A/N: I do not own Kingdom Hearts!


So what?

I dropped out of high school. Yeah, I get it; it's a bit 'no no'. My parents said the same thing, maybe not in those words, but just about. I'm pretty sure I can read your mind right about now.

What a moron, did he have a social disability?

And I can tell you proudly no. I can't tell you I'm completely mentally stable. Well I could, but that would be a lie. And I would like to clarify that I am not a liar.

But besides the mad obsession with fire, there could be something wrong, not that I would know or even notice. I just wasn't one of those kids for school. It just wasn't for me. And when I was seventeen I was as sure as I am now that spending my life in a cubicle hunched over a computer was definitely not for me.

Now I'm not saying I was the smartest kid or a genius, but I wasn't dumb if that's what you wanted to know. I was pretty average, in fact I was a pretty average kid with an average life and average friends. Just… lazy ya' know?

Or maybe I wasn't so average? Don't most kids finish high school with the whole cap and gown to prove it? Well I can assure you that I'm nothing special, because I'm not a liar.

With that being said I can now say that I had enough common sense to know that the kid did not look like he belonged behind a cash register in a too cozy for comfort coffee shop going by some crack name of Starbucks in a wonderfully crack city called Seattle. And that's the truth.

"16 ounce coffee, black." I said to the blondie who stared quite intensely at me before he rang me up. I fumbled clumsily in my pockets for cash to pay for the overpriced coffee. I was pretty sure the weird look he gave me as he poured the liquid into a cup was due to the fact that I was the only one in the shop and probably the only one who's crazy enough to get coffee at eleven o' clock at night.

Yeah, that and my absolutely amazing hair.

He put the holder on and set the cup down for me and I of course set down my handful of change on the counter. Money is money.

He raised his little eyebrows and gave me a 'your-kidding-right?' look. And I just stared back nonchalantly waiting for him to count it up. Not like he or I had anything better to do. So he sighed and started to pull quarters and dimes towards him with his index fingers. His lips moved softly counting to himself.

"So, how's your day?" I then gave him a shit eating grin that was just as cheesy as that question. Maybe I was a cruel sadistic person that purposely talked to someone after giving them a handful of change to count just to watch them get all confused and scrunch up there face in frustration while I rambled on. Or maybe I was just friendly. Either way he didn't lose track as he said:

"Fine. Yours?"

"Fucking dandy." I answered back. His tone was dull; he probably wouldn't even be talking to me if it wasn't for the coffee shop's policies. "And why is one such as yourself, out at such a late hour?" Or maybe I was just an ass.

"…um, working."

"Not much of a conversationalist. I'm hurt that you're not making any effort."

He sighed and was silent before mumbling "Okaaaay… Why do you have so much stuff with you?"

"Just got kicked out of my apartment." I was already tired of waiting for him to hurry up and count so I took up the coffee and took a long sip.

"Why," he drawled on pretending to be interested.

I turned and rest my elbows against the counter to lean on. "Roomie's girlfriend is a total bitch."

"Oh dear." He said sarcastically letting his eyes widen in that sarcastic way. Right about now is when several realizations dawned on me. First, this blondie was boring. He was just a very average teen, more average then myself, and with an attitude problem. Second, I really shouldn't waste my time with someone who isn't going to make my life anymore interesting and especially when it was so obvious I wasn't wanted there (but I never was one who cared). Lastly, where the hell was I going to sleep tonight?

But instead of putting my lazy ass into motion I just shrugged and turned around to face the kid. He finally finished counting by then and was putting the change in the right departments. I collected the rest in one hand and threw it in his tip jar, even though I really didn't think he deserved it.

"Well, Rrrr-" I leaned over the counter to check his name tag better, "-oxas!" He sighed boringly, tilted his head to one side to glare at me waiting for whatever random nonsense could spew out of my mouth.

Roxas had always said I was full of crap, and when I opened my mouth that's all that ever came out. Probably the reason why he used to call me such childish names like ass face. Huh, don't believe me? I told you I never lied right? Well ask him yourself, he'll tell you.

Anyways, as my newly acquainted friend stared at me rather tiredly I took advice from myself for once and beat it. "See ya' round kid." Of course when I said that I had actually thought I was likely to never see this kid again.

I thought Roxas was some nobody, another stranger, another face. Just a small part of my life I probably wouldn't even remember a year from now. A trip to a coffee shop, that's all it was, and playing games with some poor kids head.

I also thought Roxas was average.

Oh how wrong I can be.

That night I just checked into some cheap motel, the one I usually take my one night stands to. Yeah, that one. Where everything smells like its molding and the plumbing is as ancient as the tacky furniture. Except this time the room was for one, and I spent one cold and lonely night alone in moldy, tacky motel room. And I can tell you, it didn't seem quite as fun when your partner is probably still at the bar, drunk, and hitting up some other guys to get some.

Yeah, buckets of fun.

The next day I decided to go to Yuffie's house. Well actually I laid in bed for an extra three hours and then took my good slow time getting ready before catching the bus. By the time I did finally get there it was already past eleven. She and her weirdo boyfriend must have been out shopping or some other obvious task. So I let myself in with her spare key she kept under her ridiculously ugly garden gnomes. The ones she kept because she swore they would take over the world and she wanted to be among their allies when they did. I mean, I think she's joking… buuut, there's always this chance with Yuffie. You never know with that girl, she'll weave some notion together and she won't ever let it go. Like the time when I was eleven and she was so sure that boys were from mars.

So I entered her home tossed the spare keys on her dining table and headed straight to the garage. Of course with a pit stop at her kitchen to fuel myself because I didn't have any money to get some breakfast. I had given it all to that damn blonde kid at the coffee shop last night.

With a ham and cheese sandwich in hand I made my way to her garage. Let the madness proceed.

It was about four hours later when I heard the front door open. Yuffie must have been back with her man carrying bags of stuff that he most probably bought her.

As I was mixing some paints together is when she peeked her head through the door with the spare keys in her hands.

"Oh good. Just you."

"Hey. I got kicked out of my apartment, don't mind if I crash here for a while do you?" I was ever so blunt with her.

"What? Why?"

"The bitch of the west rolled in." Didn't matter if she knew what I was saying or not. That part mostly didn't concern her. As long as I wasn't on a hit list or on the run from the fuzz all was good.

"Well, are you going to do anything about it? Do you have a plan?" She stepped into the garage more and placed the back of her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, next week, my art. Its all gonna go, and some sweet moola will be coming my way."

"C'mon Axel! I think its time to get serious. Get off your lazy ass and get a job. Art may be important to you, but you can't support yourself on painting alone right now."

Oh Yuffie. Going off and thinking she was so wise. But I just gave her a half-hearted smile and shrugged.

Yuffie wasn't too pleased by my response and said: "Fine you can stay." I smiled gratefully and was about to thank her when she added "but," and oh god how I hated buts.

"You must start searching for a job…. Starting now."

What was she? My mom? "Oh c'mon Yuffie." I tried to reason with her but she just plugged her ears childishly and shook her head before marching back into the house.

And let more madness pursue.

My first idea was a tattoo artist. I wasn't sure who would take me due to the tattoos under both eyes, but if I was a tattoo artist that could solve everything. But then I figured that I'd probably poke an eye out with the gun….. Ew.

Without a high school diploma it really left me hanging., which was why I became an artist. No cubicles, no stupid schools, unless you were super super serious. However, making it as a painter was tough. And Yuffie was right, I needed to get a real job until my art did finally take off, if it ever did that is.

After begging some cash off of Yuffie I spent the rest of the afternoon trekking up and down the city searching for almost anything, as long as it didn't include flipping burgers. My luck was pretty poor unfortunately. I mean if you believe in luck, fate, destiny, or any of that crap. I was out there for hours, and if you have never been to Seattle I can tell you that it's a jungle. So I turned in after eight and headed to the bar to make a toast to myself on how my life officially sucks right about now. My art was going nowhere, I didn't have a job, and really I didn't have much of a place to call my own. Now I don't usually complain so on that night it was probably the watered down booze talking.

And if you do believe in luck, fate, or destiny you could say that mine was very good that night. On my hike back to the nearest bus stop what did I happen to cross? Here's a hint:

Two words.

Starbucks was unusually empty, of course it being eleven o' clock at night, that would probably be usual then right? And what especially good luck/fate/destiny did I have, little ol' blondie sat at the cash register giving me a look of unbelief.

"Can I help you," he sighed drowsily.

"What I can't figure out is why keep working this late shift when it makes you so tired."

"Does poor college student mean anything?"

"Well sure it does. It probably means your some cocky bastard who thinks he's all special cause his mommy and daddy paid his way through college, and now your sitting here, alone, in an overrated coffee shop with a drug induced name. Starting to regret being a smarty pants huh?"

Roxas stared blankly at me for a second. Very blank. Then twitched an eyebrow, blinked and sighed. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. Are there any openings for a job here?"

In just three days I was trained to make the ever mighty Starbucks pollution that the population likes to code name as coffee. On the crew there was Demyx, a rather melodious if not annoying and hyper active team member, Tidus, young and overly confident, Kairi, younger than me but enjoyable company, kinda plain, and lastly was Rikku, a blonde girl about my age who was just as crazy and hyper as Demyx. All of which were pretty okay by me. All of which were in college.

My hours were from seven to three. Rikku would usually be there in the morning and at twelve she would switch out with either Kairi or Demyx. Rikku was always bright and shiny every day and all day, probably why she had to get up so early because most customers at the time would be grouchy gusses. I never really worked with Tidus or Roxas. But that never really bothered me, I didn't know Tidus to well, and I could probably say the same thing about Roxas, but I think I was relieved not to have to work with that kid. Roxas was so boring and plain. Spending time with Rikku or Demyx was oh so much more amusing.

And that's what thought then.

Okay, so I now have to admit that Starbucks isn't quite a drug induced name. Yeah that's right, I went home and did my homework (for once in my life). Now the question really isn't 'what is a Starbuck?' its 'who is Starbuck?' And I'll tell you just who Starbuck was. Ever read the book Moby-Dick. Yeah, ha ha funny name, good now that that's out of our system: Starbuck was the first mate of their merry little ship called the Peequod. Makes you happy they didn't call it Peequod huh?

So now we know who Starbuck was but why did they name it the first mate from Moby-Dick? I have no goddamn clue. But you do know where Starbucks originated right? No? Wow you poor deprived little people. Starbucks came from right here in good ol' Seattle. In Pike Place Market to be exact, and if you ever do make it to my happy little city I suggest visiting there. It's a pretty cool place.

There's a lot of other tids and bits I know about Seattle, but I think our little history lesson is over.

Oh, you thought there was a point to my little rant? Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but there ain't. But hey, look your this much smarter at trivia. You can thank me later.


"Hurry up Axel!" Kairi hissed at me in a whisper as I hurriedly ran my hands through the process of using the espresso machine. It was three, the exact time when every worker around our block took a cigarette break and a coffee. I was supposed be off already but Tidus wasn't here to take my shift and I wasn't going to leave Kairi here to fend for herself.

"Chill baby, I'm working on it."

And that's how almost every day went. And most days after work I would go and collapse on Yuffie's couch. Sure I wanted to get my own apartment, don't you think I'm tired of hearing Yuffie, my cousin, scream all night long accompanied by the head board that would rhythmically bang against the wall. Yeah. Didn't think so. I would go get my own apartment, but unfortunately even with my new job I still didn't have enough money to rent out any of the apartments around here. So in the mean time my number one priority, other than my painting, was to find a new roomie that would live up to my standards.

But today was different; I wasn't planning on crashing on Yuffie's couch and daydreaming about how wonderful my life could have been. Today, Xigbar was in the city. One of my only friends I still stayed in touch with after high school. Well other then Luxord, but we can rule him out now on account of him breaking the 'bros before hoes' rule. Right? So yes, Xigbar was back from some business trip. What kind of business he did was none of your business. I'm pretty damn sure it wasn't any of my business either. However I did know that he had very many different jobs and I'm sure that more then half, if not all, of them were illegal.

"What a twat!"

"Geez, cool it Xigbar. Remember our conversation about what we can and can't say in public."

"He totally dumped you for Larxene. She's not even that hot." Xigbar silently cursed himself for not seeing how tight of a leash Larxene had been pulling on that dog Luxord.

"It's cool. Yuffie's letting me crash at her place for a while. I got a job, and now I just need a new roomie."

"You could stay with me. I'm gone half the time anyways and I need someone to look after it while I'm away, and all you have to do is pay half the rent." Maybe for Xigbar this sounded like a great idea, but I secretly wanted a roomie not only to pay half the rent but so I wasn't so lonely all the time. Someone to come home to. Not to mention the crazy whores that always showed up drunk and angry at Xigbar's door in the middle of the night, just girls from past one night stands looking for either commitment or revenge. Mostly the latter of the two.

I just laughed in his face and said: "The last thing I need is for one of your crazy girls to come at me with a knife."

Xigbar chuckled hoarsely and said "At least your ex-girlfriends are sane." I laughed a little too but the sudden mention of her was enough to make the wound start bleeding, like molten lave churning under my skin, still hungry for her.

Our awkward laughed died down slowly until we were completely silent in the sushi bar. The place was darkly lit and other couples and groups were strung here and there. Of course I couldn't afford this place and that was why dinner was on Xigbar. We were still waiting for a few of his friends to show. Leon and Xaldin, and thank god one of them came in to break this awkwardness. However Xigbar did throw me an apologetic look which I dismissed immediately with an easy and natural smile.


"Yuffie?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever been in love?"

"What the hell? Axel you're so weird…"


That night as I stretched myself lazily across Yuffie's couch, and almost sound asleep when there was a loud buzzing from the side table where my cell was plugged in to charge. I flipped open the annoying, vibrating, godforsaken invention to find a text message from an unknown number.

?: Hey its Tidus i have a date tomorrow night can u switch shifts with me?

Now my first thought was how the hell did Tidus get my number?! Then I realized that he could have easily gotten it from Rikku or Kairi because they had stormed me the first day of work demanding that they know my number. Most guys would love to be tackled by women but they can be annoying as hell after consuming too much caffeine. I replied to his request anyways.

Axel: Yeah whatever

I then added his number to my contact list. Might as well, I'll need a favor back of course. 'Cause I'm just that kind of a guy.

I also was a bit thankful for the switch; it gave me plenty time to sleep in. I arrived at three in the afternoon to take Tidus's shift just as he was getting off my shift. Things got pretty hot around four and five, the time when people finally got of work and knew that they had to some how manage to stay awake for the kiddies at home. Poor bastards.

At six Kairi took off and half an hour later a certain blonde came in.

"Your late."

"Where's Tidus?" He ignored me.

"He's got a very important date I guess and asked to switch shifts with him."

"With who?" But he just waved away the question, neither of us probably knew her… or him. I wasn't entirely sure what way Tidus swung, then again I've never really had a conversation with the guy.

Roxas came behind the counter and tied his green apron around his waste and pinned his name tag on. After that he leaned over the counter by the cash register and prepared for what we both were going to have to endure. Well mostly him, I was done here at ten. Either way the long hours came.

What happened? Nothing, really nothing happened. I swear to god. It was just boring, except for when the drunkard came and Roxas had to ask him to leave. I didn't really care to do much. I thought it was pretty damn amusing watching Roxas helplessly deal with him. But it wasn't like anyone really came at this hour so why bother. Roxas probably figured that out too but was doing it more for himself rather than the shop.

Yeah, I learned a lot about silent little Roxas without him having to even tell me. You can call it creepy but observation's all it took. Which was easy enough for me because Tidus insisted that I take his shift every Friday night. I would have said no if I had a life, but we went over that right?

There were several things to say about this kid:

1) Roxas liked the quiet, he seethed in it.

2) Roxas wasn't a dumbass, and he didn't like to mess around. He was a pretty quick kid.

3) Roxas hated Starbucks.

All of which added up to an almost complete opposite of me. Nonetheless I stored this information for a better timing.

On the fourth Friday I had switched out with Tidus I took my knowledge and put it to use. When I had finished wiping down the tables I decided to strike.

"Hey Roxie!" I leaned on the opposite side of the counter from him and oh boy, if looks really could kill I'd be a dead man. He gave me the most disgruntled and disturbed face I have ever seen. That face had definitely been scarred into the back of my mind for a very long time.

"Please Axel, my name's Roxas."

"Okay, Okay Francis." He then gave me an even weirder look but I ignored it and continued with my procedure. "So, what does someone like you do in your free time?"

He then gave me another weird look before saying "What can a poor college student do?"

"Right, right." I replied like I actually took an interest and then said "So do you stay up in the dorms?"

"No, I'm sharing an apartment with a friend right now." He was watching the dark streets and the occasional passerby that would illuminate under the single streetlamp outside the glass doors.

"Hmm, who?" I asked absentmindedly while turning the coffee mugs about.

"Just a friend. But it feels more like three people in our apartment, his girlfriend practically lives with us."

"And you don't like her because…"

He dumped his face into his palms and made an alarming groaning sound. "Its not that I don't like her, its just I don't like them together."

"Oh dear, am I detecting some jealousy? Scandal!" I called in a dramatic voice.

"No," He said rubbing his temple, already I was annoying him, "They just get mushy lovey gushy ya' know?" I raised an eyebrow to push him over the edge. "Just forget it." He then sighed and continued to people watch.

I let a silence pass over before speaking again. "You know…" I let it drawl to grab his attention. Exasperated he turned towards me. "If you ever need a new roomie I'm free." I gave him the widest grin that showed every single tooth in my mouth just about, maybe it looked a little fierce, well let's hope not.

That little bastard just stared, and stared, and stared. Then his shoulders began to shake and it was followed by a burst of laughter. I let my grin fade as he laughed maniacally. Thanks for nothing you little shit.

"Ha! I barely even know you!"

"All the better reason to move in together!" I strode over to the counter and leaned in so close our faces were inches away. He was trying to hide his smile that still remained from his fit of laughter.

"All the better reason not to move in together."

"Hey! Look at it this way. You need a new roomie -"

"I never said I needed a new roomie."

"- and I just need a roomie. Easy enough?"

Once again he was silent and staring at me like I was five-year-old who just denied eating the dessert with chocolate all over his face.

"No. As long as I have worked with you all you are is annoying. Why on earth should I agree to live with you?!"

"Cause your life is boring and it sucks and you know it."


Five days. In just five days Roxie and I agreed on the price and place. I packed up my duffel bag and backpack from Yuffie's, which was pretty easy on the fact that I never unpacked, and dropped it off. Of course we had to borrow Yuffie's boyfriend's truck to pick up the half of the furniture that definitely belonged to me.

"So someone out there is actually willing to put up with you?" Went Luxord.

"Yup." Went I.

It felt good to finally be out of that house. To be on my own again. I was thankful for what Yuffie did, but you can only handle so much right?

Secretly I think Roxas was thankful to be away from his friend's painfully romantic evenings with his girlfriend. Maybe he was happy with the time we had spent together. I never thought it was a waste of time, not once. My time in that two bedroom apartment was the best of my life. And I could only hope Roxas thought the same. 'Cause then I could have finally done something right with my life. Something right for Roxas. 'Cause god knows I tend to screw up everything.

And that's the truth, 'cause I don't lie.


A/N: Thanks for reading. Reviews are greatly appreciated!