Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return V2

Roxas opened the back door and stepped out, a gust of wind hitting him, making him squint slightly. "Namine!" he called, pulling on his coat. His feet made contact with the snow as he started walking through the yard, searching for the girl.

 

Namine halted with the ladder in surprise, hearing Roxas calling for her. She stifled a giggle, wondering if she should respond. But then she did anyway before she could think of the consequences of not pulling up the rope right away. "Yeah?" she called back, eyes wandering over the yard. She couldn't see him where she was, but she kept looking things over.

 

Roxas paused at the reply, a smile coming to his face. He ran in the direction it came from, at the same time spotting the footprints in the yard. He followed them around to the garden, which he disappeared into. Sneaking out on him, eh? Clever girl.

 

Namine finally saw him just before he entered the garden, the girl gasping at how quickly he was moving. She reached down and grabbed a rung of the ladder, beginning to pull it up once again. She had to hurry!

 

Roxas ran through the garden, though he was careful not to damage anything. He ran past the fences and garden decorations before seeing more of Namine's footprints in the snow, following them with the same smile on his face.

 

Namine smirked, almost 3/4 of the way done pulling up the ladder. Even though it wasn't completely in the tree-house, there was no way Roxas could reach it from the ground. Still, she'd finish pulling it up just in case he found a way to use it to his advantage.

 

Roxas looked up to see where the footprints were leading to, and that was when he saw the treehouse, and the girl inside it. His pace slowed automatically and he saw that she had pulled the ladder up. Roxas stopped a few feet from the tree so he could see Namine better, the boy arching an eyebrow at her and crossing his arms, giving her a look.

 

Namine finished pulling up the ladder just as Roxas got there, a smug smirk on her lips. She shifted her gaze and saw him standing there, arms folded and a playfully-scolding look on his face. She brought up a hand and waved to him, a smile on her face. "Hi, Roxas!"

 

"Sneaking out?" Roxas said, the same look on his face, though he had to fight the urge to smile at the girl's expression. "I'm surprised you pulled that one on me, Namine. Clever of you, I must say." Still, she was in for it even more when she came down from the treehouse. Of course, she didn't know that.

 

Namine giggled, lifting a hand to her lips. "I'm surprised you didn't just barge into my room," she confessed with a smile. But of course, that time allowed her to make her escape, so she wasn't about to complain about it. This whole thing was just too funny!

 

Roxas shrugged, but otherwise kept his arms crossed. "I was giving you time to surrender," he said with a smirk. That was his intention, after all. It would have been easier for her, but now she was in deeper than before. Roxas wondered if his expression was enough to tell Namine that.

 

"Surrender? Ha!" Namine laughed, a huge smile on her face. "No way!" She was in a playful mood, just as Roxas was. There was no way she was going to give up that easily, even if the consequences of losing were so high.

 

Roxas felt himself smile slightly, a cold breeze moving his spikes. "Oh well. Your choice," he simply said, looking nonchalant. She would be the one to suffer from more tickle-torture. Of course, he was sure he would as well.

 

Namine smiled at his words, not taking in the fact that she would be tickled more severely now that she had sneaked out on Roxas and put herself in an unreachable position. "How's the weather down there?" she called, playfulness in her voice. Obviously she could see for herself, she just wanted to point out to Roxas once again that she was out of his reach.

 

Roxas's smirk faded, the boy moving his hands over his arms as he shivered and acted out the part, though the shake wasn't exactly fake. "Cold," he noted aloud. "Much like your behavior for leaving me down here." He brought a hand to his heart and sighed. "It's just killing me," he said dramatically.

 

"Aww," Namine said, her facial expression changing to something more sympathetic. "If it's so cold out, why don't you just go inside, hm? You can get away from the cold weather and lil ol' me." She smiled softly, unable to hold back that small sign of amusement as she looked down at Roxas.

 

Roxas's dramatic act ended and he looked back up at Namine, his smirk returning as he took a few steps toward the treehouse. "I'm not going inside without you, or revenge." He raised an eyebrow at her, silently challenging her.

 

Namine arched a brow as well, seeing the challenge on Roxas' face as well as hearing his verbal one. "Revenge?" she repeated, a faint smirk on her lips. "You're still holding onto that?" Obviously he was, since he just said he wouldn't go without getting his revenge. But he would have to wait a while for Namine to come down, that was for sure.

 

"Yup," Roxas called up, nodding once. "So tell me, do you plan on making this easy? Or are we going to have to do this the hard way?" His blue eyes were bright with playfulness, something he hadn't experienced in a long time. It was strange to him, but he welcomed it with open arms. Thing was, how long would it stay?

 

Namine looked down at him, contemplating what her best move was. "What's 'the hard way?'" she asked, a smile on her lips. It was probably her staying up there for a long while and making Roxas stand in the snow, but she wanted to be sure he didn't have anything else in mind.