Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Namine nodded faintly, recognizing the gesture Roxas often performed when he was either shy or feeling awkward. "I'm glad you're home," she said softly, kindly letting her former question fade out of the conversation as if it had never happened. She didn't know what was causing Roxas to act strange, but she wasn't going to worry about it. After all, if he said he was fine, then she believed it.

 

Roxas froze at the words, especially the last one: home. He let his hand come back to rest on the edge of the bed, the boy nodding. "Me too," he replied with a faint smile. What Namine didn't know was that this didn't really feel like home to him anymore, and he felt bad saying that he was glad to be "home" when he was feeling different about it.

 

Namine smiled faintly and shifted her gaze to the hand in front of her face, her eyes dropping slightly. The medicine must have suddenly kicked in, because she felt very drowsy. Before, all she had felt was weakness, but now she felt as if she were about to pass out.

 

Roxas looked at Namine for another moment before turning his head, his sight falling on the floor underneath his feet. His smile faded as he sat on the bed, hands gripping the edge. Namine was already noticing how different he was acting... He had tried to cover that up, for her. It's obviously not working very well, Roxas thought silently.

 

Namine shut her eyes after a moment, shivering despite the large amount of blankets and sheets covering her. She couldn't understand how she had a fever and was so freezing at the same time, but that was reality, and she had to accept it.

 

Even if it wasn't working, Roxas was going to try to keep up the act. He couldn't risk Namine finding out what was truly bothering him, or what had changed about him. It would be messy, and he didn't want to deal with any more messes, not until he got some answers.

 

Namine exhaled a faintly shaky breath, her hand lightly gripping the pillow in front of her face. She wanted to fall asleep, but something was bothering her...something she couldn't put a finger on. She was trying to keep her grip on reality so she could figure it out, but she felt too dazed to think very deeply.

 

Roxas turned his head a little, looking at Namine. He hated that he was lying to her in a way, being fake. It was something he never imagined doing to her, but the past two months have opened up his eyes. Things are different, and have been for a long time. He just never noticed until recently.

 

Namine shifted slightly in the bed, feeling restless. She couldn't explain the feeling in her heart...but something was telling her things weren't alright around her. However, she couldn't do anything about it, or even figure out what it was that wasn't right. Considering the strength of the medicine, she was lucky she was even awake to think about these things.

 

Roxas saw Namine's movement and lifted his hand, setting it on her arm. Concern was coming through in his eyes now, the boy not really questioning what was wrong. She was sick, so he pinned the restlessness on that. But his problems weren't so easy.

 

Namine exhaled a breath through her nose, becoming still when she felt the hand on her arm. She realized then that Roxas must have seen her restlessness, and now he was trying to help her out and provide some comfort. It was sweet of him, and she appreciated it.

 

Roxas silently ran his thumb over the fabric of Namine's sweatshirt on her arm, but he didn't say anything. He couldn't really ask if she was alright, because she was sick, which meant that she wasn't. There really would be no point.

 

Namine turned her head faintly on the pillow and took in one last breath before she released it, slipping into unconsciousness at Roxas' gentle motion.

 

After a few minutes, Roxas only continued to listen to the faint sound of Namine's even breathing, still rubbing her arm despite the fact that he knew she was already sleeping. He was staring off into space, the obvious on his mind: his problems. A really big problem surrounding all of them was that he had no idea how he was going to handle them. At all.

 

OOC: Time gap time ;3

A few hours later, Namine heard a noise in her slumber that started to call her back to reality. The thunder boomed loudly outside, but she didn't tense up under her sheets, since she had conquered her fear of storms in the past two months. Still, the sounds weren't pleasurable, and they woke her up despite the fact she could have used more sleep.

 

Roxas sat on the floor at the foot of Namine's bed, her guitar in his hands. He had gotten it from the stand in one corner of her room an hour or two ago, and had been playing it ever since. It was strange, how much he missed the instrument while he was gone. When he first picked it up, it felt foreign in his hands, but as he played it now, it felt the opposite. Roxas's eyes were closed as he strummed the notes to one of his own songs in the silence.

 

Namine rolled over onto her other side, a sigh leaving her lips as she came out of her slumber. She brought up her hand and rubbed her eyes sleepily, faintly recognizing that the rain wasn't the only sound she heard. Curious, she allowed herself to come out of her sleep further, waking up more quickly now.

 

Roxas moved his head slightly with the strumming, playing quietly so he wouldn't disturb Namine's slumber. Writing songs... How long had it been? Quite a while, he knew, but still. Not even that seemed normal to him anymore. It was part of his old life, and he was surprised at how much he missed the music aspect of it.

 

Namine opened her eyes partway and set her hand on the bed in front of her, lifting herself up partway before stopping. The noise she was hearing...she recognized it perfectly now. The strumming of a guitar. She allowed herself to stay in her current position for a moment, just listening. She had played the guitar quite a bit during the last few months, but it was somehow refreshing to hear somebody else playing a song on it.

 

Roxas opened his eyes to watch his fingers against the neck of the guitar, moving gracefully over the strings. He had been away from the instrument for quite a while, and yet his fingers moved like it had only been a few days. Despite his past, Roxas knew that music was just a gift he had.