Mechanical Heart

5 - Concern

~POV: Lucas~
Lucas took the box filled with the clothes he had received and dumped it on his bed. There was a large assortment of clothes with a variety of color. Lucas noticed how the clothes fell into five specific categories.

One: Clothing a lot like the type Lucas wore at home. Stripes, denim, and stuff along those lines. It made him feel more comfortable.
Two: Green. So much green. Lucas could blend into a forest well if he wore these. He could tell some of these green tunics and shirts were meant to be worn with the white pants.
Three: A lot of shirts that looked like they were meant for sport or recreation. Most of the shirts went with the solid colored shorts he had received.
Four: These shirts had a random design or two plastered onto it. They looked like they should be worn with the he was given jeans.
Five: Pajamas. Just Pajamas. Not much reason to sort out pajamas.

Lucas skimmed through the shoes and they all looked to be about his size. After Lucas had gone through his "new" wardrobe, he put all the clothes and shoes neatly into his dresser. He left only a pair of pajamas out.

Might as well check the master bath, he thought.

It was grand to say the least. After a shower, Lucas put on his pajamas and went to bed...right after setting his alarm clock. Surprisingly, it was in a drawer of the nightstand and it took Lucas a minute to find. Terrible place to put it.

Maybe this year won't be so terrible, he wondered as he drifted off to sleep on his comfortable bed swaddled in blankets.

////POV: ???////
"You're saying he almost cried?" Young asked Vil doubtfully.

"Yeah! He was tearing up and everything!" Vil exclaimed.

"Shh! He might hear us!" Toon tried to say quietly.

"Toon has a point," Ness said quietly, "He also looked VERY surprised when we entered the dorm."

"The clothing is what's bothering me the most," Red added, "Most kids don't cry tears of joy when they get clothes. I'm starting to worry, sorry for being so blunt, that Lucas doesn't have a good home life."

"That's what I thought," Vil thought for a moment, "He was wondering what he owed when I gave him the clothes and he didn't pack anything for himself."

"This could mean that Lucas' parents may have not had a lot of money or that it was stretched tight," Toon concluded, "I don't want to jump to any conclusions to quickly-"

"But that seems the most likely," Young interrupted.

"Exactly," Vil said.

"It would be rude to ask him up front," Red told them, "We need a subtler approach."

"We could start out with small questions first," Toon suggested, "And move onto bigger ones as we get closer to him."

"That seems like the best idea for now," Ness commented.

"We can't confront him directly. Lucas seems to try and avoid anything too direct," Vil noted, "We could try asked about how he cooks tomorrow morning. Someone in his house had to teach him."

"I guess that's our best bet right now," Ness stated.

They all agreed on the plan.

"See you guys tomorrow," Young yawned.

The group said their goodnights and left Vil's bedroom and, as quietly as possible, went back to their own.

I hope Lucas didn't hear us, they all thought. All of them just wanted to help that poor kid.