Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts (or Zack, from FF7). It belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I also don't own any of the stores in this story, with the exception of "Moogle Garden". I made that up.

Rated: M (for language and Sora)

Main Pairings: ZexionxDemyx, RoxasxAxel

Others: SoraxRiku, YuffiexKairi, slight SquallxSeifer, one-sided ZackxCloud, mentions RufusxNamine

Mall Duty

1: Morning

Standing behind the counter at his new job, Zexion Shade wondered what he was thinking when he applied at the place. He had always had a sensitive nose and ears. For that reason, he always tried to avoid loud, public places. But there he was, working at a very loud, public place because he father insisted that he work a summer job.

"Hey Zexion, how about this one?"

"Spray it near me and I will kill you," Zexion calmly said before his friend had a chance to spray the pink concoction anywhere near him. It was bad enough that the smells of all the different bottles constantly leaked through the plastic and merged together to create one horrifyingly strong scent that clung permanently to his skin and clothes by the end of the day.

"But look!" Marluxia Tilmitt exclaimed, happily waving the bottle around. "It's a brand new cherry blossom scent! You gotta help me see if it's any good! You've got the better nose."

Zexion glared at him. "Absolutely not," he said. "Go see if Larxene will help you."

Marluxia wrinkled his nose. "Oh please, she knows many things but she does not know scents. Can you believe she uses completely different scents between her shampoo and conditioner and body wash and spray? It's so crazy! I keep telling her that she needs to get all of them in the same scents. Maybe you can talk to her about it. And she keeps using vanilla! She's so not vanilla. She needs something more… tangy. Like some kind of fruit. Maybe mango. No, wait! Ginger! What do you think?"

"Marluxia, I honestly do not care," Zexion said with a sigh. "Nor did I want to know what scents Larxene uses or should use. Aren't you suppose to be restocking shelves?"

Marluxia pouted. "But I want to try out the new scent!"

"Then do it on the other side of the room," Zexion said waving his hand. "And make sure you set them out. If Xemnas comes in and finds out that things aren't running smoothly you won't be the only one who gets in trouble."

"Yeah, yeah," Marluxia muttered as he lifted up the box of cherry blossom scented bottles. "Hey, looks like Squall and Seifer have started another fight over there," he remarked when he noticed the crowd forming around a store across from them. "Man, I can't see anything! I can't believe I missed seeing them rip their shirts off!"

Zexion rolled his eyes. It wasn't like they wouldn't do it again later. Squall and Seifer were always fighting over something or other over at the Abercrombie and Fitch store. The only reason they hadn't been fired or scheduled to work at different times was because they brought in so many customers. It wouldn't surprise him at all if the fighting had become something rehearsed.

Marluxia set down the box so he could stand at the entrance and watch the fight. "Hey, there's Zack! Hey Zack, take it off! Wooo-hooo!"

Zexion growled and hurried away from the counter to drag Marluxia back in. "Will you cut that out!" he snapped angrily. "We have a job to do! You can watch Zack take off his shirt later!"

"But--"

"Fair is stripping again?" Larxene drawled as she walked out of the storage room with another box. "I don't get why they haven't been fired yet. How ridiculous."

"Oh please, like you don't like sitting out here watching them," Marluxia sneered. "I've caught you at it more than once."

"Prove it!"

"Fine! Let me go get the video file!"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

Fighting off a headache, Zexion returned to his place behind the counter. He forced a smile on his face when a couple of girls came up to buy a few bottles of different scents and kept it until the walked away.

-spritz-

"Ooo, smells good, Zexi!"

Zexion twitched and slowly turned his head to glare at Marluxia, who was holding one of the horrific pink bottles.

Marluxia appeared oblivious to Zexion's anger as he looked in glee at the bottle. "I'm so happy! This scent is perfect! It's just the one I've been looking for to match my two-in-one shampoo and conditioner!"

"Mar-lux-i-a…" Zexion growled.

"Huh?" Marluxia looked in surprise at the slate-blue haired male. "What's wrong with you? Your face is turning bright red."

"I'm going to kill you!"

Marluxia yelped when Zexion lunged for him. He quickly ran away to go hide behind Larxene for safety.

"You'd better run!" Zexion yelled after him. "Just you wait, you bastard! You're dead!"

"Ahem?"

All of the color drained out of Zexion's face and his hands dropped limply to his sides. 'Oh…'

"Zexion Shade, the sixteen-year-old super genius in his second year of university," the man paused for a moment to change to an even more condescending tone. "How disgraceful."

"M-Mr. Xemnas," Zexion stammered. He couldn't turn around and face the man. He knew he'd have the same look on his face as always. And it wouldn't matter what he had to say to him about Marluxia's horrendous habits, he would still get the blame for the level of immaturity displayed.

"I am very disappointed in you," Xemnas said. "I have come to expect the level of disgrace shown at the shop across from us, but here at Bath and Body we display a level of supreme maturity. What do you have to say for yourself, Zexion Shade?"

"Nothing, sir," Zexion replied as he dropped his gaze to the floor. How could he have let himself get dragged down to Marluxia's level? The pink-haired man was always trying to get a rise out of him and he had finally succeeded.

Xemnas looked down on him for a moment longer before he moved his gaze to Marluxia and Larxene. "Continue with your work," he said before moving on to the other two. "Marluxia Tilmitt and Larxene Snow!"

Zexion sighed in relief and leaned against the counter. In all honesty, he would be very happy when the summer finally came to an end.

Riku Valentine calmly made his way through the crowds with his slurpee, on his way back to his place of work. He easily ignored all of the girls who would stop and stare at him to admire his long silver hair and his skater-boy attire. But there was one person he could not ignore as he neared the entrance to the store he worked at.

"Riku! Hey, lookit what I found in the back!"

Without any regard to his sanity, Riku looked over at his boyfriend Sora Strife, who was standing in front of Spencer's in his usual colorful outfit waving some sort of box in the air. Riku squinted to see the writing on the box and then choked on his icy drink.

Laughing, Sora turned and disappeared back into the novelty store, leaving his boyfriend to stare after him in shock.

"You realize, of course, that you fall for that every single time," spoke up one of Riku's coworkers. Said coworker just happened to be the twin brother of Sora, Roxas Strife.

"Shut up," Riku growled.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Look, have you seen the new guy around here anywhere? He's suppose to start work today but I haven't seen him."

Riku walked right past Roxas and into the store to take his place behind the counter. "You're letting the lines build up again," he muttered before apologizing to the girl at the front of the line. She giggled in what she probably thought was a cute manner and then laid her things on the counter.

"What do you care?" Roxas asked crossly. "The only reason you're here is because Sora's working across from us. And if it weren't for the fact that it is Spencers and you get embarrassed so damn easily you would be working right alongside him."

Riku glared at the blond. "Didn't I tell you to shut up? You could at least work the other register!" he said before looking back to the girl. "That'll be seven-fifty-eight, miss."

The girl paid and got her things before hurrying out of the store. Suddenly, flirting with the cute boy who was clearly not in a good mood wasn't very appealing.

"Why should I when it's so clear that you can handle the lines all on your own?" Roxas said. "I think I'll just sit here and amuse myself by watching the girls fall all over themselves."

"You're an asshole," Riku snapped. "Get over here and do your job!"

Roxas scoffed but took up his spot at the other register. "You like it up the ass…" he muttered so that only Riku could hear him.

"What was that?" Riku growled, turning around to face him.

"Nothing," Roxas said lightly. "Nothing at all. Go back to work, pretty-boy."

"If you weren't Sora's brother, I'd beat your ass," Riku muttered as he turned around and began ringing up the next customers items.

"What's stopping you?" Roxas replied. "Oh, that's right. If you start a fight with me again, Sora won't give you any. Isn't that right?"

Riku clenched his fists. 'Stay calm, Riku. Don't let him get a rise out of you. That's exactly what he wants. Don't let him have the satisfaction.' "Whatever," he grumbled. 'Wow, Riku. Nice comeback,' he thought sarcastically.

Roxas snorted and got to work on ringing up items, which took away about half of Riku's line. The two remained silent until the large crowd had been dealt with and they were down to their usual few customers.

"I'm gonna do some restocking," Roxas muttered as he shut down his register. "Let me know if the new guy gets in here. I want to yell at him for being late."

Riku shrugged. "Yeah, sure," he said. Part of him was relieved that Roxas was getting away from him. The two had never gotten along very well, not even as children. The only reason they hadn't killed each other while working together was because of Sora. They respected him too much and maybe even feared his rather remarkable temper.

Riku stayed at the register for a while longer until it didn't look like anyone was going to the register any time soon. Then he took a quick break to walk around the store and check on everything (read: to check on Roxas).

It was while he was walking along the wall making sure there were no empty shirt bins that Roxas appeared out of nowhere carrying an empty box.

"There you were yelling at me for leaving the register and now look at you," Roxas said scathingly.

"There wasn't anyone getting in line when I left," Riku said.

"There wasn't when I left either," Roxas shot back.

"I'll go back when a person gets in line. You waited until the line was backed up clear through the store!"

"So?"

"So?! What do you mean by that?"

"It's not like it wasn't taken care of. Nobody got that pissed about it, so relax."

"How can I relax when it's obvious that you aren't doing your job!"

"Hey, I just restocked a bunch of shit, so don't yell at me about not doing my job! I do my share of shit around here! And what do you do? You sit there behind the register until you think you can take a break! Then you ditch me to go get a slurpee and talk to Kairi and flirt with Sora!"

"I do not! Besides, you're always the one who declines when I ask if you want one! I'd pay for it, you know!"

"Yeah, because you're so that nice to me!"

"Well at least I ask!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

The two glared at each other, unaware that their new coworker had just walked into the store and was looking for them. That was until Roxas turned to stomp away. Instead, he stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened dramatically. He took a step backwards in his shock and reached out and punched Riku in the arm.

"Ow! What the fuck?" Riku growled. "What's your- damn it!" he cursed when Roxas punched him again and then kept hitting his arm. "What is wrong with you?! You're acting way more asshole-ish than usual!"

"I'm seeing things, right?" Roxas asked, still staring at the new guy. "Tell me I'm seeing things."

Riku raised an eyebrow and then followed Roxas's gaze. When he saw who it was, he smirked. "Well, well, well, isn't this an interesting turn of events. I think I'll leave it up to you to welcome him. I've got a register to get back to."

"What?" Roxas all but shrieked in alarm. "No way! You go welcome him and I'll work the register!"

"Scared?" Riku teased.

"No!"

"Then go welcome him," Riku said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Or I can go fetch Sora."

"No!" Roxas hissed. "Don't you dare go get Sora! I don't care what he'd think of me for it, I would kill you!"

"Then go," Riku said, shoving Roxas. "You wouldn't want to keep him waiting. Although…" he paused thoughtfully, enjoying seeing Roxas squirm. "I wouldn't go up to him so nervous. Where's that infamous Strife courage, huh? Even Cloud isn't afraid to go flirt with whoever the hell he likes that particular day of the week. And he never talks. Well, unless it's to yell at Zack. Or curse at Zack. Or scream out Zack's name--"

"Enough," Roxas interrupted him before he could go into detail. "I do not want to know any more about either of my brother's love lives. Got that?"

Riku smirked. "Go welcome him or I will continue."

Roxas glared at him and then stomped off.

Please, Riku stood back to watch the theatrics that were bound to come. His days working at Hot Topic had just gotten a hell of a lot more interesting.

"Since when are Zack and Cloud dating?" someone to his left asked.

Riku looked over to see Selphie Tilmitt standing there with a thoughtful look on her face. "They're not," he told her. "I just wanted to see the look on Roxas's face. Guess it didn't register in his mind yet."

"Hmmm…" Selphie hummed thoughtfully. "They would make an awfully cute couple."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "I'm not too sure I like what you're planning. Leave me out of it this time."

Selphie smiled. "Okie dokie, then! I just wanted to tell you that lunch will be a bit crazy today! A bunch of people just quit or got fired for something or other and we've only got one new guy. So make sure you guys get down there early today. I'll try and save you a table."

Riku nodded. "Thanks, Sel."

"No problem," Selphie replied. "Well, I'll see ya later!"

Riku watched as she skipped out of the store, most likely to get to her own place of work. Shaking his head, Riku returned to the register.

Yuffie Kisaragi sighed while looking around the seemingly busy store she worked at. For such a popular store, very few people actually bought anything. Mainly they just sat around and played the games they had hooked up for people to check out. To make things even more boring, her two coworkers were nowhere to be seen. Normally she would be able to entertain herself by flirting with everyone while dressed up as a boy, but that day there was nobody up at the counter, so what was the point?"

"Sheesh, what a day," she murmured. "Why did I want to work here again?" She sighed again and laid her head down on the counter and closed her eyes. At that moment, an all too-familiar song started to play from the popular Rock Band game and she abruptly sat up, her eyes blazing. With a war cry, she leapt overtop the counter and easily landed beside the startled teenager.

"Do you not see the sign!?" Yuffie cried. "It says specifically to not play that song unless you want to die a horrific death by a psychotic Game Stop employee who has to listen to that song every. Fucking. Day," she seethed. "Can you not read?!"

"W-what sign?" the guy stammered. "There is no sign, sir!"

Yuffie blinked and stood up straight. "What are you talking about? Of course there's a sign. It's right--" she turned and pointed to a blank space above the TV. "There. Oh, that sunovabitch is gonna die. SEPHIROTH!!!"


Halfway down the mall, Kairi Rhapsodos looked up as she was scooping out cookies and cream Dip 'n Dots ice cream. "What was that?" she asked.

"Oh, that was just my irate coworker," Sephiroth Valentine said coolly. "No doubt she discovered I have once again removed that ridiculous sign. Are you going to finish getting my ice cream?"

"Oh, of course!" Kairi quickly scooped out the rest and handed it over to him. "There you go, Sephiroth. Say, are you going to join us for lunch today?"

"I would rather not," Sephiroth replied. "Perhaps some other time." With that, he turned and walked away to enjoy eating his ice cream on his way back to the video game store.

"Is he really Riku's older brother?" Naminé Highwind questioned once the tall man was out of hearing distance. "They're so different. Riku's so nice but Sephiroth… he's a little intimidating, isn't he?"

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "And this is coming from the girl who is dating the most intimidating guy at our school, Rufus Shinra?"

Naminé blushed and looked away. "T-that's completely different."

"No it's not," Kairi said.

"Identical," Fuu Kramer spoke up.

"Why do you guys have to be so mean to me?" Naminé asked. "Rufus isn't that scary. He's just…"

"What, misunderstood?" Kairi asked. "Naminé, the only person he's nice to is you. That's the only reason you don't find him intimidating. And I've known Sephiroth since I was a little kid. So has Fuu. That's why we're not afraid of him."

"Interesting," Fuu said, looking out past the food court in the direction Sephiroth went.

Kairi and Naminé followed her gaze to see Sephiroth being yelled at by a short boy with jet black hair who wore a black headband.

"Who's that?" Naminé asked. "I thought he said his coworker was a she."

"Maybe we misheard him," Kairi said, staring at him unashamed. "Whoever he is, he's cute."

Fuu chuckled and Naminé looked at the auburn-haired girl in surprise. "Kairi, I thought you said you'd given up on guys?"

"That's doesn't mean I can't look," Kairi said lightly. "It just means that I won't date him, that's all."

"Repeat," Fuu said dryly.

Naminé nodded. "Fuu's right. That's what you said last time and you went out with the guy anyway."

"Well this time I mean it," Kairi stubbornly said. "No more guys! Absolutely not. And you guys are gonna help me. If I even think about it, you remind me of what I've said and why I've said it and if that doesn't work then make sure you keep me busy!"

"So… we could assign you more hours?" Naminé asked sweetly, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "See, I've got this date with Rufus…"

Kairi groaned. "Nami, I can't take your shift this weekend! I promised Gen I'd help him with whatever-the-hell it was that thing I'm suppose to do is."

Naminé looked at her for a minute. "Kai… that sentence made no sense."

Kairi started to reply, but stopped when someone's cell phone went off. She looked around for hers, wondering if it was one of her many ring tones, but stopped when Fuu removed her own from her pocket and flipped it open.

"Speak," the silver-haired girl stated. She was silent for a moment and Kairi wished that the phone was loud enough that she could hear the other side of the conversation. She couldn't figure out anything by watching Fuu's face.

"Fascinating," Fuu said simply. "Later," she said before hanging up.

"What was that about?" Kairi asked.

Fuu smirked. "Squall kissed Seifer."

"WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAT?"


Seifer Almasy glared daggers at Squall Leonhart as he pulled on his third shirt of the morning. His mind was still reeling in shock from the small peck on the lips Squall gave him just as he was gaining the upper hand in their most recent fight.

"You know, I think our number of customers just tripled," Zack Fair remarked as he put his shirt back on. He always took any chance he could get to take his off and try to flirt with Cloud. "You two should kiss more often!"

"You!" Seifer snarled. "Shut up! This is all your fault!"

Zack looked at him in surprise. "Mine?" he repeated. "How is this my fault? Squall's the one who kissed you, not me."

"You and Cloud are the ones who put that disgusting idea into his feeble head!" Seifer yelled. "The two of you are always flirting!"

Squall casually walked by and slammed Seifer's head into the hall. "Quit your bitching, Almasy. It was just a stupid kiss."

"I'll kill you!" Seifer yelled as he tackled Squall to the ground.

Zack sighed as he heard the tell-tale sound of someone's shirt ripping again. "Guys," he whined. "I just got my shirt back on! Now I'll have to take it off again."

"Shut up, Fair!" Squall and Seifer yelled in unison.

"Clo-oud! They're being mean to me again!"

"Then take them off your list," Cloud Strife calmly replied as he walked past with a box of clothes. "And keep your shirt on."

"But-"

"No, Zack."

Zack was silent for a moment. Then he grinned and opened his mouth to speak, but Cloud beat him to it.

"That goes double for your pants!"

Zack sighed in defeat.

End Chapter

I'm hoping this will just be a short, random little story for me to write off of the top of my head. It should be less than 5 chapters long. Odd thing is, I can't see myself finishing it in 3 chapters, but 4 feels like too much.

I'm not sure who my main character is... it's more like all of them are. Or at least, I'm trying to work for them all to be the main characters. Zexion and Roxas are currently battling it out as the lead though.

I'm going to wait until I've got everyone introduced before I pull out my list of ages. But you already know Zexion's age, since Xemnas announced it at the beginning. Everyone else is older than him.