched them across the room, hitting both Kel and Aubrey square in the face before pulling Basil closer to 'demand cuddles' from him (Translation: comfort him).
Mari almost choked as the whole room was caught off-guard by the youngest's solution, She and Hero promptly burst out laughing at the act. Kel and Aubrey sat there blankly, blinking for a moment to process, which only served to make the teens laugh harder, while Basil's anxiety melted, giving way to mild confusion and amusement at the usually indifferent boy's actions, semi-realizing when he was pulled back into Sunny's arms that his best friend had noticed his unease and offered a solution (an effective one at that) to calm his nerves.
"Aha- Oh gosh, Sunny. Where'd that come from?" Mari wheezed, attempting to regain control of her breathing. She wiped a tear from her eye as Kel finally recovered, shooting a glare at his big brother, who'd fallen on the floor laughing. Aubrey followed suit, pouting as the oldest two continued to laugh at their expense.
Her younger brother simply shrugged, looking slightly more pleased with himself than usual, making Basil snicker slightly.
Kel huffed and leaned forward onto the desk, resting his chin in his arms.
"Okay fine. Geez, laugh all you want. But I'm still confused," He pouted.
"Alright, alright, no more laughing, we're good. Here Kel, I'll explain for you," Mari giggled, finally coming down from her laughing fit.
"Finally, sheesh!" Kel exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in a melodramatic display of exasperation.
"So remember what I said about photosynthesis?" Mari asked.
"Uhh, yeah...?" He started uncertainly, "Somethin' about food and the sun?" He said, phrasing it more as a question.
"It's when plants absorb sunlight, the sunlight they get serves as energy and food for them," Mari explained once again.
"Ohhh," Kel responded in understanding.
"Mhm, and now look at Basil and Sunny!" Mari continued.
He did so. The boys on the couch were still just as confused as before, trying to piece together whatever Mari was on about.
"I don't get it," Kel said after a while.
"It's a pun, Kel," Hero summarized.
His younger brother still looked lost, so Hero clarified further.
"Photosynthesis involves plants and the sun, right?" He questioned.
Kel nodded.
"Annd who's on the couch right now, Kel?" Hero pressed.
"Basil and Su- OHHHH! Because Sunny's name is Sunny, and Basil is a type of plant, right?" Kel realized, finally getting the joke.
"Yep! You got it!" Mari applauded.
Meanwhile, so did the two boys on the couch, which was evidenced by the small strangled noise from Sunny and the squeak from Basil before both went bright red, attempting to disappear into the couch.
"Ah, goodness. You're both adorable," Mari sighed, walking over to sit beside them on the couch and wrapping them both in a hug. Basil opted to stay buried as close to Sunny as possible, meanwhile Sunny made another small noise before pouting at his sister, sticking his tongue out at her.
"Hehe, alright, alright. I'm done, for now, calm down," Mari assured, getting up to check on her cookies in the kitchen.
"Alright, Kel do you need any more help, or are you good now?" Hero asked.
"Nope, I'm good," His little brother replied.
"Alright, keep it up, you two. You're almost there. The sooner you both finish, the sooner we can all get going to the park," He reminded, returning to the kitchen to help Mari, who stuck her head back out shortly after.
"Hey Sunny, Basil? Could you two do me a favour and run over to our house to get my picnic basket and picnic blanket, please?" Mari asked.
Sunny shot her a challenging look. He didn't want to get up. She had teased him and Basil, so he decided he would be stubborn as revenge. He was busy. If she wanted them, she could get them herself.
Mari smirked at him and rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
"You can photosynthesize later. If you wanna go on this picnic, we need the basket and blanket."
Both boys shot up off the couch at the teasing comment and sprinted out the door, making the three in the room laugh.
"Ah, they're too easy to tease," Mari sighed fondly before returning to the kitchen.