Chapter 4

" Roxas? " Sora said unbelievingly.

" Hey Sora. " He replied almost nonchalantly.

" Umm..you wanna explain what you're doing here? " Sora asked

"Getting a snack." He replied.

"I get that. I mean why you're in the house at lord knows what time when you told mom and dad you were still in Japan?" Sora said getting louder as he spoke.

"Jeez Sora relax! And keep your voice down!" He said sorta yelling but whispering at the same time.

"Explain."

"Yea, explain." Another voice was heard in the kitchen only to reveal a smirking Vanitas leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Long time no see bro." He said, the smirk never leaving his face.

"Oh wow, you proud of yourself for that entrance? Yea real cool." He said as he shoved a piece of bread into his mouth. "Now if you guys want to talk, I'll answer any questions you might have...in MY room."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Whatever."

"Alright let's go. QUIETLY might I add!" He said in a hushed yell

They all slowly crept up to Roxas's room careful not to step on the creaky floorboards as Sora was before. Just as soon as Sora, the last one going up the stairs, reached the top, a loud and resonate sound was heard through the house.

"THUDDD!!"

Roxas and Vanitas both turned with as much annoyance as a face could contort to.

"WTF WAS THAT?!!" Roxas said still whispering as not to wake up the parental bodies a literal 10 feet from the boys.

"It was dipshit over there." Vanitas defended as he turned to Sora.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Yea sorry, I'm just tryna get these firecrackers going don't mind m- the fuck did you think it was I just stubbed my freaking toe" Sora replied sarcastically, the frustration apparent on his face. The other two boys couldn't help but chuckle.

That was Sora's gift. Since he was young he could put a smile on anyone's face and make anyone laugh no mater the circumstance. Once when Sora was younger, he and Riku were inside they're school at night to get back Riku's wallet and had gotten busted. They walked out with a slap on the wrist and $5 to go get sea-salt ice cream all because Sora had mad the cops laugh so hard that they let them go. Ever since then Riku has told him that he has the "Key to all locks" or something like that.

Once the boys had made it up the stairs, they flawlessly entered Roxas's room without a sound. He closed the door behind them and continued eating the food he had collected from the kitchen.

"Wait are those the left overs mom left me?" Sora questioned.

"...no" Roxas replied continuing to eat.

But before Sora could have a tantrum he silenced him with the promise of $40 for tomorrow so he could eat whatever he wanted.

"Well spill" Vanitas chimed.

"Alright well I guess you guys have been wondering where I've been. Truth is things didn't work out so well in Japan and I had to come back early. But I couldn't come home and tell mom and dad. I wouldn't be able to look at them in the eyes anymore. So as I was at the doorstep, about to accept my fate, I noticed the door had been left unlocked and that no one was home. So I did what any young adult who doesn't want to face their parents would do... I hid." Roxas explained as he took a seat on his bed.

"So how have you been eating?" Sora asked.

"Yea and how have you not been caught yet is the better question. What do you do here all day." Vanitas added.

"Easy. At night I get a whole bunch of food and keep it here to last me till the following night. And as for you Vanitas have you never heard of wifi? I'm 20 with no job. Fill in the blanks." Roxas responded never putting down the food he was eating.

The three sat in silence as they thought about the information that was just revealed. For about 3 mins all you could hear was the ticking from the clock in the room. This of course didn't last long.

"So like, was everyone in Japan animated like regular people or like dbz or something?" The boys laughed as they had before Roxas had left for Japan. Despite the teasing and jokes they really did love each other and would go to the ends of the earth for each other as well. They sat around catching up and laughing until 4 in the morning. Time was nothing but a concept to them until they say the sun start to rise.

"Ah shitttt I have school in the morning!" Sora realized.

"Don't you mean in like 3 hours?" Vanitas had asked.

"I would offer you a ride to school but... you know lol." Roxas laughed.

"Is that what they do in Japan ? Say lol as if it was a word? Regardless I'm going to try to get some sleep." Sora retorted.

"Alrighty well goodnight fellas"

The boys all dispersed into their separate rooms

The second Sora touched his bed he fell asleep. If he was gonna get any chance at sleep, he had to go for it now.

When Sora awoke, his alarm was blaring as usual and the sun was directly in his face due to his window. He looked around and saw $50 sitting on his dresser. He couldn't help but smile as he read the note his brother left him.

" Keep the change dude, Roxas"

Sora put the note in his wallet and started to get ready. Just as he was pulling his shirt over his head, he got a text from Kairi.

WALKING ME TO SCHOOL TODAY?

DUH

LOL OK JUST WAIT FOR ME IN FRONT

OF COURSE MILADY

Sora put his phone down smiling. He looked out his window and noticed that Kairi's window is directly across from him. He saw her through the window chuckling at her phone and in turn smiled with pride. He finished getting ready and headed downstairs. He entered the kitchen and found his family in their usual places eating breakfast. He didn't want to be late to Kairi so he picked up his plate and went upstairs.

"Where are going with your plate hun?" His mom asked.

"Upstairs"

"Care to tell me why?"

"Nope"

"Fair enough"

"You know back when I was a kid, we didn't even have stairs. We had a rope connected to the ceiling we had to climb every time we wanted to go up and down" Cloud chimed in.

A collective groan echoed through the house as everyone rolled their eyes at him.

"You can't expect us to believe that right?" Olette said as a matter of factly.

"We also had belts for rude children." He added.

Sora took this as his chance to escape from his dad's ramblings about the past and to slip upstairs. He ascended the stairs with his plate in his hand along with a glass of orange juice, his favorite and walked to Roxas's door. He performed a special knock and entered the room.

" Mom and Dad know you up here?" Roxas not phased by his appearance in his room.

"Nah. Just came to give this to you." Sora said as he placed the plate and glass next to Roxas's bed.

"Garsh Sora! Hyuck I don't know what to say" Roxas said in his best Goofy voice.

Sora laughed as he said thank you for the money and exited the room as he trotted down the steps.

Sora ran to Kairi's house and waited. Minutes went by and still no sign of Kairi. He opened his phone and clicked her contact name. Just as he was about to call her she appeared almost out of nowhere in front of Sora apologizing for being late.

"It's cool" Sora said looking at his watch. They were now a half hour late. Sora didn't mind as much since he was buying something to eat anyway but that quickly changed when he looked across the street and saw his family lined up at the front window with creepy smiles on their face. "Let's just go ok ?" He said hurriedly as he pushed her along.

A few minutes passed and they were in the local fast food restaurant with breakfast. Sora looked around and noticed the reason why he never came to fast food joints...they were filthy. The walls were a discolored version of what they used to be. The floors were stained with some unknown substance that was never coming out. Both bathrooms looked like a zoo and you'd probably catch something using one anyway. Every table has some type of graffiti on it, none of it suitable for children under 13. The customers were no better. Everyone on line was either just there for coffee dressed in business suits who were rude to the employees or someone who had clearly needed to stop coming there.

Sora continued looking around until his eyes landed on the blonde behind the counter. She had long flowing hair which looked like the girl from that Disney about hair or something. She was cute and looked awfully familiar. Sora was starting to piece together where he knew her from but was interrupted by a swift jab to the stomach.

"Would you like some binoculars to help you stare better?" Kairi said as she poked fun at Sora.

"Huh, oh no I was just thinking how familiar she looked."

"Uh huh" said Kairi sarcastically.

Sora stood there confused. He was sure he wasn't staring. Ok well maybe but not for long. His thoughts were interrupted by his stomach growling. Before he could gripe about it, he noticed he was at the front.

"Hi, welcome to Traverse Palace, how may I help you?" The girl said very unenthusiastically.

"Dang, they must pay you a lot say that every time." Sora joked

The girl whose face was in a grimace smiled at him and said " Well what else pays for my mansion?" She replied just as witty.

Sora smiled as the girl leaned closer to the counter giving him a nice view of her cleavage. "Well Mrs. Mansion can I have a mocha frappe?"

"You can have whatever you want" she flirted leaning over even further.

By now Sora was sure she was flirting. He watched as she turned around and walked to the back all the while swaying her hips. A blush creeped up Sora's face as he looked away. He looked at Kairi to catch her look away at him.

"Did she see that? Of course she did she was right there. Wonder what she's thinking."

Sora didn't have time to ponder too long because the girl was back and she cleared her throat to get his attention.

"Ahem" she coughed.

"Thanks, how much do I owe ya?" Sora asked

"It's on me" she winked.

"Oh wow, thanks..." Sora smiles. He read the name tag on her shirt to see it say "Xion"

"No problem..." she gestured to him to say his name.

"Sora" he replied.

"Sora, nice name. Have a good one." She smiled and waved.

"You too." Sora said as he and Kairi started walking towards the exit.

"Shoulda got her number, Casanova." Kairi chimed.

"Nah not my type" Sora quipped back

"Oh really? What is your type then mr bigshot?"

"You" Sora thought.

But just before Sora was about to give her an answer that was not that a voice called out to him.

"Yo, Sora!"

The feeling had once again came back.