Fast Food Madness: The Epic Return

Namine shrugged faintly, glad that Roxas didn't seem to think her suggestion was a dumb one. "It doesn't matter. You pick," she said, a weak smile on her lips as she gazed at Roxas. He was acting a lot more like the person she knew before he went away two months ago, and that was very nice to see.

 

Roxas took his hands out of his pockets and nodded. "Okay. But we need to take care of a few things first," he said, remembering that both of Namine's doors to the house were wide open, and there was an ugly blood stain on her carpet out in the hallway. They probably needed to take care of those before lounging around.

 

Namine tilted her head slightly, eyes showing her confusion. What was there to take care of? Did Roxas want to have a conversation about what happened? She hoped not; she couldn't handle that right away. She was still trying to sort things out herself, and she needed to know what she felt before she spoke to anybody else about everything.

 

Roxas lifted an arm and began to fumble with the spikes on the back of his head. "Um, I left the front door open when I came in...and I think Jeff left the back door open when he ran out." Speaking the guy's name was hard without getting angry, but Roxas willed himself to hold that emotion until he was alone. "And on the carpet, there's...um..." Roxas glanced down at Namine's hand without thought before his eyes darted back up to her.

 

Namine looked down at the ground when Roxas trailed off, the girl knowing what he was trying to say. "...Oh." She reached up a hand and tucked back some of her hair to try and cover the sadness that appeared on her expression. She didn't want to think about any of that, especially not when Roxas was watching, because then she couldn't breakdown and cry if she had to. She would be strong in front of him, because he was being strong for her.

 

Roxas let his hand fall back to his side at Namine's response and he shook his head. "Hey, it's alright," he assured her. "How about you close the doors and I'll take care of the carpet. Okay?" With Namine's injured hand, it probably wouldn't be that easy for her to handle.

 

Namine looked up at Roxas as the question, the blond nodding faintly. "Okay." It would be better for her to take care of the doors; they didn't directly remind her of anything that happened earlier. The blood, though, that would have been something else entirely. She chased the thoughts away and set her left hand on the bed, standing up.

 

Roxas watched Namine stand, at the same time wondering where she kept the carpet cleaner. He would also need a rag, but he knew the one he used on Namine's hand wouldn't be a good idea. He would have to get another.

 

Once she was standing, Namine looked up and met Roxas' gaze once again. She saw the look in his eyes, and somehow she understood what he was thinking. "Um..." She shifted her gaze to the ground, some of her bangs getting in her eyes. "There's some cleaner in the hall closet. Next to my bedroom." Oh, and he'll need a rag, too. "There's probably a rag in there as well."

 

Roxas nodded. "Alright, thanks," he said, offering her a small smile of gratitude before moving past her and through the room, walking out into the hall. He needed to move quick to make sure the blood didn't stain too badly. How was Namine going to explain that to her parents?

 

Namine nodded faintly, only looking up when Roxas was out of the room. But she did a double-take and looked back down at her shirt when she saw something. A bit of red. She sighed, shaking her head. Well, it wasn't too bad. If she put some water on it and let it sit, it would probably come out. Yeah, that would be fine. First, though, she had to get on a new shirt. She walked over towards her dresser and opened the top drawer, picking out a comfortable gray shirt.

 

Roxas approached the hall closet and, just as Namine had said, the cleaner and rag were right beside each other for use. He grabbed them and shut the door to the closet before making his way down the hall. He slowed when he saw the stain. It was ugly, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Roxas knelt down and sprayed the cleanser onto the blood before beginning to work.

 

Namine went into the bathroom and changed shirts, setting her other one over the edge of the shower after she put water on the spot. She could always bleach that spot later if she needed to, but she had a feeling the stain would come out on its own. She exited the bathroom and her bedroom, turning down the hall towards the living room. The back door was right in that room, so she'd close that one before taking care of the front door.

 

Roxas furrowed his eyebrows as he scrubbed. At the same time, though, he couldn't help but feel a little...upset. He was cleaning up Namine's blood. It was definitely not something he would have ever imagined doing, or actually wanted to do. But it happened, and there was nothing he could do about it. There were a lot of things he couldn't control these days.

 

Namine briefly looked at Roxas when she entered the room, but then she looked away when she saw a bit of her own blood on the carpet. That sight made her uneasy. She turned and walked a few steps over to the backdoor, pulling it shut. She shivered faintly at the cold winter air; the house felt cooler compared to what it had been earlier, probably because two doors were left wide open.

 

As Roxas cleaned up the spot, he could tell that it was slowly coming up. He was probably going to be at this for a few minutes, if anything.

 

Namine walked past Roxas, staying a few feet away for obvious reasons. She didn't want to acknowledge what had happened there, but it was hard to do when she saw Roxas cleaning up the mess. That was the reason that she kept her eyes off that. She walked out of the living room and into the entrance hall a few seconds later, heading for the front door.

 

Roxas glanced up when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, acknowledging Namine's presence before looking back down at the stain. He put both of his hands on the rag and pushed against the carpet, trying and successfully getting the stain out, but gradually.

 

There was something else Namine wanted to avoid thinking about that was a reminder of what happened: the pocketknife. She had stepped over it on her way to the entrance hall, since it was still laying by the wall where Jeff had dropped it. She didn't want to pick it up; she didn't know what to do with it. A soft sigh left her lips as she took one more step forward, grabbing onto the door and pushing it shut.

 

After another minute of scrubbing, Roxas leaned back on his legs and sighed. The stain was gone, thank goodness. No more reminders of what happened earlier today. The boy held the rag in his hands and grabbed the cleaner before rising to his feet, taking the cleaner back to the closet.