A/N: I thought I had uploaded this chapter, but I discovered this morning that I hadn't. My bad, everybody! Sorry!
A sharp knock shot through Roxas' subconscious, and the boy startled awake. His daydream and his pleasant drowsiness faded away to annoyance, and he rolled over to let out a complaint when he realized who it was standing in his doorway.
Mrs. Strife stood there, in her usual jeans and sweater, but that wasn't what turned his expression dark and completely killed any lingering thoughts of it being a good day. Behind Mrs. Strife stood his caseworker, in a sharp black pantsuit that brought, unbidden, uncomfortable memories of being essentially tossed into the back of a car and driven away from yet another foster home. Roxas sat up, eyes narrowed suspiciously, and stared at the caseworker. "Why are you here?" he demanded. He crossed his arms, and he began to grow nervous as neither woman said anything. He hadn't done anything wrong recently, had he? Yeah, he and Sora tracked mud through most of the house that one time, but they'd cleaned it up and Mrs. Strife hadn't seemed too angry. Why was the caseworker here?
"If you'll run on down to the kitchen, we'll be down in a moment, alright?" Mrs. Strife gave him a strained smile, and stalked into his room to throw open the curtains and open the window. "Sora's already down there making pancakes."
Roxas took that as a good sign, although anything involving his caseworker wasn't good, and he sidled past her and bolted down the stairs. Halfway down them, he heard the door click shut, and he paused to stare up at it. What exactly did they want with his room? If they'd wanted to talk in private, they could've just left him asleep.
"Roxas?" Sora appeared at the bottom of the stairs, still in his own pajamas, with a spatula in one hand. "Pancakes are done."
Roxas jumped the last few steps and followed Sora into the kitchen. To his surprise, Cloud was in there, leaning against the counter, with a cup of strong coffee in one hand. He was staring at the hallway, apparently listening intently because Sora held his finger to his lips and just motioned for Roxas to sit down. The blond obeyed, and as quietly as he could, dumped a few pancakes on his plate. Cloud moved behind him to lean against the doorframe, but when Roxas turned his questioning gaze to Sora, the brunet shrugged.
The door opened, and Mrs. Strife's voice carried down the stairs and into the kitchen. "I told you on the phone, I'm not hiding anything. Roxas hasn't been any trouble and I do not appreciate your suspicion! Why don't you have any faith in him?"
Roxas' jaw dropped. He'd been there two weeks, and while he still couldn't figure Mrs. Strife out, he figured sooner or later she'd let it slip that he was too much trouble. What was she getting at?
"It's protocol with the trouble cases. I have to inspect. Please do not raise your voice!"
Cloud stepped back into the kitchen and set down his coffee. "Sora, take Roxas outside for a while." Cloud tossed one look at his little brother, who mumbled something through the pancakes in his mouth, but Cloud was out of the hallway and slipping quietly up the stairs before Sora could swallow.
"What's up with him?" Sora asked. He sighed, and grabbed a pancake off the plate. "C'mon, I guess. Backyard it is."
Roxas followed with a quiet sigh. It wasn't unusual for Cloud to issue strange orders like that, but it wasn't fair for him to listen in or get involved and leave Roxas and Sora out of it. And yet, it was so utterly typical of him that Roxas was at a loss for why he was surprised.
A few minutes later found Roxas sprawled under the tree in the back, in the shade. It was barely ten AM, but the sun was hot and Roxas wasn't wearing a shirt and his pale ass didn't want a sunburn. Sora didn't seem as concerned about it, as he was half in the shade, but he at least was wearing a shirt. "So what do you think Cloud went up there for?" Sora asked.
"I dunno. Maybe he just wants to listen in?" Roxas' wandering hands found a leaf, and began to methodically rip it to pieces.
"Yeah, probably, but I don't see why we had to leave. I mean, they're talking about you, how unfair is it that you can't know what's being said about you?" Sora flopped backwards, then shuffled around to use Roxas' leg as a pillow. "But Cloud'll probably tell us, or at least me, whenever they're done. Mom was really annoyed with your social worker."
"Why?"
"Mom thinks she's over-exaggerating about you being a problem kid and all, cause we've had problem kids and compared to them, you're an angel, and it's driving Mom up the wall that apparently nobody trusts you."
Roxas stuck a blade of grass between his lips, and rolled the end around with his tongue. "How long d'you think we'll be stuck out here?" He wiggled, and the grass he was laying on tickled his back. "I should've grabbed a shirt."
Sora bounded to his feet, and the sudden movement startled Roxas. "Let's go get you a shirt, then!"
"…I'm not sure I follow..." Roxas said warily. "I don't need-"
"But we have an excuse to go upstairs!" Sora dragged Roxas to his feet amidst protests, and shoved him towards the back door. "Come on! We might be able to catch some of it!"
Roxas sighed and followed the bouncy brunet into the house. Sora snuck along the back hallway, humming a spy song under his breath, and Roxas followed after, walking normally and trying to pretend he wasn't in the same room as Sora.
He was a few steps behind Sora and not really paying attention, when he ran into the boy, and they both stumbled into the kitchen.
Mrs. Strife and the social worker stared at them, and Roxas stared back, with a deer-in-the-headlights expression he was sure Sora's face was mirroring. "Uh…"
"Roxas doesn't have a shirt," Sora said, after a moment of staring. "So we came inside to get one?"
"Where were you?" the social worker asked. She began to get an uppity smirk, as though she knew Roxas had done something wrong. It's been like five minutes, maybe, what could I have done wrong?
"Backyard. Cloud sent us out there."
"To do what?" The social worker narrowed her eyes. Roxas was nearly sure that he knew what she was thinking- that he was plotting something, and that things weren't as happy and honest as they seemed. He wondered briefly how long she'd been working with trouble cases to get that jaded against real life.
"To...get…fresh air?" Sora tried.
"To pick flowers for the table?" Roxas said at the same time.
"Yes, flowers," Sora said.
"Fresh air! And sunlight!"
Both women stared at them. Mrs. Strife raised her eyebrows, but she was smiling. The social worker looked annoyed.
"So we couldn't have possibly gotten into anything in five minutes and all and Roxas still needs a shirt, so…" Sora smiled brightly, grabbed Roxas, and dragged him through the kitchen and up the stairs.
"I don't think they believed us," Roxas informed Sora as they huddled around the door in Roxas' room. "Why did Cloud make us go outside?"
"I dunno. He's weird like that sometimes. Maybe he doesn't want us exposed to the stupid?" Sora pressed his ear to the crack while Roxas rummaged through the dresser for a shirt. "I wonder where he went?"
"As you can see, there's nothing wrong with him, and I don't see any need to have him moved to another foster home. He's not done anything wrong!" Mrs. Strife's voice floated up the stairs, and Sora turned to look at Roxas.
"Why does she think you're such an issue?"
Roxas pulled on the shirt, and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't really get along with people my age. Or any age. I get into fights a lot."
"You fight? Like sparring?" Sora turned away from the door completely, suddenly, suspiciously, interested. "Are you any good?"
"Why?" Roxas asked. He knew Sora fought recreationally, but there wasn't any reason for him to be so interested in Roxas' fighting abilities, unless he was interested in fighting Roxas.
"Well, you know this summer's Struggle is coming up soon, and you said you wanted to catch up with some of your friends, and if you're there, Mom'll be way more likely to let me do it again, and maybe if you proved you're good at something, people will stop hating on you so much."
"Did you really just think of all that right now?"
Sora grinned innocently. "Okay, so maybe I've been wondering about Struggle again. And maybe Mom said 'No way in hell' and maaaaaybe, she said that I couldn't go unless I found somebody to go with that she trusted."
Roxas rolled his eyes. "You want me to fight? I haven't fought for more than a few minutes at a time, ever. I'm not good enough for Struggle, Sora."
Sora rocked back on his heels, and Roxas was beginning to see that there probably wasn't much of a chance of him saying 'no' actually being listened to. "Yeah, but you can practice! Twilight Town is like an hour away, Cloud could drive us, or Riku cause he has his license, and we can practice against the guys there. Except Seifer, because he's an asshole."
That reminded Roxas of something he'd been wondering about. "How do you all know Seifer?"
"He went to school with us a few years ago, his parents moved here, then moved back to Twilight Town. He always had something against Riku, and dragged me and a couple of our friends into it a time or two." Sora put his finger to his lips, and went back to listening at the door. "It sounds like she's leaving…"
Sora was right. Moments later, the front door closed. It didn't slam so much as close emphatically hard, and then Sora was out of his room and bounding down the stairs.
Roxas followed more sedately. Should I? he wondered. I could see Hayner again, and I could maybe prove that I'm not just a useless delinquent.
"So what'd she want, Mom?" Sora asked. Mrs. Strife handed him a plastic bag, and Sora began to put away the pancakes.
"Surprise inspection. And she wanted me to know that she was looking for another place for Roxas. I told her that we want him to stay right here." Mrs. Strife scrubbed angrily at the frying pan in the sink, and Roxas wondered if he should go back to his room. "But she got my point. Roxas?"
"Yeah?" Roxas turned back to her, partway up the stairs.
"You know you're welcome here, right?"
Mrs. Strife and Sora both looked up at him, but Roxas didn't feel like he was put on the spot. Rather, he felt like she actually meant it. It felt good.
"Yeah. I know."
She smiled, and Sora looped his hands behind his head and grinned. Roxas had noticed that Sora did that when he was relaxed, and happy, and more than once, Roxas had caught himself imitating the boy.
He headed up to his room, and fell back into bed. It was summer and he didn't have anything to do, and he felt happy and alive and, for the first time since his parents' death, he felt like he might actually belong somewhere.