Roxas stands behind the Hot Topic checkout counter, poised to ring up a pair of shorts more silver spikes than black denim for a little blonde middle schooler in pigtails.
"So, uh, who wants to show me how to log in?"
Vanitas drags himself over and watches Roxas flipping through menus, deftly setting down the shorts without stabbing himself, while the blonde girl levels up in Candy Crush. Sighing at Roxas' complete and utter hopelessness, Vanitas elbows him out of his way and begins swiping back through screens so fast the newbie feels a bit motion sick. Show off.
When the girl is checked out, Roxas turns to give Vanitas reluctant thanks.
Reluctant because, while Roxas and Aqua had been on a scavenger hunt around the store finding proper homes for a fresh shipment of accessories, Vanitas had been ambling behind them, doing nothing of the sort. Unless you counted making snide comments and placing things only when Aqua physically shoved them into his hands, which Roxas did not.
Vanitas sneers, flicks fingers scattered with thin, jagged bronze rings in Roxas' direction. "God, who trained you? Demyx?"
Heat rises in Roxas' throat, hipster glasses bouncing as his nose scrunches. "No, you and Demyx didn't show up, remember?" He leans an arm on the counter, eyes daring Vanitas to continue. "We were in a rush, so Axel logged me in."
Vanitas has been turning away due to his severe lack of interest in being nagged, but finds himself pausing. "Axel?" The corners of his mouth drag down and he gags a bit, "Ugh, I wasn't going to apologize, but shit." He contemplates Roxas' less than sympathetic expression with curiosity. "He's worse than Saïx. Doesn't let anybody get away with shit. Talks like a god damn late-night radio host. Thinks he's hilarious…"
Roxas pictures Axel calling out Lex for trying to ditch Roxas. Remembers him on the phone flirting exaggeratedly with their boss in that voice to distract him from the minor crisis. Decides he likes Vanitas even less with every word out of his mouth.
But he needs to get through the rest of the shift with him, and probably more, so he's going to need to play nice.
"Look, I don't know," Roxas admits, fingers running through his bangs, "maybe they are hardasses. But Axel and Saïx showed up, which made them infinitely more helpful than anybody else."
Than you.
Roxas tries not to full-on grit his teeth. That might be a bit of a give away.
Vanitas lip quirks back up, mocking, amused, "Trust me, Cloud. You don't want me training you in anything." With this advice imparted, he stalks off, like he might actually, possibly go help Aqua.
"Defending Axel." Vanitas shakes his head as if Roxas has managed to become an immense disappointment to him in the course of their fifteen-minute relationship. "Jesus."
Roxas sees a flicker of insanely green eyes, feels the swipe of fingers upsetting his hair, hears that low, smooth voice. Welcome to the family.
"Yeah, well, at least Axel didn't blow me off," Roxas says to his back, not as quietly as he means to, because fuck it,this kid had no right to be pissing him off this much.
He's like Sora's age.
And short.
Vanitas doesn't turn around, but again pauses. "Oh, well, hey," he tosses up a hand, tone nonchalant. "I'm sure he'd have blown you if you'd asked him to."
Roxas feels like he's behind the wheel on the freeway and the car in front of him has come to a complete stop.
"What'd you just say to me?"
Vanitas scarcely turns his head, just enough for Roxas to see a light brown iris gauging his reaction, to pick up on the faint smirk.
Roxas mind shoves him back through the time he's spent with the Hot Topic manager. Axel walking him to a staff meeting, helping him clock in and learn the register, chatting about cake, buying him ice cream, teasing him for making a mess.
And yeah. Roxas had admitted to himself he'd been crushing a bit on the tall, goth, and gorgeous red head. He had admitted it again more than once in the twenty-four hours since, when he glimpsed dark orange-red and electric green in his daydreams.
But there is no way in hell Vanitas could know that.
Roxas rapidly concludes Vanitas is just being a complete and total dick.
Yeah, Axel had been mildly flirty with his coworkers, but he was a far cry from overzealous or desperate. Not to mention the clear devotion that Roxas had seen flit across his face when he mentioned his boyfriend.
But Vanitas doesn't stop there. Apparently noting he hasn't swayed Roxas' good opinion, he shifts tactics.
"Might've gotten you fired, but hey," he teases, soft, low, "he seems like he'd know what he's doing, so probably worth it."
Roxas' hands unconsciously form fists, and Vanitas responds with the widest grin he's worn all day.
"Oh, a bad ass, are we?" Vanitas sings, hands folding and rising in a Jane Austen-ly swoon, "Axel must've loved that."
Roxas takes a breath, calmer than he has any right to be, and unclenches his fists.
Vanitas doesn't know anything. He's just trying to piss him off, and Roxas doesn't start fights, he ends them. And like hell he's letting himself get fired on Day 2. He needs to pay off his rent, his tuition, his textbooks, his midnight takeout orders, fucking Seifer…
"You're lucky I really need this job," Roxas says, even, straight-faced.
Seifer turns out to be the wrong person to think about at the moment. Seifer would have destroyed this punk by now. Hell. Maybe Axel would've too. Roxas had seen cords of muscle anchoring his lanky arms. Though he seems more likely to throw shade than punches.
Some of that must cross Roxas' face, because Vanitas turns back around, leans forward, too close, until Roxas can smell an excess of cologne, like Vanitas showered in Hollister. "Don't let that stop you."
Vanitas doesn't have much in the way of muscle or, apparently, tact. He steps away like he's leaving, but winds his arm back like an amateur. When he moves to jab Roxas, he finds his fist caught easily in the petite blonde' palm.
"Really?" Roxas cocks an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Don't be stupid."
Vanitas, huffs, swiping out with his opposite fist, form scrappy, unpracticed. He barely clips the bare skin below Roxas' shoulder, and Roxas can't quite hold back a smirk as he catches the guy's wrist, gives him a solid shove back.
He thinks it's less that Vanitas has insomnia and more that he's probably been possessed by the spawn of Satan.
Vanitas staggers several steps, gasping out a few quick breaths. Regaining his footing, he backsteps from the cramped space behind the register.
Roxas follows suit, unwilling to be trapped, should Vanitas lose his shit again. He is not disappointed.
When Roxas reaches the aisle, Vanitas lunges for his middle to drag them both to the floor. Down to his level, thinks Roxas, grimly.
But Roxas, never unprepared, gets in a hard, fast punch to Vanitas' gut that sends him sprawling, grunting, across the ground in the aisle between My Neighbor Totoro and Pusheen the Cat.
Vanitas stares up at him, wide eyes reflecting yellow under the fluorescents. His breaths come fast.
Roxas stands over him, frowns, fingers absentmindedly raking up his hair, knuckles pulsing, the familiar pound of miniature heartbeats. "I told you not to be stupid."