Sassy's Note: Two lists. Twenty characters each. Randomly paired up. Then twenty word prompts taken randomly and applied randomly. This series of vignettes is the product. And, yes, there are crack pairings, but I'll make them work. Now, onto the first one, shall we?

Warnings: Just a bit of fluff and minor violence.

PairingSora/Pence

Trashcan

Hollow Bastion High School was a nice enough place. The campus was always neat and clean. The classes were board approved and board monitored. The teachers were friendly folk. Still, like every school, there were the social groups.

Pence, a chubby boy of seventeen, was – to put it nicely – not very high in the social chain of HBHS. He was a jaunty boy, though, with three wonderfully close friends and the highest GPA of anyone in his class. He was smart, exceedingly so. He planned to design computers for his future career.

But, as in all schools, some particular bullies will pick on the smart kids no matter how benevolent they may be. This was Pence's problem. Usually, the bully – a cocky senior by the name of Seifer – would steer clear of Pence because of Pence's friends. Hayner and Roxas were not to be provoked when it could be avoided. Both of them packed a mean punch.

Sometimes, though, Pence wasn't with this buddies, and it was at these times that Pence made use of his highly-developed sneaking skills. Seriously, the boy could be a ninja. Any more sneakiness, and he'd be creeping across the ceiling.

It was after a good bout of sneaking one day that Pence ended up outside on a small bench. He never enjoyed study halls, and this period would be particularly long. Olette was in Home Ec., and Hayner and Roxas were practicing for their Struggle matches. This left Pence to look after himself.

Really, he hated having to have someone look out for him. Roxas and Hayner never said anything, but Pence hated feeling like he was a burden almost as much as he hated having to rely on them. But he wasn't strong or fast, and he was a bit of a dork, so he was the prime target for Seifer.

Speaking of whom…

"Chicken-wuss!"

Pence groaned. Great. He gathered his things quickly. If he could sneak around Seifer and get to the library, h would be home free. He grabbed his bag and sprung to his feet.

"Where ya goin', tubby?"

"Crap," Pence muttered, glancing around, only to see Fuu and Rai on either side of him. He was surrounded.

"Long time, no see, dork," said Seifer, sauntering up to him, smirking. Pence really wanted to smack that beanie off his stupid head.

Mustering up his courage, Pence glared and growled, "Go away and leave me alone."

"Wrong answer, tubby." Seifer's smile grew to maniac proportions.

---

It was probably sheer luck that put Sora where he needed to be at the right time. He was whistling merrily, a spring in his step. He loved study halls. Nothing could beat an hour and a half of doing nothing while at school.

He pranced around the school paths, stopped once or twice to pet a stray kitty, and began making his way back to the main school building. That was when he heard something strange – muffled yells of pain. He looked around, searching for the source. His eyes found a trashcan.

A trashcan with two legs poking out from the top.

Sora yelped and rushed over to it. "Hey! Are you okay?" he called, carefully tipping the trashcan onto its side so the unfortunate victim could crawl out.

"Yeah," said a slightly strained voice. "I'll be fine. That jerk…" Pence backed out of the trashcan slowly. Luckily, it had been mostly empty, save for a few wads of paper.

"Who did it?" Sora kneeled beside Pence.

"Seifer Almasy." Pence rubbed his head, which was aching mildly from his head-first tumble.

"He's an ass," Sora agreed. "Oh, I'm Sora, by the way." He grinned and held out a hand.

"Uh, Pence." They shook.

"You look kinda familiar." Sora looked thoughtful. "You hang out with Roxas, right?"

"Yeah." Sora's grin stretched.

"Hee. Roxas is my cousin."

"Oh… oh! You're that Sora!"

"Yup! I had no idea I was talking to the local campus genius."

Pence blinked. "Who? Me?"

"Duh." Sora tapped his forehead playfully. "Roxas told me you were the one to program all the school speakers to blare out 'Jingle Bells' every time the principal went to make an announcement."

"Yeah, that was me." Pence flushed slightly.

"Wicked awesome, man." The two of them got to their feet. "So where are you headed, Pence?"

"Eh, nowhere. It's my study hall. Seifer just happened to corner me."

"Hmm, okay! Let's go to the library! I don't really like books, but it's quiet so I can sleep."

Sora rattled on and on as they trekked their way across the school campus. I was nice, Pence decided, to have a companion like Sora. He wasn't a self-proclaimed badass like Hayner, or emo-bipolar like Roxas, or girly like Olette. Wait, Olette was a girl… Oh well, same thing. Sora was nice to him from the very start.

That in itself was a big change.

---

"Roxas! Hey!"

Roxas wiped his forehead and looked around. Sora was jogging toward him, waving a thick book in the air. Roxas' eyebrow rose slightly. Since when did Sora read?

"Hey, Sora."

"Roxas, have you seen Pence?"

"No. It's his study hall. Did you check the library?"

"Yeah." Sora bit his lip. "That's where we were supposed to meet."

"He was helping Miss Gainsborough in the computer lab last period. Check there."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks, Roxas."

"Uh huh." Roxas returned to pummeling Hayner with a foam bat.

---

"Pence?" Sora stuck his head around the corner of the computer lab door.

"May I help you, Sora?" asked Miss Gainsborough politely.

"I'm looking for Pence."

"He left when the bell rang, dear."

"Oh… thank you."

---

Sora still couldn't find him, and now he was rather worried because Seifer hadn't been seen anywhere for just as long. In the past month, Seifer had not bothered Pence at all. Sora and Pence spent their free periods together, and Sora found his study halls to be not so boring any more.

"Pence!" Sora called, wandering around outside on the school paths. "Pence!" With an aggravated sigh, he said on a bench, dropping his pack on the ground. Maybe he got caught up with something. He shouldn't worry. Maybe Seifer had finally grown up and would leave him alone from now on.

"Over there! It's the other Hikari boy, ya know!"

Or maybe not.

That was most definitely Rai, and why would he be whispering about Sora? Sora rose to his feet and wandered further down the path covered with trees, following the voices.

"Thought he could hide in the library."

Sora's blood was suddenly boiling. That was Seifer's voice, and that pained gasping he knew was Pence. Sora broke into a run. There, behind a thick bunch of bushes, was Fuu, Rai, and Seifer, and on the ground was Pence. His nose was bleeding.

"Can't hide behind your friends anymore, ya know?"

Pence glared up at them, back of his hand pressed to his nose. "Screw you."

Seifer frowned. "Wrong answer, loser." He raised a fist back; Pence flinched and ducked his head. The blow never came to Pence. Instead, Seifer hit the ground. Rai and Fuu gasped. Sora stood over the limp form, painting with rage. He glared at Seifer's lackies.

"Get him and get out," he growled. With a most undignified squeak, Rai hoisted Seifer up and fled, Fuu on his heels. Sora dropped to his knees beside Pence. "You okay?"

"Yeah…" Pence wiped at his nose, then grinned lopsidedly at Sora. "Sorry I didn't get to the library. Being alone with the books didn't scare you too much, did it?" Sora stared at the other boy. Then started to laugh. Pence joined in, and for awhile, neither could stop. When they finally did, Sora picked himself up and offered a hand up to Pence.

"Hey, Sora?"

"Hmm?"

"You've taken a couple martial arts classes, right?"

"Yep."

"Well… I'm tired of not being able to fight for myself, so… could you teach me?"

Sora's face lit up. "Sure I could! That would be awesome! OH! Or we could take a class together! OH! Coach Strife is starting a club-team thingy for martial arts! We can sign up together! Come on!"

Sora continued babbling on excitedly, then grabbed Pence's hand and pulled him toward the athletics building. Pence grinned to himself.

"Thanks, Sora."

The smile he gave Pence nearly blinded him.

Then the kiss he gave Pence nearly floored him.

-end-

Sassy: Next up is a Riku/Paine with the prompt "Sex" cause that's the kind of friends I have.

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