Hey ya'll, just warning if you've read this before I have gone back and changed a few details so - if you're wanting to continue it, might be worth a refresher.

If you're new- welcome. The first five chapters were written four years ago roughly (as of 2/17/2019), and while I've tried to go back and fix a few things, remove some weird dialogue and remove some unnecessary scenes, for the most part I left it the same. But I think the changes were for the better. But since I've made progress since then, I've also combined a few chapters for better flow.

Like most I'm here cause KH3 made me sad so woo

A/N: Revised 2019/02/17

Roxas let out a long sigh as he leaned back in the booth, running a hand over his face in a useless attempt at trying to wipe away his fatigue. After an eight hour shift of running back and forth all day, he was ready to collapse. The fact that it had been one of their busiest Fridays in a month didn't help out either. Leaning forward, he looked at the small stack of money that he had counted out in front of him with slight irritation. To have so many people come through today he sure as hell didn't have enough tips to show for it.

"Welp, I don't know about you, buddy, but I'm about ready to fuckin' torch this place." His head snapped up to see Axel standing over him, a sneer on his face as he slid into the booth opposite of him. Axel eyed the stack of money for a moment before snatching it up and flipping through the bills, counting mentally before scoffing and slamming the cash back down on Roxas's end of the table. "This is bullshit, man. How are we expected to make a living off of this?"

Shrugging, Roxas slowly grabbed the money off the table and pocketed it before his friend got grabby again. Axel continued to rant off about how shitty the café was while Roxas looked around. It was nearly midnight and they had just finished their tasks for closing for the night, and every damn employee was still here waiting for the manager to allow them to leave. Sure they were still on the clock, but at three fifty an hour what was the damn point?

As much as he complained over it, Axel needed the job, and as much as Roxas hated it, he needed it too. He wasn't one to bitch about an opportunity, even if it was a shitty one. He just wished a better one would get tossed his way. He slowly let his eyes drift back to his friend, wincing as he slammed his fist down on the table to exaggerate a point.

Axel was a good few years older than he was, and it was odd that the two got along as well as they did. Roxas had been big into baseball in school; Axel had been big into getting high off his ass. Even now they only had a few things in common, none the less, he was his best friend and relied on him. There was however a few things about Axel that Roxas tried to stay clear of.

"Hey, man, are you listenin'?" Axel snapped, waving a hand in front of Roxas's face causing him to snap into attention. "Wanna go out for a drink after this?"

Roxas blinked a few times before shaking his head and leaning back, "I think I'm just going to go home and sleep. I have to come in early tomorrow morning."

"Ah, man, Rox, didn't know you were opening," Axel nodded rubbing his chin slightly before snapping his fingers, "We'll go out tomorrow night then, deal?"

Smirking, he shrugged and gave his friend a mock thumbs-up. "Sure thing."

"Alright, everyone may clock out now," A voice called from the back of the kitchen. Roxas and Axel couldn't help but roll their eyes.

"Fuckin' hate that guy."

"Let's just go," the two slid out of the booth and made their way back to the panels in the kitchen.

Roxas cursed as he slammed his shoulder into his door, the lock once again jammed. He moved away before trying his key again, this time opening the door of his small apartment. Yawning, he shuffled past the pile of jackets and pair of shoes at the door, dumping his keys on the small table at the door. He thought about picking them up, hell they had been there since February, but really they were where he needed them.

Shrugging he shuffled past the small rustic kitchen/living room into the single bedroom, quickly pulling off his tie and tossing it to the floor. He then shed his slacks and shirt, dropping them in a heap with the tie. Fighting off another yawn, he walked over to the small desk in the corner of the bedroom and picked up his phone from the desk he had left charging earlier that day, flipping it open.

1 New Voicemail

8 Missed Calls

He rolled his eyes as he saw the numbers the calls were from, snapping the phone shut and tossing it to the bed before grabbing a pair of shorts off the floor and pulling them on. He wasn't in the mood to listen to any of them right now.

He shuffled around a few bills, contemplating opening them before just turning and walking into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

When he finally made his way under his sheets, it was nearly one in the morning. Laying on his back for a few moments, he finally grabbed his phone and flipped it open, quickly hitting the number for voicemail before holding it up to his ear.

"Hey Roxas, Mom said she tried to call you today? I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I don't blame you for ignoring the call, but, we're worried about you at least. I don't know why she's calling you though. Just, call me soon so I know you're alright, okay? Love you," the machine let out a tone and began listing out options when Roxas hastily snapped the phone shut and rolled over onto his side, shutting his eyes.

He'd call her back tomorrow.

"So you wanted the quesadilla with … no cheese?" Roxas asked slowly, his pen pressed against the pad of paper he used to take orders on causing the ink from his good pen to smear into the paper.

"Isn't that what I said?" The lady remarked with a snap, her brow rising in question.

Roxas narrowed his eyes in spite, wanting to snap back at her before biting his tongue. "Just making sure I heard you right, ma'am." He then turned to the woman's (what he assumed) husband, "And for you?" A burger-less burger perhaps?

He finished taking the family's order before walking to one of the computers near the back of the restaurant and putting in the order. Once he had sent it to the back, his eyes darted to the lower right of the screen and he had to stop himself from leaping out of his pants. It was nearly time for his shift to be over.

Smirking, he quickly went around and checked on his other two tables before making his way up to the hostess stand and tapping the blonde girl on the shoulder.

"Hey, I'm cut." She jumped slightly causing him to snicker before he reached around her and wiped his name from the glass that was placed over the seating chart. "Thanks Terra. No more tables for me," He sang as he spun around headed to the back to start filling up the sauces so he could split when the clock hit three.

He minded his own until his food came up, quickly dropping it off at the table and arguing with the lady about how her cheese-less quesadilla had no flavor. He ended up putting in an order of (go figure) cheese sticks for her after clearing off his one other table. He was leaning against the boards, rolling silverware when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Roxas, do you mind working smoking tonight, Tifa just called out with a stomach bug and I'll have to put Yuffie at the bar and God knows that girl can't cover a damn section and the bar," Roxas opened his mouth to protest, turning to look at the manager with a gaping mouth, "Look I know you've been here all day, but I really need someone here tonight, and no one else is answering their phones. I've already asked Demyx and Selphie, they both already have plans."

"I don't know, Shiki… Joshua kept us all here really late last n-"

"Ugh, again? Is he not making people clean as they go? For God's sake he's freaking inept, I don't know why Neku even promoted him in the first place, you'd think they were fuc-"

"If you need me to stay, I will. Just let me out of here before midnight," He cut her off before she went off on a rant. Everyone who worked here knew there was tension between the three managers. But Roxas never paid enough attention to the rumors he heard floating around, he didn't want to.

"Oh, of course! Thank you so much Roxas, I thought I was going to be short on a Saturday night." She quickly pushed her glasses up and hugged him, before darting back to the office to create the chart for the night.

"Can I at least go on break?" He called over to her, she waved him off giving him a thumbs up, keeping her nose in the book that the schedule was kept in.

Sighing, he went back to check on his table, seeing they had finished and left him some pocket change to count as his tip. Sometimes he wondered if he was really that bad at his job or if people were just assholes. He cleaned it off, taking the dishes to the back and putting them on the metal sink that Ed used to stack the dishes before he ran them through.

Once he was finished, he clocked out and tossed a glance down at his watch. It wouldn't get busy again until five and so he had some time to kill, or in his case grab some food and nap. He headed towards the front of the restaurant, walking past Terra and slamming a hand down on her hostess stand to make her look up.

"Back in a few, when you leave?"

"Uhm." She cast her eyes to the side, glancing at a clock she kept beside the stand, "Should be going home soon."

He scoffed, shaking his head and waving, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"S-sure, Roxas."

He chuckled before turning around and walking out towards his car. He unlocked the passenger side door, opening and ducking in to grab some cash he had stashed in the glove box before locking and shutting it again. He exited the parking lot, hopping up on the curb as he walked down the street towards the sandwich shop. As much as he liked eating the food from the Clock Tower, they were too damn expensive for his wallet, even with his employee discount.

Roxas spent an hour chatting up the employees of the shop and eating his lunch before making his way back down the street. He walked into to see that the dinner hostess had yet to arrive, so he took the time to peek over and see if the chart had been replaced yet. He knew he'd be on the smoking side, but he didn't want the- "Goddammit," He muttered. He had the two large back booths, along with two others.

Sighing, he shuffled to the back of the restaurant, hoping tonight wouldn't be nearly as shitty as he felt it would be.

"I don't know how much more of this I can do," Roxas mumbled under his breath as he returned from one of his parties, clenching the edge of the counter as he angrily keyed in their order. He knew they were fucking with him, being a bunch of teenagers; he was pretty sure two of them were drunk off their asses.

Axel walked by, shooting the blonde a look of sympathy as he carried out one of Roxas's orders to their table. He mumbled a thanks in the red heads direction before raising a hand to his head to rub at his temples, trying to ward off the headache he was getting. He hadn't clocked back in until six, but he'd be here till at least eleven if he was lucky. Shiki was usually good at getting people out of here though.

"Roxas, table 223 needs more napkins and honey mustard," Axel said as he came back over to grab his own food from the window. Roxas pushed himself off the counter and hurried towards the sauces, spooning out a few cups and grabbing some napkins before walking back out into the restaurant's dining area.

"Here you go," he said with what he hoped was a convincing grin as he sat the sauce and napkins down on the edge of the table. The two older women thanked him politely and he just nodded. He made to walk away but the two were excessively chatty. Of course he would get the friendly folk on the night he couldn't mentally handle it.

He chuckled sheepishly as they dotted on him before a sharp whistle caused him to cringe, he turned his head to the corner to see one of the guys in the booth waving his hand in a vain attempt at getting Roxas's attention. Roxas excused himself from the two women and sauntered over to the table and lightly crossed his arms.

"Whatcha need friend?" He asked, trying to sound as lighthearted as possible.

The silver haired teen was in the corner, his draped around a young blonde girl. The others around the table all looked to be a lot older too. There had to at least be a five year age difference between the lot. "We're just wondering about desert," he said, "Sorry for snapping, but I'd been waving my hand around Like I just didn't care for ages."

Roxas smirked, waving it off, "No problem, sorry, got held up at one of my tables. Think tonight we've got cheesecake and chocolate fudge cake."

The older boy looked over at the girl under his arm, poking at her arm, "What you want Nam?"

Roxas finally let his attention rest on the girl, her platinum blonde hair was arranged to rest on one of her shoulders, her eyes lowered to the table in thought. She was so small, and looked so young in comparison to these guys. She looked up at the mention of her name, her eyes meeting Roxas's. "Cheesecake, please."

"Cheesecake it is, you want strawberries? Or chocolate?" Roxas asked, smiling as he knelt down and leaned against the table as he pulled out his pen to write it down. He'd be able to remember of course, but if he was stretchin' for that tip, he'd be extra friendly.

"Can we get both?" She asked softly, breaking the stare down. The silver haired teen snickered at her side, causing her to look up at him with a frown.

"Sure can." Roxas pushed himself back up to a standing position and turned to walk back to the kitchen.

The remainder of his night was, to put it nicely, a sliver of hell. Between the drunken people at the bar having chased out two parties of people with their loud laughing BEFORE the food was out left not only Roxas without tips and it pissed off Shiki. The teenagers had gotten their desert and kept to the table for the rest of the night, and when it finally hit eleven, Roxas wanted to kiss Axel square on the lips.

"You checked out all your tables man?" Axel asked, placing his last sales slip into a basket in the managers office as Roxas stood outside the door with his arms crossed.

"No, they haven't left yet." He nodded in the direction of the bar, and the smoking section sat on the other side Axel let out a low whistle, "They haven't paid?"

"Nah, should I go ask you think?"

"Yeah, just tell 'em we're about to close up." Roxas nodded and began walking around to the table, only to see that they were all gone.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," He leaned over the bar and slammed his hand on the counter a few times to get Yuffie's attention, "Yuffie! Did you just let those guys walk out!?"

Yuffie turned around with a few glasses in her arms, her eyes narrowing, "Don't you yell at me, mister, I've had my hands full all night! They'd been here for ages, I would of thought you 'd gotten it by now!"

Roxas groaned covering his face with his hands as he sunk into one of the booths next to the bar. He couldn't fuckin' believe they had walked out without paying. They had over one hundred dollars in food all together. How was he fucking going to explain this to Shiki?

"Are you okay?" He heard a soft voice above him, looking through his fingers to see the blonde girl from the table smiling down at him. "Little frustrated are we?"

He let his hands slowly fall from his face, blinking. Surely they hadn't…

She bit her lip when he didn't reply, instead reaching into her handbag and pulling out a VISA, "Be quick, Riku's not patient and they're my ride home," She winked before pushing into his open hand and walking back to the table where she sipped at her drink casually.

Roxas was dumbfounded. He stared down at the card in his hand, reading the name as he slowly made his way back to one of the computers. "Oh," he mumbled as he slid the card through the card reader. It was the Riku guy's card, not hers.

He printed off the receipt before taking it back to her to sign. She scribbled out the Riku fellow's name with ease and handed him the paper and pen, grabbing her copy before tossing him a small wave as she began walking away from the table. "Have a good night." She walked a few more paces before stopping and turning around to face him, "Don't let it get to you, okay?" With that, she bounced around and headed towards the exit.

He swallowed before fumbling out a good night as well, watching as she walked out, his eyes never leaving her form until she was outside and out of sight. Roxas cleaned up the mess from his remaining tables as quickly as he could manage, and like Shiki had said, they were all out of there by eleven forty.

Roxas flipped open his phone as he pulled into the apartment complex parking lot. He climbed out of his car, rubbing his head as he saw he had another missed call. He'd have to do well and remember to call tomorrow. He slowly made his way up to his apartment. He didn't even care to bother with a shower, simply stripping himself of his clothes and flopping in the bed before taking out his phone. He was off tomorrow at least. And he was convinced he'd spend the entire day sleeping in. With little thought, he let the phone drop to the floor before rolling to his side and letting himself go.

Let me know what you think about Roxas's butt so far. Intro chapter that combines the first and second old chapters. Not that it matters to anyone who wasn't here before- but I dropped Aqua for now, changed some of Roxas's inner thoughts, and tweaked Nam's intro a bit. Hope to see ya'll soon as I finish the next batch.

my favorite character in this story hasn't even showed up yet.