Heyyy guys. –falls over- xD
Gahh, where does time keep going!? I barely have a life and it just slips right on by until I realize, "OH YEAH, FIC!TIME IS NOW." Durdurdur. xD
Well, you can blame part of the lateness of this on FF9. I got it for my birthday (which was on September 30; gimmie cake! xD) and I've been playing it nonstop ever since. Well, almost nonstop since at one point, my file corrupted and I had to start alllll over again. YAY BACKUPS.
Speaking of my birthday, XO'MagickMoon'OX wrote me a totally fabulous and adorable birthday fic that is so much love. :D It's under my favorites list if you'd like to read it, which you should. BUT AFTER YOU READ THIS, OKAY. :D
Okay, enough of my boring life. FIC!TIME IS NOW!
Date Three: Visit at Work
Monday, July 2
As a sixteen-year old, Roxas liked buying stuff. Call him materialistic, but he was insanely happy when he managed to get his hands on a new video game or whatever. He especially liked violent RPG's that led him to screaming obscenities at the television while his mother stood in the doorway and watched with a disappointed look on her face. It was always amusing since she usually threatened to take the game away, but never did since she wanted her son to grow up 'as his own man'. Yeah, whatever. His mom was breathing in too much incense.
But anyway, since Roxas liked buying stuff and his father's and mother's jobs combined just barely covered all of the necessities (and by 'necessities', he meant 'stuff for themselves since their only son was practically an adult and didn't need mommy and daddy to coddle him'), he had been pretty much forced to get a job the minute he turned sixteen, the legal job-hiring age.
It actually hadn't been all that difficult to turn him into a working man. Twilight Town had tons of job listings posted all around town – why they couldn't put them in the newspaper like a normal town was beyond him, but whatever – so he simply took the first thing that would hire him.
"Welcome to Flowers R Us. You name it, we can grow it."
...Alright, so he worked in a flower shop. Stop laughing.
It wasn't so bad, really, despite the fact that the customers knew more about the plants than he did. Roxas didn't really care when tulips or roses or whatever was in season. He didn't give a crap about fertilizer or mulch or seeds. He was just in this for the pay days. Glorious, glorious pay days.
Besides, his boss loved flowers enough for both of them, and perhaps even an extra person. Roxas sincerely hoped that he would never get as attached to anything that wasn't living. Err, inanimate. Plants were living, right? Roxas always forgot. He'd flunked second-grade science.
"Good morning," his boss greeted, sauntering of his office. Well, it seemed he had taken extra care to prove that wasn't gay today in a blue button-down shirt and some black pants. If it wasn't for the beaded flower bracelet he was wearing, Roxas might have believed him.
"Morning, Marluxia," he sighed. "What are you enslaving me to today?"
Marluxia frowned. "I pay you. Last time I checked, slaves didn't get paid, although that can certainly be arranged."
"Right then. I'll go water the ferns." Despite his boss's very, uh, unmanly appearance, he definitelysounded manly enough. Marly's deep voice was enough to make any small child wet their pants in fear. No wonder everyone thought he was just metrosexual once they heard his voice.
But Roxas knew better. Marluxia was as gay as they came. He didn't really care, though, as long as he didn't get a boyfriend and he shirked his shop duties to go make out with him in front of his only employee. Roxas could very much live without the sight of two men getting it on, thankyouverymuch.
Roxas sighed and turned on the hose, spraying the ferns full blast. Marly would probably come and chop his head off with some random pointy object if he found out, but the blond didn't care. Watering was watering was watering and however many years he ended up working here wouldn't change his mind about that. Why use a watering can when you had a great big hose? Seriously.
He sighed again, his mind involuntarily drifting towards the weekend he had still yet to recover from. Ugh, Axel really was a pain in the ass. Sure, he'd gotten some free food out of the whole ordeal, but free food was nothing when you had to stare at a redheaded jerkwad for minutes at time. Roxas just hoped that whatever 'date' Axel had planned for today involved more free food, because that was the only way Axel was going to get through this month with his genitals intact.
As Roxas was contemplating how funny it would be if Axel was penis-less and would therefore actually be forced to think with the head on his neck, Marluxia burst into the fern area.
"There's someone out there asking for you," he said in his manly voice, grabbing the hose from Roxas. "Go deal with them."
The blond rolled his eyes. Why the heck did Marluxia always make him deal with the customers? He hated random people. His boss was way better at talking to them and whatnot. Marly could easily manipulate someone into buying a dozen roses when they came in for a single carnation.
The fact that this person was asking for him, though, made Roxas frown in thought. Let's see – Hayner was probably helping the Struggle coordinator dude with stuff, Pence was either helping them or wandering around taking pictures, and Olette was surely working her morning shift at the local candy store. So this random person couldn't be any of them unless Hayner was using his break to make fun of Roxas for having such a girly job as he sometimes did. Prick.
The random person couldn't be his mother either, or Marluxia wouldn't have fled. Marly got along really well with Roxas' mom since they both loved flowers to no end. It was kind of kicking, actually. Roxas didn't really care about the joy of tulips.
Roxas was thinking that maybe it was his father back from his...'business trip', but when he caught sight of horribly red spikes, he kind of wished it was his father. Oh, crap.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" the blond hissed.
Axel broke into a grin. "Hey!" he greeted, looking like he'd just won the lottery. A very angry, pissed off lottery. "I finally found you!"
"How the hell did you find me!?" Roxas demanded to know. "No, wait, don't answer that. I'm going to kill you with a trowel now. The cops will be none the wiser. Marluxia can talk himself out of anything."
"'Marluxia'? That's the guy's name?"
Roxas wanted to hang Axel with a garden hose. "Yes. I just said that, plain as day. He's my boss. Now tell me what you're doing here before I kick you out." It was an empty threat. Roxas was going to kick Axel out of the shop no matter what he said.
"Your friend Olette told me you worked here."
Roxas twitched and cursed the fact that Olette had boobs.
"Anyway!" Axel exclaimed, leaning his elbows on the counter and resting his chin in his hands. "A flower shop, eh? Never figured you for the flowery type."
"I'm not. Can you please go away and die?"
"'Fraid not." Axel was still grinning like an idiot. "What's your favorite flower, so I can surprise you with a bouquet sometime?"
Roxas rolled his eyes. He was a manly teenage boy! He didn't have a favorite flower. His favorites were, like...uhh, favorite beef jerky. And favorite pro Struggler. Yeah. Flowers were for girls and fruity gay men.
Axel must have noticed the murderous look on the blond's face, because he just grinned some more. "Well, hey, I have a favorite flower, if you ever feel like surprising your man. It's –"
"Let me guess – pansies," Roxas deadpanned, going to the computer to print out a few invoices. Before Axel could retaliate, Roxas added, "And if you eve call me 'your man' again, I will personally make sure that all of your appendages are harmed in the most awful ways possible."
The redhead sighed. "Don't be such a party pooper!" he cried, grabbing a cellophane-wrapped carnation out of a nearby basket and handing it to Roxas with a flourish.
"That'll be three ninety-five," Roxas said with a frown.
"No! It's for you!"
"...What?"
"I'm trying to make a friendly, romantic gesture." Axel grinned. "They don't like to admit it, but all guys love receiving flowers. It's a fact!"
"Well I don't," Roxas muttered. "Iwork around flowers and put up with crap all the time for doing so. That's the first thing wrong with your 'gesture'." The blond ticked off a finger. "The second thing is that even if I accepted the stupid flower, you'd still have to pay for it even if you thought otherwise. And third, if you really wanted to impress someone with a stupid plant, wouldn't you go for something better than a single-stemmed carnation? At least get a rose, for crying out loud."
Axel's mouth fell open and he dropped the carnation on the floor. Okay, maybe Roxas was right on all three accounts, but he didn't have to be so – so...blunt about it. "Well –"
"Is this customer bothering you, Roxas?" Marluxia suddenly asked, appearing from thin air. Apparently he was done watering the ferns. About time.
"He's not a customer," Roxas replied. "He's just...a guy."
Marluxia frowned, not quite believing the blond. The kids' voice was seething with so much anger that the two men involuntarily took steps back away from the register. While doing so, Axel accidentally squashed the fallen carnation with his steel-toed boot. Of course, it was the stupid cellophane wrap that gave it away – it made it sound like a firecracker was going off in the place.
Marluxia looked at the ground in horror. "What have you done!?" he sputtered.
Roxas rolled his eyes at Axel, looking grim. "Now you've done it," he murmured.
"Done what?" he asked, but it was too late. Marly was already on the rampage.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT TAKES US TO GROW THESE CARNATIONS, ESPECIALLY THE ROSE-COLORED ONES LIKE THE ONE YOU JUST SO HEARTLESSLY STEPPED ON!? IT WAS A DELICATE LITTLE FLOWER, UNWORTHY OF THE SCUM AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SHOE! YOU'D BETTER PAY FOR IT AND THEN SOME OR I'LL MAKE YOUR LIFE SO MISERABLE THAT YOU WON'T EVEN WANT TO LOOK AT ANOTHER FLOWER EVER AGAIN!!!!!"
Roxas tapped the counter, looking bored. Axel just looked scared out of his wits. Roxas would have felt sorry for him, but, well...given the situation, he couldn't really find much pity for Axel. Maybe there was some in his pinky toe...nope, wait - that was boredom. Oh, darn.
"It was just one flower!" Axel finally cried, looking the slightest bit pissed. "And I'll pay for it.Geez, you need to get out of the greenhouse more often, old man."
Marluxia's face turned as red as Axel's hair. He wasn't an old man! "GET OUT OF MY STORE!"
"You don't want me to pay for the carnation?"
"OUT!"
"Yeesh, fine." Axel gave a stupid little wave to Roxas, who was probably supposed to think it was 'adorable'. Or something equally lame. "I'll see you tomorrow, Roxy!" he called as he ran out of the store before Marluxia could throw a bag of fertilizer at his head.
Roxas rolled his eyes as the shop grew silent. Even though Axel was finally gone, he somehow seemed angrier than before. After Marluxia calmed down – he wasn't old – he noticed this and asked him what was wrong.
Roxas gritted his teeth. "Why didn't you ban him!?"
"What? I – I did!"
"No you didn't! Not specifically, anyway!" The blond threw his hands in the air, looking completely exasperated, before giving Marluxia a completely murderous look. "I'm going in the back room for a bit to despise my existence. Axel's, too. In fact, I'll hate his existence more because I completely hate his guts." He stomped away dramatically.
Marluxia raised his eyebrows. Apparently, Axel-hating was totally in this season.
Axel's Current Likeability (on a scale of 1 -10): Negative 18
--
Uhh...don't kill me? xD;
I was actually going to have Roxas work in a sort of paper place, I guess like Kinko's, but the thought of him dealing with pansies and tulips and roses on a practically day-to-day basis was just too much. xD I AMUSE MYSELF, YAY.
So whether you loved this or hated it or just want me to quit babbling so much, a review would be much appreciated! They inspire me to put down the PS2 controller for a few hours and actually wait the ten billion years it takes my computer to load Microsoft Word. :D See, that's how much you guys rock!
I should update this before then (-evil laugh-), but if I don't because I am lazy, Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it:D
