Home on the Range

Tychos Kouros

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Sora stared through the cold window he was leaning his head against, letting his mind wander. He was tired of traveling, his thoughts numb and and his neck hurting as the train he was on sped down the tracks, various landmarks of the barren, undeveloped land blurring by.

He was being dumped again.

Dead tree.

It had been two years since he'd last seen his brother. After their parents had died in a car accident when they were ten, he and Roxas had gone to live with relatives in Colorado, where his uncle owned a cattle ranch and farm, letting various companies manage crops on the land and pay him rent. Roxas enjoyed it much more than he did, though, so he ended up moving back to New York, living with his grandparents and visiting Roxas during the summer. His grandfather had died, though, and his grandmother decided to move in with other family. So Sora had made the decision to try living on his own, renting an apartment and getting himself a job.

Broken fence post.

It was a decision that went horribly wrong. He barely had enough for food, was living in a run-down tenement that was only just better than something in a slum. Roxas had pitched a fit and tried to get him to move down to the ranch. Sora wouldn't do it though. He wanted to finish school, already in his Senior year. So Roxas left him alone, but only on the condition that Sora be willing to take money to help him get by. He accepted, and had been getting checks every month to keep him from starving. The money made things better, but he was still miserable. He'd never admit it to Roxas though, even though Roxas probably knew it anyways. Roxas was perceptive like that. But he toughed through it, and managed to finish High School. And on the day of his graduation, he got home and found a letter from the ranch in the mail. Instead of money, inside were tickets for a plane trip to Colorado and a train to the middle of nowhere, with a letter from Roxas telling him to leave his shit behind in the apartment and bring only what he could fit into suitcases, because he was moving to Colorado whether he liked it or not.

Cow.

Sora whipped his head around and took a second look at the cow standing near the tracks, on the other side of a fence that was running by the tracks. It was just another thing to remind him how far he was in the middle of nowhere, sitting in a train that was chugging away from any form of the civilization he'd gotten used to in New York. He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to sleep, but he wasn't tired. His body was tired, but he'd slept so much that he couldn't sleep. He'd slept on the planes and in the airports to pass the time.

So he reached down in his bag and pulled out his iPod. It had been over three years since he'd been to the ranch. The past few years Roxas had been willing to come up to New York, to spend time with their grandparents since they were starting to get older and sicker. And even when he'd gone, he'd never really fit in well. He liked it, sure. It was fun. But after a while he got tired of being woken up early in the morning by roosters and bells to wake the cowhands for that day's work. And he'd gotten tired of the loneliness. The loneliness was the worst of it. Other than Roxas, he'd never gotten along with anyone. The cowhands were too... different. Most were nice, and some of them looked out for him whenever he visited, but they were just on different wavelengths. Roxas was really the only one who could speak both of their languages. And it didn't help when some of the more ignorant hands thought it was funny to mess with the city boy. Those were the types that would pick him on when no one else was around, "accidentally" knocking him down into cow shit, or "accidentally" hitting him with a bale of hay.

He shook his head and turned on his music, reminding himself that he was bigger now and wouldn't take any of their shit. He wasn't a little kid any more who they could push around. He was more mature and didn't need to take that from them.

He wanted something else from them.

He looked out the window again, trying to distract himself from the rogue thought of a cowhand half naked, stripping as he walked to the showers after a long day, sweaty and well-built. He started watching the fence posts blur past again, forcing the thoughts from his mind. He was in a different world now, and he couldn't forget that. All his friends had known he was gay, and Roxas knew he was gay. And his uncle wouldn't have a problem with it, because his cousin Cloud, who lived with his uncle after Sora's aunt had died and Uncle Cid had taken him in, was gay too. But it still wasn't something any of the cowhands needed to know. Only people close to him back in New York knew, and it would stay that way out West.

Especially since he was the new kid on the block. He'd have enough problems from the culture shock, and homophobia didn't need to be added on top of that.

Aerith stared up from the eggs she was cooking as the rooster crowed. She was usually the first one up on the entire ranch. It was her job to make sure all the hands were fed, to make sure Cid got his sausage, to make sure, in general, that the house was ready to survive the day in, at the very least, close to the same condition it started out in. But today was special. Sora would be arriving. Cid had refused to allow any hands to meet him at the station, he had instead asked his friend (who also happened to be the owner of the local bar) to pick him up so that the he and the hands could focus on preparing a particularly large shipment of cattle to be ready for transport. She remembered vividly how he put it:

"Otis's gonna give the kid a ride, we gotta be hauling ass all day to get that shipment ready for the road and on its way by 2:00. Can't afford to be a man down today, and Otis had something to bring me anyways."

She had argued with him over the matter, being fully aware of the man's driving abilities. He, and he said it was pride, was the "All-Region Mud Racing Racer of the Year".

Aerith reached out the window and rang the bell, signaling for all the ranch hands to come for breakfast and be on their way to their duties. A roar erupted out of the barracks as they scrambled for the food she'd set out on the large tables beneath the covered patio outside the kitchen. It wasn't long before Roxas walked through the door just like he did every morning.

"Aerith, Cid's whining about his sausages."

"Roxas, tell Cid that it's his own fault for not giving me enough money. If he wants decent food, he needs to give me the money to buy it." Roxas nodded, walking back out the door.

The sun was high as Aerith settled into her usual routine. Breakfast was over and she had until dinner before the entire farm converged on her kitchen for food again. Lunch was easy to prepare, since people tended to drift in and out depending on their schedules. She'd much rather take a few requests at a time than fix massive amounts of food all at once.

She was cleaning the tables from breakfast, stacking cleaned plates and gathering the silverware, when a cloud of dust rose in the distance from the road leading to the ranch.

Otis.

Most people sped down the straight roads, given that the large tracts of land between each ranch, and even more so from the ranches to the town, were uneventful and easy to maneuver. But only Otis ever pushed on 200 mph. And he did it in a 1978 Ford F100 he kept alive with duct tape and salvaged parts.

Setting one last plate down onto the table's stack, she headed out to meet him in front of the house. Cid had already started making his way over, leaving behind three heands to get the cows on the truck he'd been helping with. The run-hard brown truck pulled up to the house, a thick cloud of dust sweeping over them as it stopped. Aerith heard a door open and slam shut, the heavily accented voice of Otis breaking through.

"Hot damn! Broke m' ol' record by ten seconds!" Cid laughed as he walk towards his friend. The two started to talk, and behind them the passenger door creaked open and a dazed Sora, holding on tight to his backpack, staggered out of the truck. He was still shaking as Aerith rushed to his side, helping him stand. Roxas bolted out of the front door of the main house, tackling his brother and giving him a crushing hug. Sora, hugged back, still trying to breathe from the truck ride.

"Welcome home, Sora!" Aerith said. "We have your room ready, right across the hall from Roxas an down the hall from Cloud and Cid. We'll get someone to grab your stuff. Is there anything I can get for you?"

"Water?" Sora asked, his voice weak, almost a whine, as he begged. Aerith nodded and went to get him a glass of water. Sora staggered over to the stairs, sitting on the first step, his bag against his leg as he took deep breaths.

"So how was your trip?" Roxas asked, sitting down by Sora on the stairs.

"It was okay. The worst part was...," Sora said, shaking his head as he immediately thought back to screaming his throat raw at 200 mph down a dirt road, " the waiting. For flights and on the train and stuff. It was boring." Roxas nodded, smiling. Sora looked around at the ranch, at the buildings and the men trying to load the cows on the truck. Aerith came out of the door behind him and handed him a glass of water. He took a sip while Aerith walked forward to talk to Cid and Otis.

"I'm really glad you're here," Roxas said, leaning his head on Sora's shoulder. Sora smiled, leaning his head on Roxas's.

"Thanks." They sat there like that, Sora draping his arm behind Roxas's neck and over his shoulder. "Hey, so tell me about this guy you met." Roxas sat up blushed a little, looking down at the ground. Sora laughed a little, nudging Roxas in the side with his elbow.

"His name's Axel..." Roxas said.

"Aaaaand?" Roxas shot a glare over at Sora and sighed.

"And he's really sweet. He's the mechanic, and he's really good at fixing stuff." Sora watched Roxas, who didn't say anything else.

"And?" Sora asked, poking Roxas.

"And what?"

"Have you done anything yet?" Roxas's eyes widened as he blushed, speechless. "Oh, really now?"

"That's not any of your business!" Sora laughed, causing Roxas to push him on the arm. Sora shook his head, hugging Roxas. Roxas calmed down, then laughed a little. "I really am glad you're here. I've been worried about you." Sora nodded, then let go of Roxas.

"You didn't need to. I was fine." Lie. Roxas watched him, not believing him, but was cut off as Cid walked up before he could say anything.

"Welcome home, Sora." Cid said, sticking out his hand. Sora shook it, smiling.

"Thanks, Uncle Cid."

"We have your room ready upstairs. I'll get someone to carry your stuff up in a few minutes." Sora nodded.

"I promised Axel I'd go hang out with him while he works, so do you want me to show you to your room now?" Roxas asked.

"Sure." Roxas nodded and they both stood up, Sora grabbing his backpack as he followed Roxas into the house and up to his room. He had to admit, the house was nice. Electric lamps designed to look like gas ones, the floors and walls were made of cut wood, the furniture, although with clearly worn fabric, was high-end oak, he was amazed at how well they'd pulled of the Western style. After countless left turns and two flights of stairs, they turned into what was obviously the hall to the master bedroom. The hallway, which ended with a large door he could only guess led into Cid's room, was lined with six doors, three on each side.

"Here's your room." They stopped at the first door on the right. "I'm in the room down at the end of the hall, with Cloud, and the one across the room," Leon gave a slight nod backwards to the door behind him, "is a bathroom. Me, Cloud, and Cid use the one at the end of the hall. Aerith usually takes care of all the laundry, just leave it near the so she can get it late-afternoon. Go ahead and get some sleep, I'll make sure someone comes to get ya before dinner." Sora nodded, and hugged Roxas before he watched him head back down the stairs. He shifted the backpack on his shoulder and opened the door, heading into his new room.

His room was decorated in the same Western style as the rest of the house, but it was the computer on the desk and the large TV and sound system that amazed him. A folded piece of paper laid on the keyboard, with a note written inside:

Sora,

Hope you like your new room! I had Axel order this since he knows more about this stuff than I do, and I know how much you love computers. And I know the TV's nice too, but don't lock yourself up here and rot, ok?

Roxas~

Sora had to smile at Roxas even going so far as to get his boyfriend to order and setup a kickass computer and TV. He turned the TV on, and, unfamiliar with the channels, left it on the weather station. He put his backpack on top of the dresser at the foot his bad, then fell onto the large, soft bad. He closed his eyes and suddenly felt exhausted, just barely getting his shoes off and off the bed before he'd fallen asleep.