Syx and Roxanne linger outside the doorway of the classroom that day after school until everyone but Miss Anderson is gone.

As the last of their classmates disappears down the hallway, Roxanne glances over at Syx. He looks pale, but when his eyes meet hers, he nods.

Roxanne takes his hand and gives it a quick squeeze, then lets go of him and ducks back into the classroom, leaving Syx hidden in the hall.

Miss Anderson is at her desk, sorting through papers; she looks up when Roxanne comes in.

"I just wanted," Roxanne says, moving to Miss Anderson's desk, "to say thank you. For letting Syx do the demonstration with the Read-Write today. At our old school…" she trails off, making a face.

"You both had a rather rough time of it there, it seems," Miss Anderson says with a sympathetic smile.

"Yes," Roxanne says. "Especially Syx. Miss Simmons—she didn't treat him like a person."

Miss Anderson frowns, her head tilting slightly; she clearly doesn't completely understand.

"Because he doesn't look human," Roxanne says. "She didn't treat him like a person because he doesn't look human. She called him 'it'."

Miss Anderson sucks in a sharp breath, looking horrified. She shakes her head—a small movement, more an expression of abhorrence, rather than disbelief, Roxanne is pretty sure. For a small moment, her mouth works as though she might say something.

"And she's not the only one," Roxanne says, before she can. "When Syx was little, a bunch of people from a government lab tried to get him classified as non-sentient."

Miss Anderson looks pale, and rather as if she might be sick.

"They said he was like a parrot," Roxanne says. "Some kind of—a trained animal. They made him take tests. There was a hearing and everything before the judge finally said he was sentient."

"I'm so sorry," Miss Anderson says faintly.

"Yes," Roxanne says. "Well—Syx did fine with the tests, of course, but—that's why Syx is so worried about his brother. Because—reading and stuff like that doesn't come easy to him, the way it does Syx, and what if he doesn't do so good on the tests?"

"Oh," Miss Anderson says, "but—if Syx has already been classified as sentient, then surely his brother—"

"They're not blood relatives," Roxanne says. "And he isn't the same species as Syx. He looks less like humans than Syx does. That's why he doesn't go to school."

"—I'm so sorry," Miss Anderson says again.

Roxanne swallows.

"Yeah," she says. "Me, too. They turned in his brother's sentience paperwork, but it's going to take a while. And his brother really wants to go to school."

Again, Miss Anderson seems to be trying to find the words to say. Syx, though, comes into the room now, just as he and Roxanne planned.

"Roxanne?" he says, hovering in the doorway. "The bus is going to be leaving soon."

"Right, sorry," Roxanne says. She puts on her backpack and starts to walk to the door. "I was just—we were talking about the Read-Write, and your brother's paperwork."

(it's important that Miss Anderson knows Roxanne's not telling her this behind Syx's back)

Syx makes a noise of understanding, and nods.

"I hope your brother's paperwork gets approved very soon, Syx," Miss Anderson says. "I look forward to him joining us here at school."

"Yes," Syx says, and bites his lip. "If he does get to come to sh—school—would you let him use the Read-Write for class?"

Miss Anderson blinks.

"I certainly would," she says slowly. "And—your brother…it sounds as if he has some form of dyslexia? The Read-Write is an assistive technology device. Schools are legally required to allow students with disabilities to use their assistive technology devices."

The sheer and utter relief on Syx's face is almost painful to look at.

"Thank you," he breathes.

"You really should patent the device, you know, Syx," Miss Anderson says, "it's quite amazing; I've never seen anything like it."

Syx looks as if Roxanne could knock him over with a feather. She takes his hand; he glances down at their joined hands, then up at her face.

"—ah!" he says, "I—yes, right; we should—the bus—"

Roxanne leads him to the door, and out into the hall.

"So?" she says in an undertone. "That went good, right?"

"Yes," Syx says dazedly. "Yes, it did."

Roxanne squeezes his hand. He gives a breathless kind of laugh, shakes his head, and squeezes back.

"Phase two of the plan tomorrow," he says.

"If Minion is ready," Roxanne agrees as the very impatient bus driver motions them onto the bus.

"I wonder if you could adapt the Read-Write for other people," Roxanne says thoughtfully, as the bus pulls out of the school driveway.

Syx looks at her questioningly.

"Like—the scan part of it, instead of having it in cursive, you could have it in bigger print, for people who have trouble seeing. Or if you added a voice to it, then it could read it out loud to you…"

Syx's face lights up.

"Oooh, I like that!" he says. "What else?"

"Oh—" Roxanne frowns, considering. "Well, you could—"

The next day, Syx's backpack looks very full again, and he puts it very carefully on his lap when he sits down next to Roxanne on the bus. Roxanne looks at him sharply and he nods.

She gulps, her stomach flipping over with nerves.

Syx tightens his hold on the backpack tightly. Roxanne puts her hand on top of his and takes a deep breath.

Okay.

Okay, they can do this.

They can do this.

Roxanne's nerves wind themselves tighter and tighter; by the time the lunch bell rings, she's almost ready to scream. And if she's feeling like this, she can't imagine how Syx must feel.

The other kids file out the door and into the hall; Roxanne and Syx move aside into the Science Corner and wait for them to go. Miss Anderson, seeing them waiting, looks at them questioningly.

"Miss-Anderson-may-we-please-talk-to-you-about-something-important," Syx says, words running together.

Miss Anderson blinks.

"Yes, of course," she says.

"Is it okay if I close the door?" Roxanne asks. "It's—we don't want anyone else to overhear."

"All right," Miss Anderson says slowly.

Roxanne closes the door and goes back to stand beside Syx.

"You remember we told you about Syx's brother," Roxanne says.

"Of course, yes," Miss Anderson says.

Roxanne glances at Syx; he's looking pale again, and clutching his backpack so tightly his knuckles have turned white.

"You remember the first day of shool," Syx says.

(he doesn't even try to pronounce the word correctly; Roxanne can tell he's fighting simply to get the words out.)

"You remember—what you told me," he says, voice tight, "about show and tell."

Roxanne shifts her weight so that she's closer to Syx, presses their shoulders together. He takes a quick, uneven breath and, like he's tearing off a bandage, unzips his backpack.

"I'd like you to meet my brother," he says. "Minion."

Minion squints slightly when Syx takes his sphere out of the backpack—adjusting to the light after the darkness of being inside the bag. His eyes meet Roxanne's, and she gives him the most reassuring smile she can. Minion turns towards Miss Anderson.

"um—hello," he says, voice nervous. "It's, uh, it's nice to meet you."

Miss Anderson's eyes go very wide.

"Oh," she says faintly, "oh."

She swallows hard, shakes her head.

"—and I assumed you were a pet," she says, "I am so sorry."

Minion flutters his fins in a surprised motion..

"Oh," he says. "That's—thank you?"

Syx puts his ball down on the desk.

"But, really," Minion says, "we were—I do pretend to be a pet mostly; we figured it would be safer, but—"

He hesitates, and rolls the ball so he can glance at Syx, who touches the tips of his fingers, quick and light, to the sphere. Then Minion looks again at Miss Anderson.

"—but I want to stop doing that now," he says. "I want—I want to go to school with Sir and Miss Roxanne."

This time, when he rolls the ball, it's Roxanne Minion glances at. She touches her fingertips to the glass the same way Syx did.

"And we thought," Roxanne says, "that maybe you would help us make that happen."

Miss Anderson swallows visibly, and then she nods.

"Yes," she says, "yes, of course, I will."

Beside Roxanne, Syx lets out a shuddery breath, the tense line of his shoulders relaxing. Roxanne takes his hand and holds it tightly.

"Oh," he says, sounding near tears. "Oh."

He can't seem to say anything else.

Things do get a bit—messy—after that, but, then, they always knew that was going to happen if they used the plan.

Miss Anderson has Minion rest on her desk until the end of school, and then she asks Syx to stay after school. She doesn't ask Roxanne to stay, too, but she doesn't seem surprised when Roxanne does.

And then the phone calls start—first Miss Anderson calls the office and has the superintendent, principal, and the school's special education teacher all come to her classroom, and then she calls the Warden and Dr. Kelley, and they both come down to the school.

The Warden is glowering and gnawing at his mustache, and Dr. Kelley looks—well, Roxanne always thought that hopping mad was just a weird thing that people said, but Dr. Kelley looks mad enough to start hopping at any moment.

The adults all send Syx, Minion, and Roxanne out into the hall, close the door, and argue. Luckily, the classroom door is thin enough that when Roxanne tries to eavesdrop, this time she's able to hear some of it.

"—even without citizenship and sentience documentation—"

"—legally required not to share that information about our students, Dr. Kelley; they'd have to have a warrant—"

"—called an Individualized Education Program; all children who receive special education will—"

"—wanting to speak to you concerning Syx as well; he's very gifted; an IEP for him would—"

Roxanne doesn't hear who it is who decides to call her dad, and she's not completely sure if he's there as her dad or as a lawyer.

By then, the whole thing's gone on long enough that it's almost time for Roxanne's mother to be home from work, so Roxanne's dad calls her, and she comes down to the school, too, and joins in the—by now very heated—discussion. Roxanne's still out in the hall with Syx and Minion, but they can all hear the upraised voices.

Eventually, it's over, and the adults all come out into the hall. Roxanne's mother takes her wrist in a very tight grip.

"Does Minion get to go to school?" Roxanne blurts out, as he mother starts to walk quickly down the hall.

Her mother doesn't answer, so she glances back at the rest of them. She catches Miss Anderson's eye, and Miss Anderson gives her a very small nod.

Roxanne grins and lets her mother pull her the rest of the way down the hallway.

Not even her mother's angry lecture, after they get home, about respecting authority figures and not interfering with Syx and Minion's parents, can't dampen Roxanne's spirits. She doesn't even try to argue, but just lets her mother go on until she's finished.

Even when her mother insists that she write the Warden and Dr. Kelley each an apology note, Roxanne doesn't argue.

The notes she writes are as full of lies as the apology note her parents once made her write to Miss Simmons, but she writes them with a light heart.

The next day, Minion, wearing his robotic suit, stands at the front of the classroom and introduces himself.

Miss Anderson writes his name on the board—in print, first, and then after that she writes it again in cursive.

And then Minion sits down at his own desk.

"I'm grounded for a month," Roxanne tells Syx, grinning.

"Oh, us, too!" Syx says happily, and Roxanne laughs.

Her mother drives her to the prison after she gets home from work, and marches Roxanne up to the Warden's office. She hovers angrily in the doorway as Roxanne hands the apology note to him.

His eyebrows go up when he takes it, and his mustache moves thoughtfully, as if he might speak. Finally, though, he just nods.

So Roxanne takes that as her cue to leave, and to let her mother march her down to Dr. Kelley's office.

Dr. Kelley's eyebrows snap down when he takes the letter, and he actually reads the whole thing in front of her.

Then he looks up at her, wearing that expression of sardonic amusement.

"You," he says, "didn't mean a damn word of this, did you?"

Roxanne hesitates only a moment.

"No," she says honestly, "I didn't."

Behind her, in the doorway, her mother makes an angry noise.

Dr. Kelley glowers at her silently for a long moment.

Then lips twitch, and, to Roxanne's surprise, he suddenly bursts out laughing.

"Oh, go away, you awful child!" Dr. Kelley covers his face with one hand and waves her out the door.

After Roxanne, Syx, and Minion are all finally un-grounded, Roxanne helps Syx work on creating additional assistive technology features for the Read-Write.

When Syx patents it two months later, he puts her name down on the form as co-creator, and refuses to listen when she tries to convince him to take it off.

Minion does get one of those things the adults were talking about, an IEP. He's still able to stay in their classroom with them most of the time, but sometimes he goes to see the special education teacher for help with reading and writing. And he's allowed to use the Read-Write, which really is helpful.

Syx gets one of the IEP things, too; him being allowed to work on other things after he's finished with his classroom work is one of the things that gets written into his.

Minion is very popular with the other kids—and with the parents of the other kids, too, although it usually takes the adults a little longer to get past the whole fish-and-prosthetic-suit thing than it did the kids.

A month after Minion joins their class, Gary tells them excitedly at lunch that his parents finally are going to let him be in special ed for math.

"They said they didn't want me getting made fun of," Gary says, waving a french fry, "but I told them Minion is in special ed, and nobody makes fun of Minion!"

Gary and Minion also join a extra tutoring group for children with learning disabilities at the community center.

When Syx and Roxanne make several more Read-Writes with various experimental features, Minion gives them to the other members of the group so that they can test the devices and suggest improvements.

Minion's sentience and citizenship paperwork is approved that summer.

Nobody even attempts to contest his sentience.

Roxanne, wearing a nice dress and new shoes that pinch her feet, sits beside Syx during the hearing, holding his hand tightly. When the judge signs the papers, they both jump to their feet excitedly, bouncing up and down and hugging each other.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Roxanne says, as Syx laughs joyfully.

"Sir! Miss Roxanne!"

Minion, robotic suit clanking, moves swiftly towards them, and the two of them pull him into the hug.

the end.

HAPPY DAY NINE OF MY NINE DAYS OF MEGAMIND! o{}( :D~

A big thank you to siadea for giving me information about special education (during the holidays too!)

Thank you for continuing to read and review! I'm so glad to have you guys as my readers! I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to Safety Instructions Not Included!

The Safe If We Stand Close Together universe will continue! The next story in the series is the already-published Terms of Endearment. Following that will be a story called Changing Times (yet to be published as of 12/25/17). While waiting for that fic, you can re-read my story Given Names, which serves as a prequel to it (as well as to Code: Safeword)!

(I plan to continue the Safe If We Stand Close Together universe after that as well; my current outline has it going on through their high school years and into their first year in college!)

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR READING!

update on the series: the fic to follow Terms of Endearment will actually be called Star Sweater, and Changing Times will follow that.