Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Kairi bit her lip and messed with the string of her lounge pants. "Um... It's Sora," she said quietly. "I think there's something...going on with him."

Roxas arched an eyebrow as he stared at the television screen. "What do you mean?" he asked, a little confused. Sora seemed just fine to him, even if he was different from the mission as well. Was that what Kairi was talking about?

"Like, he's been so kind to me lately. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that or anything," Kairi quickly said, before Roxas could interject. "But when things revolved around Nathaniel for a little while, he was nothing but nice to me."

"So...you think he was wrong to be nice?" Roxas asked, his eyebrows furrowing. He hoped that was what she was getting at, because that was all he could come up with from her explanation. It sounded bad, but he would let Kairi further explain, and hopefully prove him wrong.

 

Sora held both crutches in one hand, his other one in a fist by his side. He often clenched his hands in fists, not because he was tense of upset, but because it was the only way he could stop himself from summoning his Keyblades. He was so used to the way that they felt in his hands, that once or twice he had summoned them without thinking about it. Of course, that had been in the privacy of his own home, and he had been alone. Still, he needed to be careful and not slip up when he was in public.

 

"In a way, I guess that's it," Kairi admitted, looking down at the pictures in front of her. Her eyes focused on one of Sora. "I just don't understand how he couldn't be angry with me; he never was. You know what I mean?"

Roxas nodded, despite the fact that Kairi couldn't see it. "Yeah, I get what you're saying," he told her. If Namine had been with another guy, he would have been deeply upset, and surely anger would have been a part of it.

"But, I think there's something else," Kairi said. "Somebody else."

"Kairi, do you think Sora's cheating on you?" Roxas asked, lifting a brow. That seemed highly unlikely to him, but then again, he could never be too sure. Things had changed, but still. Roxas didn't think Sora would do that.

 

Sora crossed the street, traffic not extremely heavy today. He had to admit, it was hard getting used to living in New York City again. He still wouldn't call the place "home", even if he had been back for almost two weeks. It was strange, but he wasn't too comfortable here anymore. He supposed that after all he had seen and been through, he couldn't look at things the way that he used to.

 

"I know it sounds bad, but it's just something that's been on my mind lately," Kairi explained, feeling guilty for even thinking such a thing.

Roxas leaned forward as he sat in his chair. "So why aren't you talking to him about this?" he asked, not meaning to sound as rude as he did.

"Um..." Kairi bit her lip and tucked some of her hair behind her ear, not really sure what to say. "Well, it's just that I don't think he would be as...open with me about it. I've tried talking to him about his mission and he wouldn't say much about it. It makes me uneasy."

 

Sora looked up, seeing that he was on Roxas' street. He would be at his friend's house in a minute, so hopefully he would be there. And awake, too. Sora had forgotten that one time that not everybody woke up with the sun like he did, but he had been careful since that point to not bother his friends in the morning hours. It was late morning now, though, so Roxas was most likely awake.

 

"Okay..." Roxas said, getting suspicious. Did she want him to talk to Sora about this? It had been a few days, and things were better than they were earlier this week, but only by a little bit.

"I hate to ask this of you, Roxas, but could you please try and talk to him?" Kairi said softly. "You were with him for two of those months. Maybe he'll feel better talking to you about it, you know?"

Roxas rubbed his hand over his hair, his suspicions confirmed. "Yeah, I guess I can give it a shot," he agreed finally. He wasn't sure if it would go over very well, since Sora was a little quiet these days. But he would try for Kairi. It was the least he could do.

 

Sora approached Roxas's house, careful not to let the crutches hit the stairs as he walked up on the porch. When he reached the front door, he rang the doorbell, standing there patiently with the crutches in his right hand. If Roxas didn't answer, then he would just leave them on the porch and then be on his way.

 

Roxas jumped slightly at the sound of his doorbell, but once the surprise vanished, he arched a brow. "Hold on a sec," he told Kairi. He got up from the chair and peeked out the window slyly, and when he saw who was on the porch, he moved away from the window. "Stay on the line, okay?" Roxas instructed, and then he moved over to one of the tables in the room. He heard Kairi's questions on the phone, but he ignored them as he hid his phone behind one of the table plants so it wouldn't be seen. He then left the living room and approached his front door, opening it and greeting his friend outside. "Hey, Sora."

 

"Hey, Roxas," Sora said in greeting, giving his friend a nod and a friendly wave. "Thought I'd bring back the crutches; I don't need them any more." He lifted them into the air a little bit to attract Roxas's attention to them, his eyes wandering to the items in his hand as he performed the motion.

 

Roxas smiled slightly at the news. "Okay, cool. Come on in," he said, waving Sora in as he opened the door more and stepped out of the way. How he was going to get Sora to talk about the mission was still nagging him; he needed to come up with something quick.

Kairi could barely hear anything on the other line. She heard muffled voices, distinguishing one as Roxas's and the other as...Sora's? She couldn't be entirely sure, because wherever Roxas set the phone (she assumed), it wasn't a good enough spot for her to entirely hear the conversation.

 

Sora smiled faintly at Roxas and then entered his friend's home, his eyes looking around without much thought. He hadn't been there in a long time, so it was strange to see it all again. "Where do you want me to set them?" he asked, stopping a few steps in and turning around to face Roxas.

 

Roxas shut the door and rubbed his head, knowing that his phone was in the living room. "Right inside the living room's fine," he said. He would take them to his room later. Right now, though, he had some information to gather.

 

Sora nodded and started in, keeping a firm grip on the set of crutches in his right hand. "Thanks for letting me borrow them," he said over his shoulder once he was in the living room, the brunet propping them against a wall when he was in the room. They had really come in handy, since they saved him a trip to the hospital.

 

Roxas followed Sora and shrugged. "It was no big deal," he said. He glanced at where Sora put the crutches, knowing it was close to his hiding spot for his phone. How exactly was he going to do this?

 

Sora shrugged lightly, knowing Roxas meant it. Still, he was grateful. But he wasn't going to push it; he had already said his thanks. Now he was wondering exactly what to do: try and make conversation with Roxas or excuse himself and say he was going to see Kairi?

 

"Uh, Sora?" Roxas started in uncertainty. He lifted a hand to the back of his head as he continued. "Can I talk to you for a second?" He was doing this for Kairi, he had to remember that. But he was also curious about what happened while he was here, and Sora wasn't.

 

Sora arched a brow in curiosity, the teen not sure what Roxas wanted to talk about. Regardless, he would humor his friend and talk about what he wanted to discuss, unless it was the mission. "Sure, what's up?" he asked, lightly leaning his shoulder against the wall as he looked to Roxas.

 

"Uh, I'm really just curious, but..." Roxas glanced at the floor as he let his arm come back down, and then he lifted his sight to Sora again. "How did everything go while you were gone?" He felt he had the right to know about the mission, considering he had to leave haflway through it.

Whatever Roxas did, Kairi could hear the boys clearly now. She heard Sora before, and knew that he sounded okay, but she still had her concerns. She continued to listen in, despite the feeling in her stomach.

 

Sora furrowed his eyebrows slighlty in seriousness, his gaze going down towards the ground. "Fine," he said, his voice sounding matter-of-fact. "The Heartless forces were repressed to a safe number, so that should say enough of how it went." Obviously if things hadn't gone well then Sora wouldn't have been able to return home.