Robert POV:

"Y'know, we're already out here, we should just ditch."

"No Roy!"

"Ugh come on!"

Ross and Roy kept arguing about whether we should ditch or not, I don't really care if we do or not which is why I'm not saying anything. Watching them argue is kind of funny though, they're both freezing cold so their voices sound funny and have their hands crossed against their bodies. I do kind of feel bad though.

"Guys, you wanna—" I started, but they interrupted with their bickering.

"G-go rot!" Ross snapped.

"No, you go r-rot!" Roy shot back.

"Guys—" I tried again, but they continued.

"Oh, f-f-fuck you!"

"F-fuck you!"

"GUYS!" I finally shouted, causing them to jolt their heads towards me. "Wanna share my coat and gloves?" I asked, taking both my gloves off and holding them out for them to take.

After a bit of hesitation from them, they both looked at each other before sighing and taking a glove. I unzipped my coat, allowing Roy to squeeze in on my left and Ross on my right, he held my hand when he was fully in which made me chuckle.

"Th-thanks." they both stuttered.

I smiled at the both of them and we continued to make our way to the dollar store.

After about ten minutes we arrived, Ross and Roy both shimmying their way out from my coat and walking inside the store. I picked out my usual Nesquik Chocolate Milk and also took a bag of Sour Cream and Onion Chips while Ross took a Dr. Pepper. Roy took a Cherry Pepsi, a bag of Barbeque Chips, and one of those cheap Honeybuns. We brought our things up to the cash register and Roy insisted on paying for all of us which was cool. Roy and Ross both made their way back into my coat before we left and started making our way back to school while eating our snacks.

"Hey, doesn't that car look familiar?" Roy suddenly asked, pointing to a car in the distance.

I turned to where he was pointing to and squinted my eyes, when I realized whose car that was my stomach turned.

"Shit, that's my Uncle's car!" I exclaimed, all of us booking it off the sidewalk and behind a house.

"We'll have to walk off the sidewalk so he doesn't catch us." I said, Ross and Roy both nodding in agreement.

We quickly continued our walk back to school, making sure to stay off the sidewalk. Except when we got behind a certain house the owner happened to be outside and saw us.

"Hey! What are you kids doing?! Get off my property!" she yelled.

"We're not on your property old lady!" Roy yelled back, making Ross stomp his foot.

"Sorry ma'am, we're leaving now!" I shouted to her.

"Shouldn't you kids be in school?! I'm calling the police!"

"No, don't do that! Uh, there's no school today!"

"You're lying! I'm calling them now!"

"No—!"

"No need for that, ma'am."

Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulders. Sure enough, when I looked up to see who it was, it was Uncle John.

"Sheriff! Oh thank you so much." the lady said before walking back into her home.

Uncle John escorted us to his car, his partner Jack was in the front seat. After we all settled into the car John turned to look at us in the backseat.

"Why aren't you kids in—"

"We're sorry! We just wanted to get snacks from the Dollar Store! We were on our way back I swear!" I interrupted.

"Why'd you tell him?! We could've just made something up!" Roy yelled.

"Sorry!"

"Stop saying sorry!"

"Sorr—"

"Boys!" Uncle John yelled, making me and Roy shut up. "It's fine.. Me and Jack were about to go out to eat. You kids wanna come?"

Woah. Uncle John being fine with us leaving school and even inviting us out to eat? Me, Roy, and Ross looked at each other in confusion before hesitantly accepting John's offer.

"Alright, let's go then." John says, lighting up a cigarette before beginning to drive.

"We got donuts in the trunk if you kids want any!" Jack happily offered.

Roy immediately turned around to the trunk and grabbed the box of donuts, all of us now fighting for who would get the Boston Kreme donut.

-

After a good 20 minutes of being in the car we arrived at a little diner. We sat down in a booth next to a big window and started looking through the menu.

"Get whatever you want." John insisted, also opening up the menu to browse through.

That confused me even more, John's usually really cheap. Our waiter came about five minutes later and asked for our drinks. I got a Cookies and Creme Milkshake, Roy got a Birthday Cake Milkshake, and Ross got a Chocolate one. John and Jack just got coffee.

Once the waiter left, we all just sat there in awkward silence. I saw Jack subtly give John a nudge, making him sigh before looking towards us.

"So um, how are you kids doing? Y'know after what happened." he asked.

"Oh um, we're doing pretty good. I'm going back home today." I answered.

"That's good."

More awkward silence. Eventually the waiter came with our drinks and handed them out.

"Are you guys ready to order food?" they asked.

"Yeah, let me get 5 pancakes, 10 pieces of bacon, 3 french toasts, eggs—"

"ROY!" me and Ross shouted.

"What?! I'm hungry and he said I could get whatever I wanted!" he shouted back.

We all turned to John, who was sipping his coffee, to see what he would do.

"He'll have the Split Decision Breakfast." he said nonchalantly.

Roy crossed his arms and grumbled as the waiter wrote down his order.

I waited until they finished writing Roy's order to tell them mine and Ross'. "Me and him," I pointed to Ross. "Will have Chicken and Pancakes please."

They nodded and wrote our order down before turning to John and Jack. "The usual?"

They both nodded and the waiter wrote it down. After they finished they grabbed all our menus and told us our food would be out here shortly before leaving.

After a bit more of awkward silence John and Jack looked at eachother and told us they'd be back. After they did, Me, Roy, and Ross immediately looked at eachother.

"Dude, this is so awkward!" Ross complained.

"Yeah, but free food is free food." Roy added, making Ross side eye him.

"I know it's awkward but I didn't want to tell him no," I said. "And I have a feeling he just feels bad about what happened on Sunday."

Ross and Roy both let out oh's before I took Ross' milkshake and took a sip.

"Dude!" Ross shouted in a hush.

"What? I wanted to try it!" I said back.

He rolled his eyes and also snatched my milkshake to take a sip.

"..Woah, that's actually really good." Ross said in awe, taking more sips.

"Hey, don't drink all of it!" I shouted, snatching it away from him.

"Give me my shake back then!"

"Fine!"

I slid his shake back to him and he chuckled. "Thank you!"

I rolled my eyes and before I took a sip of my shake Ross gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and ruffled my head. I immediately turned flustered.

"Guys I'm sitting right here y'know." Roy remarks snarkly.

Me and Ross laughed at him before John and Jack eventually came back.

"Can I talk to you, Robert?" John asked.

"Oh, sure!" I answered, getting up from the booth and following John to the waiting room of the diner and sitting down.

"So, you're doing okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." I responded.

"Good," he started. "I just wanted to tell you that.. I'm sorry for not always being there. I didn't know what was going on with your father was that bad. There were times that I did go to Rola— your mother when I questioned hers and your fathers relationship and offered to help, but she always swore he was working on changing and that she didn't want you and your siblings to be taken from her. I just feel horrible about what happened and I wish I would've been able to help you guys more. But I just want you to know that from now on if you ever need anything, anything at all, I'll always be here for you okay?"

I gave him a smile. "Thank you Uncle John."

He subtly smiled back before I gave him a tight hug, he hesitated for a moment before finally hugging me back.

"Why don't you go back to the other's, I'm gonna stay here for a bit." he said.

I could hear the hurt in his voice. I felt bad for him, I know he's going through a lot. Hope passing away, his house being burnt down, a cult, and now my dad.

"Okay," I responded, standing up from my seat and looking down at John. "Love you."

He looked up at me with a look of surprise, but quickly looked back down. "I love you too, kid. Now go on."

I walked back to our booth and giggled when I saw that Jack, Ross, and Roy were getting along well. I joined them and we all started goofing off together until the food arrived. Eventually John joined us too and watched as we all goofed off while eating his food. After a good half hour we all finished our food and headed back to the car.

"Are you taking us home? Cause that would be so awesome." Roy said as he buckled his seatbelt.

"No, I'm taking you back to school." John answered with a subtle smirk, making us all aw in disappointment and beg for him not to take us.