Sora felt panicky and out of sorts as he ran from the art shop, scrambling up the almost-vertical stairs to the upper street level. He felt something strange building in his chest.
He made his way down to Lea's cart, relaxing as he spotted Roxas there. His other, his face in a sour mask, was leaning on the counter and talking to whoever was inside – probably snarking at Lea again.
He slowed his pace, the feeling in his chest growing. He reached his twin, and a weak "Ven" sighed from his lips. Not loud enough for their friend inside the cart to hear.
Roxas turned to him, but before he could respond, there was a familiar voice coming up behind him. "Rock-sass, I got your snobby, overpriced bean juice." Lea swept past with a Starmunny cup. "Hey, Sora."
Sora could only turn back to the cart. If Lea hadn't been here, then Roxas must have been talking to…
"Riku…"
Their neighbour was stepping out from the cart, and looked up at the sound of his name. "Sora."
"Riku's here!" He felt his eyes welling up with tears. "I looked for you!" He said, clinging to his arm. "I looked everywhere for you!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Lea giving his other a worried look, which Roxas made no secret of ignoring.
He felt one of Riku's arms close around him in a gentle embrace. "Hey," he said soothingly. "It's okay, I'm here."
Sora weakly beat one fist against Riku's chest. "Where have you been? You weren't at school, you weren't at home, and I even checked that art shop and you weren't there!"
Riku's other hand took his fist, stopped the barely-felt assault on his chest. "I've been around. I didn't mean to make you worried…"
Sora pulled away and wiped at his face. "I kept asking everyone about you, but nobody knew who I was talking about!"
"Man," Lea said, moving past them to go into his cart. "You think after going to our school for a whole year, they'd bother to learn who you are."
Sora had never known that Riku hadn't grown up here with everyone else. He didn't get to ask a question, though.
"You two hungry?" Lea asked. "I'm about to pick up for the night – I can cook you up whatever's left."
In answer to that, Sora's stomach gave an eager growl. They all laughed, and Lea got to work flame-grilling their dinner.
Sora sat down on the bench, holding tight onto the sleeve of Riku's Club Thirteen jacket so he couldn't go far. "Where have you two been?"
Roxas scoffed. "These two have been playing hooky!"
Riku didn't even look ashamed as he turned to look at hm in disbelief. "You were the one who gave us the idea about it, Sora."
"I did not!" He protested. "I wouldn't tell anyone to skip school!"
"True," Lea said, bringing over a box of skewers. "You told me to drop out." He pulled a metal grate down to signal he was closed. "I suppose you could call it a trial run."
Sora turned back to Riku, hand clenching in his sleeve. "Riku… You're not dropping out, are you?"
He shook his head, pushing his glasses up his nose. "No. I'm not."
"What about you, Hot-head?" Roxas taunted. "You giving up already?"
Lea, leaning against the side of his card, gave the blond a lazy smirk. "Can't get rid of me that easily, Roxas. I just keep coming back."
"Like a weed," he deadpanned, and took a swig of coffee.
Sora rolled his eyes to Riku and, between the three of them, they finished off the food.
"We'd better get back to Nemo," Riku said, effortlessly tossing their mess into a nearby trashcan. "My car's at the station. You two need a lift?"
"Yeah, thanks," Sora said, before Roxas could argue. The way back home was all uphill and it was already dark.
Roxas gave an irritated huff, but didn't argue. "It's decided then. We'll all go together."
As Sora and Roxas waited outside their house for the bus the next morning, Riku's car pulled up on the curb. The passenger window wound down and a familiar head of scarlet spikes hung out. "Want a lift?" He yelled over the noisy engine.
Sora gave his other a pleading looks – Roxas just gave an annoyed sigh and headed over to the car. "Thanks, Riku," he said pointedly, not bothering to look at the car's other occupant.
"You're welcome." He sounded amused as he pulled the car back out onto the road. "Morning, Sora."
The brunet finished off his yawn and gave his friend a smile in the rear-view mirror. "hi, Riku."
"I'll just talk to myself then," Lea drawled.
Roxas looked between the two occupants of the front seat.
"Are you two dating?" He demanded suspiciously.
Lea and Riku exchanged a look, and the two of them laughed. Loudly.
When they calmed most of the way, Lea wiped under his eyes. "You're going to make me ruin my eyeliner."
Riku snickered a few more times. "No," he said. "Lea and I are both single."
The rehead turned to give Roxas a lazy grin. "Why? You interested?"
The blond scoffed. "No. I'll leave Riku to Sora."
"Roxas!" Sora yelped. He covered his face, mortified.
Riku was silent as Lea nudged him with his elbow. "You're in, Dawn." A faint blush dusted his nose and cheeks, but he seemed to know better than to rise to his friend's bait.
They parked in the back lot of the school and Sora realised: for the first time, he was EARLY to school. He climbed out of the car and looked around the almost-empty school campus.
Sora felt a gently nudge to his elbow. "Locker?"
He nodded and smiled at Riku. The lenses of his glasses were dark in the morning light and, suddenly, he hated it. He reached up and took them right off his face.
Riku stared at him, blood rushing to his face. "Sora," he gasped.
"Why do you even wear these, anyway?" he asked, balancing them upside down on his nose. The light was significantly darker, but he didn't notice the difference in focus.
"I need them to read," Riku replied, reaching over to take them off his face.
"Then why do you wear them all the time then, huh?" He asked, putting his hands on his hips. "Huh?"
"Because he likes to hide behind them." Sora jumped, having forgotten Lea was even there. "His eyes can't lie, right Dawn?"
Riku gave an awkward nod.
Sora elbowed him. "Lie? And just who were you trying to fool?"
He felt strange, a high-pitched noise squealing in his ears. He shook his head to clear it.
Riku touched his shoulder, concerned. "Sora? Are you okay? You spaced out for a moment there."
"I'm fine," he said. "And I'm still upset with you. I thought something had happened to you!"
Riku looked guilty, but it was Lea who spoke next. "Yeah, I bet you were all choked up about me too," he drawled.
"Everyone thinks you were suspended again," Roxas replied indifferently.
Lea just laughed and headed towards the back doors of the school. Riku followed with Sora, Roxas trailing behind them with obvious reluctance. Sora had left all his stuff in the locker yesterday, his mind too preoccupied with tracking down their friends to remember to get any books to take home. Not that he ever had much homework left after study hall.
Riku put away his bagged lunch and their shared copy of Hercules from the pockets of his Club Thirteen hoodie.
Sora felt his other tense beside him, and when he glanced over, he saw why. Lea had opened his locker and began shoving his things in, only he'd paused with an unfamiliar notebook in his hand. He flipped it open and looked over his shoulder at Roxas. "I know you're eager to get rid of me, Roxas, but two days is a little over-eager to move into my territory, don't you think?"
Roxas snatched his notebook back. "You weren't using it," he said, agitated. "And it's your own fault for having such an easy lock code!"
Sora sighed. Why couldn't those two just get along?
"Whatever," Lea muttered, closing his locker with irritation. "I'm going to get breakfast. See you at lunch, Dawn."
"Later, Axel," Riku said as he stalked away.
"Hot-head gets breakfast?" Roxas asked, helping himself to the locker Lea had left open.
"Well if he gets here early enough, the cafeteria is still serving."
"How come?" Sora asked, concerned.
"… He's a ward of the state. The council subsidises breakfast and lunch at the cafeteria."
"… Ward of the state?" Roxas asked uncertainly.
"Yeah," Riku answered. "He used to be in a foster home – since before he could remember. But he became a Problem Case, so the council gave him his cart and an apartment so he'd stop causing trouble for the other kids in his Home."
"What happened to his parents?" Roxas asked in a soft voice that Sora hadn't heard for ages.
"I don't know if he even knows," he said quietly. He shook his head. "Don't tell him I told you. I mean, everyone knows, but you didn't hear it from me."
"Yeah." His other paused for a long time, then quietly closed and locked locker 813. "I'm gonna go wait for Pence and Hayner. See you in home room, Sora."
