You’ve been spending a lot of time with Basil Kamiyana lately. The summer heat is brutal, but it’s a little less when you have a friend to suffer through it with.

Basil didn’t have any friend back at school. He was alone all of the time, wearing his chunky headphones and only speaking when he had to. He’s nonverbal most of the time and tends to stammer when he does speak, so not a lot of people even bother trying to befriend him.

Except for you.

[~<3~]

He moved into your neighborhood when summer started. He had already been going to your school so he didn’t understand why he had to move if he wasn’t going to switch school districts as well, but apparently this house was cheaper.

His mother, Ms. Kamiyana, is a kind woman. She takes care of her son but doesn’t quite coddle him, often forcing him outside to spend time with you because he ‘doesn’t get enough sun’ by her standards. He is pretty pale, so that checks out.

[~<3~]

It was another day, and that meant you would be meeting up with Basil again. You were running late this time. Basil was standing on the sidewalk in front of his house with his headphones on, staring out in front of him even though nothing was happening. He looked kind of dazed, zoning out like that. He always did.