It fucking sucks not having a job. It's only been two weeks since I got laid off at the college bookstore, but even in that short amount of time I can feel the weight of crushing debt slowly getting heavier. I guess the good thing is I recently got my A.A. so if I need to take some time off from school and just work on saving some money I can. The only problem with that being, I don't have a job. I've already applied to most of the department stores around here, and even a few restaurants. Though I seriously doubt I could be a waiter or something. I don't exactly do people well. In a way I'm almost shocked they let me work at the bookstore so long with how terribly I dealt with those stupid idiots who waited until the last second to get their books. I guess after getting into fights for the umpteenth time they decided enough was enough.

I really hope someone will get back to me soon. I've only got a few hundred dollars left in my savings before I'm fresh out, and it's technically supposed to be rent money. With a frustrated groan I snatched my phone out of my pocket and searched through the job listings online. Maybe there's some mom and pop shop around here that needs some manual labor done. I'm really starting to get desperate. I saw a listing that caught my eye, a flood assistance company was looking for some more furniture movers and cleanup crew. It seemed easy enough, and I had some experience with flood damage a couple years back when my neighborhood flooded and all of us chipped in to help clean up. I decided I'd call the number, ask if I could come in and drop off a resume.

"Hello, thank you for calling Disaster Gone, how may I help you?" I was almost a little shocked when I heard an actual voice come through the phone. I was so used to everything being automated.

"Oh, uh, yes. My name is Hayner Dincht and I happened to see that you were hiring and was wondering if I could drop off a resume sometime today. Your company helps a lot of people and it would be an honor to be a part of the team." I said slipping into interview mode and cringing slightly at how generic and over used that line was. But hey, if it works it works.

"Oh! We would love to have you! You're actually the first person to ask about the job so far, so if you drop by in the next hour or so you might even be able to see a manager. I could actually transfer you to him if you'd like." The woman on the phone said, she seemed a little too happy in my opinion. Her words puzzled me. I was the first one to apply for the job? She could connect me with a manager? This must be one tiny company. I probably should have done a little more research before just up and calling them. But hey, this is the closest I've gotten to a job so far so I guess I can't really complain.

"Yes please, if it wouldn't be too much trouble." I tried to mimic her cheeriness, though it came out sounding pretty forced. The woman told me to hold for a moment and classical music started playing through the speaker. I huffed a sigh feeling pretty tense for some reason. I guess the stress has started to catch up with me. A couple minutes passed before a gruff voice came through the phone.

"Thank you for holding, Almasy speaking, what's your name and when are you going to be here." Well this guy sure gets straight to the point, and something about his name sounds familiar.

"Hello, my names Hayner Dincht, and I can be there in half an hour unless that's too soon."

"Make it an hour, and be ready for any- wait… what did you say your name was again?" His straight to the point no business attitude seemed to falter for a second and I couldn't help but feel like his voice was familiar. And that name, I know that name. But from where?

"It's Hayner, Hayner Dincht." I repeated hesitantly. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this, but at the same time I seriously needed a job. There was silence between us for a few minutes but for some odd reason I got the feeling that Almasy was smiling.

"Heh, see you soon." And just like that he hung up. I felt my eyebrows knit together as I tried to process what exactly happened and who exactly that was. After a little bit of deliberation I decided to just drop it and get ready to go. I should probably do a bit of tweaking on my resume before handing it in anyway. I was afterall trying to do anything in my power to make me look like a perfect candidate for the job. Or maybe they'll just be desperate enough to higher me on spot. I mean, how hard can the job really be? It's basically just a bunch of manual labor, right? Heavy lifting is something I can definitely do. I slipped on my work boots and a semi-formal plaid shirt and headed for the office.

I was about 20 minutes early when I arrived so I figured I'd take a small tour around the place. The Disaster Gone building really wasn't much of a building at all. It looked more like four or five storage units bunched together to create some kind of office. In a way it was kind of fitting seeing as what the company did, but still. It was weird. There were only three moving trucks in the parking lot, and by the looks of it they could only fit about five. I wonder if they even have the staff to man the five they've got. I couldn't help but turn my nose up at the place, but unfortunately I was a man in need, and this establishment could apparently get me what I needed.

I swallowed down my pride and walked into the building, trying to ignore the nagging thought of that familiar name. I walked up to what I assumed to be the front desk and smiled at the brunette who sat behind the counter. I had no doubt in my mind that this was the woman I spoke to on the phone, everything about her screamed cheery.

"Why hello! You must be Hayner! Seifer should be out to see you in just a few minutes." She said, her smile reaching her eyes and then some. It took me a moment to process her words, but when I did I froze. Seifer? Did she say Seifer? My jaw dropped open as I finally remembered where I heard the name Almasy from. It was his last name. The last name of the man who tormented me for two years until he finally fucking graduated. I thought I had blocked out the memory for good, with it being five years ago now. But yet with just the mention of his name it all came crashing back. My whole body tensed as I heard a door open somewhere behind me, the thud of heavy boots slightly echoing off the metal floor. I swallowed hard, before turning around and facing him with as much confidence as possible. There was no way I was going to let him get under my skin. No. I'm an adult now, not some puny freshman or sophomore. He was an adult now too after all. He's probably changed, become more professional. Or so I could hope.

I looked up towards his face and immediately started to feel my blood boil. That smirk, that fucking smirk. From all that I've been able to tell Seifer only has two expressions, smirking and snarling. And as much as his snarl terrified me, I would gladly welcome it after having to look at that stupid smirk.

"Hello Hayner, it's been awhile. You got a resume for me?" He said with a fairly professional aura. I tried desperately to keep my emotions in check, reigning in the anger. So far he's being civil, I have no reason to be angry. What's in the past is in the past.

"Yes sir." I said simply, failing to keep some of the venom out of my voice. I handed him my resume and bit my tongue. He raised an eyebrow at me, his smirk widening.

"Why don't you come into my office, we can talk specifics there." He said, his eyes challenging. I couldn't keep the glare down now. There was no way I would back down from a challenge. Not then, and not now.

"Sounds perfect. I'll follow you." I said easily, eyes not leaving his. I would not look away first. I would not lose again. His eyebrows raised in what looked to be mock surprise. He then shrugged and turned around to the door he came from. I followed silently wishing I'd never seen that stupid ad. He held the door open for me, ushering me inside before closing the door behind us. I took a seat in front of his desk, a ball of nerves forming in every part of my body. I watched him like a hawk as he circled his desk and sat down in a rather fancy looking office chair.

"So, Chickenwuss. What makes you think you're qualified for the job?" I nearly exploded at the mention of his stupid nick name for me. It's been five fucking years and he still remembers that stupid name. You know what, fuck this. I'm desperate for a job but not this fucking desperate. There is absolutely no way I was going to let this ass back into my life.

"You know what, forget it, fuck this. Fuck you. I don't need this, and I will not just sit here and let you make fun of me. You're a fucking adult, act like it. I'm out of here." I yelled quickly sitting up from my seat and making my way to the door.

"You're hired." Seifer called behind me. My blood boiled even more at the sick joke. I turned back around to yell at the jerk but his facial expression stopped me. He was being serious.

"…What?" I said, completely confused by his expression. I didn't even know he could have other expressions.

"I talked to our boss, said I knew you from Highschool. Told him you're a good worker, that you'd be good for the team. You're hired." My jaw dropped. This is a joke right? Some elaborate ruse only to be thrown in my face later? I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What's your angle? I don't get this." I said cautiously. Unsure of what to think of this uncharacteristic kindness.

"I guess you could call it… payment. Something to payback some of the things I did in high school. Plus we're kinda desperate for man power and I know you can pack a hefty punch. I know I can trust you to pull your weight." He said with a shrug. I still felt like I couldn't trust him, like he wasn't telling me everything. Part of me still wanted to walk away, the feeling that something was wrong still very evident in the pit of my stomach. However, this meant I had a job. A job I could probably start right away. A job that would pay me, and I just couldn't pass that up. I shoved my emotions to the side, my common sense taking over.

"Oh… um, thanks." I said awkwardly taking a seat again, now feeling a little guilty and immature regarding my outburst. Here I was calling my childish yet I was the one cursing at him like a hormonal teen. "Soooo… what exactly does that mean? Or I guess the better question, when can I start?" I sat up in my chair, straightening my back and trying to act professional again.

"Well, that's kinda depends on you. We haven't gotten any new calls today, so we don't need you just this minute. But as soon as we do get one, we will since two of our trucks are already out and we're low on staff to man the rest. That being said, this could work one of two ways. First being you could just come into office every day for the time being until we get a call. You'd help out with paper work, Selphie is our only secretary right now so we all try and help out when we can. Secondly you can just wait until we get another call and start than. If you go with the first choice we could give you some crash courses on what exactly we do before you go on the job, go with the second you'll have to learn on the spot. S'up to you. Don't know if you've noticed but we aren't exactly the biggest or most professional company. Boss man has a weird way of running things so… yeah. Think that's about it." Seifer said casually, running through the basics on how they ran things. It was a lot of information to be thrown at me all at once but I think I got the gist of it. I nodded my head trying to think if I had any more questions when the phone on his desk rang.

"Almasy speaking." He answered easily, looking rather bored. I saw his face cringe slightly as a cheery voice rang through the other side. I tried to hide my smirk, glad I wasn't the only one effected by Disaster Gone's secretary. What did Seifer say her name was again? Selphie? I probably should have written some of this down. I heard the phone click and my attention focused back onto my ex-bully soon to be coworker.

"Stop by and see Selphie before you go. She needs to get your size for your uniform." Seifer said before kicking his legs up on his desk.

"Now get the hell out of my office, Chickenwuss." He said teasingly with a grin. I glared at him, hoping desperately I wouldn't have to see this asshole very often when I worked. Payment or not, I still can't see myself forgiving him anytime soon. I stood with an angry sigh before quickly leaving his office and heading back out into the main lobby.

"Welcome to the team, Hayner!" Selphie greeted with a smile. I tried to return the smile but I still felt rather angry about this entire situation. I settled for a nod. "So, I'll need your shirt and pant size please." She continued, handing me a pen and paper to right them down. "We should have some in stock in the back so you could take it home today. But if we don't, it'll probably take a week or so to get new ones in." I nodded while filling in my information on the sheet before handing it back to her.

"Okay, you wait here while I go check to see if we got your size." Selphie exited through a door behind her; and as if on cue, another door opened just as she left. A rather tall man with gray streaked hair walked into the lobby, a devious looking grin spread across his face.

"Heyyyy, you must be Hayner! Pretty hot, am I right?" He said with a rushed greeting before gesturing towards the door Selphie had left through. I raised my eyebrow at the strange man wondering what exactly he was talking about.

"And who are you exactly?" I questioned wondering why this man had shown up at all.

"Who? Me? Who cares about me, we're talking about Selphie. She's hot, right?" My eyebrows raised further but I couldn't help but laugh at this guy's antics.

"I guess, I mean she's not really my type." I said wondering how far this conversation would go.

"Not your type! But look at that body. I bet it's the hair isn't it. Not into brunettes? How about, hmmm I dunno, blondes?" He enunciated that last question, speaking louder than necessary. I was completely confused now, and I had a feeling we weren't even really talking about preferences anymore. Then again, I really didn't even have much of a preference so how could I know. I couldn't really remember the last time I really looked at a girl and thought she was hot. I just wasn't really into dating or relationships and what not. Too much work, and way to expensive. Seifers office door slammed open than, a rather pissed off looking Seifer stepping through the door.

"Annnnd, that's my cue. Be a good boy now!" The strange man said before fleeing towards what I assumed to be his office.

"Xigbar, you little shit, get back here!" Seifer yelled after him trying to get the door open. I officially had no idea what was going on, though I guess that Xigbar guy did something to piss Seifer off? I glanced back toward Selphie's desk and was glad to see she was back from storage. She was shaking her head, a bemused expression present on her lips.

"Aren't they a riot?" She said handing me two pairs of pants and a shirt.

"This happen a lot?" I asked with a nervous chuckle. I could tell she was thinking about whether she should answer that question honestly or not and I let out a heavy sigh.

"Maybe? Anywho, that's unfortunately all we have in your size at the moment, but it will at least get you started! We can order more for you as time goes on. You don't have to wear your uniform at the office but we do require you to wear it while out on call. And with that you're set to go! It was a pleasure to meet you Hayner, and I'm excited to start working with you!" she explained sweetly, and I couldn't help but give her a genuine smile this time.

"It was nice to meet you too." I replied my eyes moving over towards Seifer who seemed to have given up chasing Xigbar for now. Our eyes caught for a moment before he quickly looked away, a strange expression on his face I didn't quite recognize. That's odd. He almost looked, embarrassed maybe? No that couldn't be it. I'm probably just still getting used to anything but cockiness on his face. I shrugged it off not bothering to think too far into it before giving another short goodbye and leaving my new work place. My new work place. God those words sound good. Though this really wasn't what I had in mind when I thought of a new job. The sinking feeling returned to my gut as I recalled all of what just happened. At least work should be interesting right? Interesting is one word for it… I sighed as I hopped into my car, now anxious to just get home and relax.