Live and Learn
Chapter 3
Crap.
Crap crap crap crap.
Fucking shit.
Riku just knew he would forget. He had known all along.
Fuck.
He was supposed to pick Roxas up at three. The boy had forgotten his keys home, and because Mrs. Potts was visiting his son Chip – which, by the way, Riku thought was an awful name – Roxas had called using Sora's phone, and asked if Riku could come pick him up.
Seeing no other way, Riku had agreed.
He was supposed to pick Roxas up at three. It was 8 o'clock now. And it was raining cats and dogs.
Shit.
Riku had had a meeting, so he had turned his phone off, so if Roxas had tried to call him, he hadn't heard.
The tires screeched as Riku parked in front of the school. He switched his phone on while running to the gates, only to find them locked.
"Fuck!"
Riku kicked the metal gate, and it rattled from the abuse. Punching furiously on the buttons of his phone, he noticed 6 missed calls from an unknown number. Praying to whatever being that was up there that the number was Sora's, Riku called it.
"Hello? Mr. Foxx?" Came the voice of the brown-haired teacher.
"Where's Roxas?" Riku demanded immediately. He didn't have time to be polite, his son was out there somewhere, had been for 5 hours!
"He's with me. We're sitting on the porch of your house."
"I'll be right there", Riku said, hanging up.
Jumping into his car, for once not caring about his now sopping wet clothes spoiling the leather of his car seats. It was dangerous to speed like that when it was raining so much, Riku knew it, but couldn't bring himself to care. How could he have been so stupid?
Riku left the car in front of the garage, and through the rain he could see two figures huddled on the porch. Riku ran towards them.
Roxas and Sora sat on the bench beside the front door. Roxas had a jacket wrapped around his shoulders which, judging by the size of it, belonged to Sora. Sora, on the other hand, having given his jacket away, was shivering in only a t-shirt.
"Dad!" Roxas cried out, running to Riku as soon as the man got out of the rain and under the roof of the porch. Roxas was sniffling and cold, but fairly dry, and Riku was sure his cheeks weren't wet from the rain.
"Let's get you inside", Riku said, ushering the boy inside after unlocking the door. He turned to look at Sora. "Come, you too."
Sora nodded and stepped inside ahead of Riku.
"Go take a hot shower, I'll make you a cup of hot chocolate", Riku said, patting the boy on his head. Roxas nodded and shuffled upstairs.
"You want something hot to drink too? Coffee, tea? Hot chocolate?" Riku asked, showing Sora the way to the kitchen. The teacher looked around himself, his eyes taking in the modern style of the house.
"Some tea would be nice, thanks", Sora said. "If you don't mind my saying, it doesn't really look like a first grader lived here."
"I like keeping things in order", Riku answered shortly. They were quiet for a while as Riku made their hot drinks.
"I didn't mean to forget", Riku said finally.
"I know."
"I was so very busy. I'm sorry."
"It's not me you should apologize to. We waited for you at the school until about 5, and came here after that. I would've taken him to my place but I wasn't sure how to contact you so…" Sora trailed off.
"Thank you, Sora. This might sound weird to you, but I've never felt so… scared, so anxious as I did just now, when I realized I had no idea… God, what if you hadn't been there, what if I wouldn't have been able to find him!" Riku gasped, the reality of the situation finally settling in.
Sora smiled.
"That's what being a parent feels like. Don't take this the wrong way, Mr. Foxx, but I can't stress this enough. You're everything he has now", the brunette said, wrapping his fingers around the mug of tea Riku handed him.
"It's just… I don't know how to do this. I've never had to take care of anything but myself", Riku sighed.
"It'll come to you. He's your flesh and blood, so I'm sure it'll be…instinctive. You'll be ok." Sora's smile was oddly calming.
They sipped their drinks in silence, both lost in their own thoughts.
"Dad?" came Roxas' voice from the doorway.
"Hey, Roxas, here's your hot chocolate. Drink quickly, it's bed time."
"Already?" The boy whined.
"Yeah. Drink."
The two men watched as Roxas sat beside the table, swinging his legs and sipped the brown drink.
"Hey", Riku said suddenly and Roxas lifted his eyes to look at him. "I'm sorry, Roxas."
"Just don't forget me again, dad", Roxas shrugged. Riku smiled.
"I won't", he promised and ruffled his son's hair.
The boy finished his hot chocolate, bid Riku and Sora good night and left for bed. Riku's mind was swarming with thoughts. Would he really be able to make this work?
"I guess I should get going. It's getting late and I've got to be up early tomorrow. Thanks for the tea", Sora said, getting up.
"Oh, it's still raining, you should at least wait for it to stop… Or at least let me drive you home", Riku offered.
"Nah, it's alright. I enjoy the rain. Besides, the bus stop is near, I'll be fine. Thank you though."
"No. Thank you."
Sora smiled. "Don't mention it."
Riku walked Sora to the door.
"See you later, Mr. Foxx", Sora said.
"Riku. Call me Riku", Riku insisted, offering an umbrella to the man.
"I won't be needing one", Sora said. He opened the door.
"Good night, Riku."
Riku watched as Sora skipped out to the rain. The man stopped for a moment, lifting his face up towards the sky, breathing in the smell of rain. Riku smiled and followed the man with his gaze until he had disappeared into the darkness.
oOo
Riku could hear the sneeze all the way to the hallway of Roxas' school the next morning, so he wasn't very surprised to find a red-nosed, sniffling Sora from the classroom Roxas would be entering soon, once the bell rang.
"You should've just let me drive you home", Riku chuckled after another sneeze.
Startled, Sora looked up at Riku.
"Mr. Fo – I mean, Riku!"
Riku stepped closer. He took a quick look at the papers spread on the desk behind of which Sora sat. They were tests of some kind, Riku noticed.
"I came to return this. You left it at my place last night", Riku said, holding out Sora's light blue jean jacket.
"Oh! Thanks, I didn't even remember", Sora grinned, taking the jacket from Riku and setting it beside his bag. Sora stared at Riku, as if he knew that wasn't all Riku came to do. Or maybe Riku's reluctance to leave gave it away.
"I also came to ask you something", Riku finally said.
"Oh? How can I help you?" Sora asked, always quick to offer help.
"No, I… Roxas wanted to invite you over for dinner on Friday. As a thanks."
Sora opened and closed his mouth, like a fish on dry land.
"That's… that's nice of you, eh, I mean Roxas. I'd love to, but…"
"Roxas wanted to bake cookies for you", Riku said, trying to convince Sora to come.
"Ahh… I guess I could come… Yeah, I'd love to come. Thanks", Sora grinned.
"I see you're getting along better with Roxas", Sora chuckled.
"I…guess?" Riku shrugged and watched as Sora twirled his pen.
"So… what time should I come tomorrow?" Sora asked to break the silence.
"Does seven sound alright to you?"
"Yeah, sounds ok", Sora nodded, smiling.
"Well, I should get going or else I'll be late for work. See you tomorrow?"
"Right. See you, Riku!"
oOo
"Get the door, Roxas!" Riku yelled.
It was Friday, a few minutes to seven, and Riku assumed it was Sora who was standing behind their door.
Riku huffed as the doorbell rang again.
"Roxas, get the goddamn door!"
The little blond boy had been testing Riku's nerves all day, and Riku really hoped he could refrain from snapping at him in front of Sora.
The door remained unopened.
"Roxas! Where the hell is that boy?" Riku muttered. He grabbed a small towel to clean his hands. He had been running around all day. Work had been hectic, and after leaning the office, he had stopped by the grocery store, and arrived home at quarter past six. He hadn't even had time to change his clothes. He still had the straight trousers and white shirt he wore to work, having only hung up his suit jacket.
The third ring made him run.
"I'm coming!" He informed and hurried to open the door.
Sora stood on the porch, dressed in a pair of neat jeans – that were a little bit on the tight side – and a black shirt. He also had a jean jacket, Riku recognized it to be the same one he had borrowed to Roxas. Now that Sora was wearing it, Riku noticed it only came down to just above his waist. Sora was hugging a brown paper bag to his chest.
Sora looked at Riku's outfit and his face fell.
"Oh, I… I thought… I didn't really know how to dress…" Sora started.
"No, I haven't had time to change yet. You look…fine", Riku assured.
Because of the poor lighting Riku wasn't sure, but he could have sworn Sora's cheeks got a little red at that.
"Thanks. Can…can I come in?" Sora asked, shuffling a bit.
"Oh! Of course, sorry", Riku laughed, and stepped aside to let Sora pass him.
"Smells good", Sora commented as he entered the hallway.
"Yeah, I hope you like pasta", Riku said, leading the man to the living room.
"Oh! Right, I brought you something", Sora remembered, holding out the brown paper bag.
"You shouldn't have, it was I who – "
"It's not much. I bought them on the way here."
Riku reached his hand into the bag and his fingers found a cold, smooth surface. The grabbed the slim neck of a wine bottle and pulled it out.
"It's nothing fancy, but it was mine and Kairi's favourite so I thought... Now that I think about it, I'm pretty embarrassed. You must be used to drinking all kinds of expensive drinks, oh my, you'll surely find this disgusting!" Sora gasped, covering his mouth with his hand.
Riku waved his hand.
"Come on, now, you can't think I'm that conceited, can you?"
"No, that's not what I –"
"I'm only messing with you, Sora. Relax", Riku laughed.
The bag still had something inside it, so Riku reached his hand into it again. He wrapped his fingers around a small bag. It contained candies, chocolate raisins to be precise.
"They're Roxas' favourites. Where is he, by the way?"
As if on cue, they heard the boy bounding down the stairs, before the blonde ran into the room, and straight to Sora's arms.
"Hey, goofball", Sora said, ruffling the hair of the boy hugging his waist.
"Hi, Sora!"
Riku looked at Sora questioningly, with raised eyebrows. Sora smiled.
"I let him call me by my first name when we're not at school", he shrugged.
"I'll go change quickly, so make yourself at home. Keep him company Roxas, and behave", Riku said, shooting a threatening glare at the boy. Roxas quickly turned his head away, but Riku could see the annoyed expression on his face.
Riku left towards his bedroom.
"Have you been naughty, Roxas?" Riku heard Sora ask, and the boy giggled, saying how he was a big boy and Sora shouldn't talk to him like that.
A/N: I totally agree with all of you who said Riku was being a royal a-hole, so I just had to write something to prove he isn't a lost case. Just wanted to bring out the fact that he isn't being mean cos he wants to, but because he doesn't know how to deal with Roxas... I dunno if it came out at all...
Anyhow, hope you enjoyed it, and I'll be back with some more soon :)
Leave lots of reviews!
Love, Lumeton