Roxas yawned, blinking as he looked up at the bottom of the bed above him. He stuck his foot up between the cross beams and poked the mattress.
"Sora?"
There was no response, he poked the mattress again.
"Sora you up?"
Roxas sighed and this time kicked, jolting the mattress violently.
"Sora wake up!"
"Ugh…."
Came the moan, Sora's spiked head appeared over the edge of the bunk bed, his eyes bleary from lack of sleep.
"What is it Roxas? I'm tired."
Roxas frowned fondly at his cousin. "Did you forget already?"
"Forget what?"
Roxas shook his head. "You're hopeless. We're going to the beach with Leon and Cloud remember? They leave for the academy tomorrow."
Sora blinked for a moment, and then his eyes lit up as his brain finally caught up with his ears.
"Oh right!"
He jumped down out of the bed and began dressing hurriedly; Roxas was much calmer about it as he put his clothes on. He paused for a moment as his eyes lit upon the windowsill; he picked the photograph up and smiled.
"Hey Sora, remember this?"
Sora looked up, his shirt half over his head and just his unruly hair and blue eyes stuck over the top as he looked at the picture in Roxas' hand.
He turned bright red. "Put that away!"
Roxas laughed, the picture showed the four of them, Roxas, Sora, Leon, and Cloud standing in their swim trunks and grinning, all that was except for Sora who was badly bruised in the picture. The culprit hung between them, Roxas and Sora on one side, Cloud and Leon on the other. A ten foot long swordfish they'd managed to catch at the beach the summer Sora and Leon had arrived two years ago. Sora had tried to wrestle the fish in the shallows and needless to say it had beaten the tar out of him. Leon and Cloud had to pull it off of him in the end.
Sora made a grab for the picture, his shirt still not fully on.
"Give me that!"
"No way, this is priceless."
Roxas ducked out of Sora's way, Sora stuck his foot out to trip him and ended up tripping both of them up. They fell onto the floor with a bang, Sora on top of Roxas, their noses mere inches apart.
"Hey Leon, they're at it again."
Both looked up to find Cloud, joined a moment later by Leon staring at them in the doorway. Cloud snapped a picture of them tangled in each other's arms, Leon just shook his head.
"You two really should close the door."
Sora and Roxas were on their feet instantly.
"GIVE ME THAT CAMERA!" They yelled in unison.
Cloud feigned terror and tossed it to Leon who bolted down the hall and out of sight with the boys in pursuit, Cloud followed leisurely behind smiling smugly.
Minutes later they sat around the dinning room table eating waffles with strawberries and blueberries. Sora and Roxas were both scowling at Leon.
"Where did you hide it Leon?" Roxas asked sullenly.
Leon shrugged. "What does it matter? You're the ones going after one another and not closing the door."
"We weren't doing anything!" Sora protested through a mouthful of waffle.
Cloud snorted as he sat down at the table with his own plate of waffles. "Guilty."
The boys blushed and returned to their waffles grudgingly, Leon reached over and ruffled Sora's hair.
"Come on kid, you know in ten years you'll love to see all these goofball photos we have."
"Will not," Sora grumbled, again through his waffles.
Leon smiled and excused himself, heading for the stairs. "I'm going to get our stuff together, towels, sunscreen you know the drill."
"We'll meet you outside." Roxas called.
"I'm going to get him, just watch." Sora muttered.
"Swallow first." Intoned Cloud with a smirk.
They finished and went out front to wait for Leon, he joined them a moment later, the offending camera was around his neck, but no one commented. They headed down the street and caught the trolley to the train station. Leon and Cloud bought tickets while Roxas and Sora bought sea salt ice cream. When the older two rejoined them they split it up equally and sat around the terminal waiting for the train.
"I used to hate this stuff." Cloud mused.
Leon glanced at him. "What happened?"
"You two moved in. I swear between the three of you I'm surprised there's any left in Twilight!"
They all laughed, continuing the conversation in other venues until the train arrived.
"Don't let it get away!"
"I've got it!" Sora cried, jumping forwards.
What he got was a face full of sand; the Frisbee alighted perfectly atop his head as if mocking him.
Roxas snorted and giggled. "I think it got you Sora."
Sora picked himself up and tossed the Frisbee at Roxas who caught it deftly and threw it back to Cloud, Leon was laughing too hard.
"I tripped," Sora said.
"I noticed, I don't think there was ever any doubt."
"Shut up."
"Head's up!" Yelled Cloud as he threw the Frisbee again, it sailed towards them, and this time Sora caught it without embarrassing himself further, he grinned at Roxas triumphantly and threw it back.
"See?"
Roxas shrugged and watched as the Frisbee sailed towards them again, then a gust of wind caught it and it blew towards the surf.
"Quick get it!"
The four of them ran after the Frisbee as the prevailing wind carried it out over the breakers and into the water. By the time they caught up to it, Roxas and Sora were up to their necks in the water. Leon retrieved the Frisbee and sent it sailing inland; he began to move back towards the shore when Sora jumped on him.
"Get him!"
Roxas joined in, and the two of them managed to wrestle Leon into the water before they were swamped by a wave that sent them all careening.
"Cloud help, they got me!" Leon sputtered.
Cloud stood by watching laconically. "No thanks, I'm not risking getting drowned with the three of you."
"Traitor!"
Cloud shrugged, "pragmatist."
Leon struggled free of the two younger boys long enough to leap at Cloud who tried to get out of the way but ended up with Leon wrapped around his legs. A moment later Sora and Roxas caught up and all four of them got washed away in the next wave, they came up sputtering and laughing their hair flattened against their heads. They were finally able to reach the beach again after several more skirmishes and by the time they were back on the sand they collapsed in a row staring up at the bright blue sky.
"It's going to be lonely without you guys." Roxas finally said, breaking the silence.
Leon waved his hand dismissively.
"You'll be fine; you've got Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Besides, if you get bored you can always pick another fight with Seifer and his crew."
"Yeah," Sora joined in. "We really will miss you guys."
Cloud smirked. "Don't worry; we're not going to be gone long. We'll break all the academy records and be back home before you know it."
"Promise?" Sora inquired.
"Promise," Cloud and Leon said together.
Leon looked over at Sora with a smile. "I'll even find your friends while I'm there."
"Huh?"
"You can't have forgotten them all in two years, you know who I mean."
Sora's smile flickered uneasily, yeah his friends. Riku, Kairi, and Namine….it'd been two years and they'd never once written to him. He slept with the keepsake Kairi had given him beneath his pillow each night as if that would somehow let her know where he was.
"It doesn't matter; I don't think they remember me anyways."
Leon and Cloud exchanged glances then hopped to their feet.
"None of that," Cloud said. "You're too young to mope."
"I agree," Leon said severely, they grabbed Sora and pulled him to his feet.
"Roxas, administer the treatment."
Roxas grinned as Sora yelled, protesting and trying to get free of his attackers, his yells turned to laughter as Roxas started tickling his bare stomach and feet and anything else that seemed like a good idea. Sora kicked and flailed helplessly in the grip of the two older boys.
"Hahaahah! I'm going to ge—ahahaha, oh god stop! Roxas!"
They spent the rest of the day like this, alternating between antics on the beach and romps in the waves. When the sun finally began to set they gathered their things up and headed towards the train station. None of them said it, but they all knew that this would be the last time they would be able to be like this for a while.
"Okay, everyone in front of the train!" Leon yelled.
Roxas looked at him, "what for?"
"For a picture of course, we need to remember this last day of summer. This is our childhood after all. It only comes once."
Leon made them line up, set the camera on the railing and joined them. They all grinned, even Cloud managed to make himself look cheerful as the camera flashed. Leon retrieved the camera and removed the photo as it was spat out, shaking it and examining it as it cleared.
"Yep, the best shot we've taken."
The others crowded around and looked at the photo, all of them were pleased with the shot. They boarded the train back to town in much the same way they'd arrived that morning; it was dark by the time they finally reached home.
"Hey Roxas?"
Roxas opened his eyes and looked up at the bed above him.
"What is it Sora?"
"I'm really going to miss them when they're gone."
Roxas nodded, reaching up and pressing his palm against Sora's mattress.
"I know, I will too, but we'll still have good times. Leon's right you know, we've got the gang and Seifer if we ever get bored."
Sora laughed. "Yeah, you're right. Looking forward to school?"
"Don't remind me; at least we've got another week!"
"What do you want to do tomorrow?"
"I have a new board remember? The one Cloud gave me? Race you down to the Sandlot."
"You're on."
There was a long silence as Roxas thought about what had happened in the last year.
"Sora?"
"What?"
"You and Leon are the best family anyone can have."
Sora didn't answer, but his hand fell down over the edge of the bed, Roxas reached up and gripped it tightly. They held their hands like that for a while, before both let go and drifted to sleep.
Roxas woke up first again as usual, he didn't bother waking Sora, there was no need. He lay in bed and yawned, then blinked. There was an envelope slid in between the cross supports of Sora's mattress. He reached up and opened it, reading the contents:
Hey Roxas, knew you'd wake up first so we wanted to make sure you got this. Cloud and I saved up some money to buy this for the two of you, our goofy little brothers. We hope you like it; take care, you're in our hearts. Keep our memories safe.
Leon and Cloud
PS—look on your desk
Roxas looked over at the desk, there was a thick leather-bound book sitting on it. He climbed out of bed and went to the desk, sitting down and opening the book. He flipped through a few pages, a smile slowly gaining ground on his face. He closed the book and clambered with it up to Sora's bunk, shaking his cousin awake.
"Get up!"
Sora rolled over and pulled his covers over his head.
Roxas hit him over the head with the book.
"Come on, you have to see this!"
Sora groaned as he sat up rubbing his head, Roxas scooted next to him and placed the book between them. He opened the book and watched as Sora's face brightened, inside were all the pictures that Leon and Cloud had been taking of the four of them over the two years. Every last picture they'd taken together had been placed inside the album, each with a date and notation beneath it. They flipped to the end of the album and smiled at the picture they'd taken the previous evening, the boys spent a long time staring at the four grinning faces before starting over again, this time looking at each and every picture.
When Tara came looking for them an hour later, the two were still in Sora's bunk, pouring over the pictures.