A/N: Ahhh more combined content

The buzzing was louder than any sound he could possibly imagine at the moment, and as he reached for the phone on the nightstand, he almost wished an explosion had been his wake up call instead. At least then he would have felt some genuine urgency in having to wake up. Finally getting a hold of the phone, he pulled in his arm, knocking his watch and wallet off the table with little care as he flipped it open and lazily put it to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"That's a rude way to answer the phone, Roxas," the voice on the line scolded him, causing him to roll his eyes and run his hand over his face in exasperation. "Still in bed?"

"Yeah," he replied shortly before yawning and draping his arm over his face as he attempted to gather his thoughts. "What did mom want?"

She scoffed, and he heard her click her tongue before replying, "I think she just wanted to know if you had Brother's fishing rod, but he found it. The dork had it hidden out behind the garage."

"Good deal," he muttered through another yawn, "So what did you want?"

"Just checking on you. You hadn't called this week so I didn't know if something was wrong or –"

"I've been busy," He cut her off and rubbed at his temples before pulling the phone back from his ear to check the time. Groaning, he put it back into the nestled spot between his ear and shoulder, "School's been shitty. Work's been shitty."

"Oh Roxas…"

She sounded so disappointed, he thought. But it wasn't her place to, so he quickly amended his words. "But it's gotten better the past few days, got class tomorrow morning, and I don't have to go into work until five, plenty of time to get caught up."

"Why not today?"

"What about today?"

She giggled lightly, "Do your work, Roxas."

He smiled in spite of himself, yawning before slowly sitting up, "I will, I'll call you next week alright?" He was ready for this to be over, he loved his sister, but he didn't like her worrying over him.

"Alright, I love you!"

"You too Rikku," he snapped the phone shut, tossing it lightly to the end of the bed before looking around at the small room.

He sat there for a few moments, staring at his feet when the noises from his stomach caused him to clench his sides. It was only ten o'clock, and he briefly considered scooting down to the shops before they stopped selling breakfast. Yeah right, he thought, letting out a puff of air before swinging his feet to the floor. He looked around the dimly lit room before walking over to a pile of clothes, pulling out two mismatched socks and slowly sliding them onto his feet.

He rested his palms on his thighs as he sat down on the bed again, looking around. He knew he wasn't going to go out for breakfast; he was much too tired to even worry over food. But he didn't want to sit around and have to do school work either.

"What do I even have to do…" He muttered, flopping back on his back he twisted around to grab at his backpack he had slung against the wall on the other side of the bed. Pulling the heavy bag off the floor, he sat up crossing his legs underneath him as he dug through its contents to try and find his notebook. Finally finding the small book nestled between his world religion text book and some binder he never used, he flipped it open to where he had the latest page of scribbles.

He groaned as he looked at the small "list" he had made Friday before he left campus, there wasn't much in terms of quantity, but he had a 12 page research paper due in a matter of hours that he hadn't even started, not to mention about eighty pages to read for another class. So much for doing any of that, he quickly slid the books and the bag back to the floor where they had stayed during the weekend, rolling off the bed.

He stood in the middle of the room, his hip resting against his bed post, "Guess I'll go see Axel."

He snatched what he hoped was a clean pair of boxers from his dresser and sifted through the clothes on the floor for a pair of shorts before shuffling to the restroom to shower.

"Well, well, what a pleasant surprise, my good old friend Roxas, come from his roost to mingle with the other morning glories, what do I owe the pleasure of your presence at such an early hour, my grace?"

"You're lit already, aren't you?" Roxas placed a hand on the older man's chest, shoving him gently as he moved through the doorway. Axel let out a repressed giggle of sorts before shutting the door after him, following the blonde to the sofa where they sat down. "I need something to do."

Axel threw his hands in the air in a quick shrug like gesture before reaching towards the coffee table and grabbing a bag of chips. Reaching and grabbing a handful, he stuffed them in his mouth before offering the bag to Roxas. The blonde shook his head but reached in and grabbed a handful himself, instead choosing to eat them one at a time.

"I go'ha go inna bih," Axel said through a mouthful of chips, crunching loudly as he shook the bag up and tilted it to his mouth to just feed out of.

"One of those days where I actually wish I was working," Roxas muttered, though there wasn't much truth in that statement, he was bored sure, but he was glad to have a Sunday off. It was a rare occasion and he was actually glad of it.

Finally with his mouth clear of all the chips, Axel picked up the rolled up smoke that had been resting on an ashtray and let it rest between his lips as he looked at Roxas, "Why not go out then man? Heard Tifa's been hittin' it off with you lately, eh?" He elbowed the teen in the shoulder repeatedly as he waggled his eye brows.

Roxas shoved his elbow away before narrowing his eyes, "Where'd you hear something like that?" It was true he had been hanging out with the busty bartender as of late, but really he thought of her more as a friend than he did anything else. She liked to drink and she was easy to talk to.

"From the horse's mouth herself," Axel took a long drag before speaking again, "She was talkin' to uh'… Shit, what's her name? The newer girl," He waved his free hand around in wide circles, "K…Kuu…Kai…"

"Uh…" He had no idea what name the red head was looking for, instead he decided it best to switch tracks before Axel's brain train derailed in attempts of coming up with imaginary waitresses. "So you talked to Larxene, lately?"

Axel's hand slapped down, his eyes lighting up, "Yeah man, she's great, I think we're gonna get like, you know pretty serious soon. I think she's…"

Roxas pretty much tuned out whatever Axel was going off on. He was head over heels for this chick and it was a bit annoying at times to have to listen to. Especially when Roxas found Larxene to be such a bitch, there wasn't a meeting the three had shared where she had picked at him for something pointless. But if Axel was happy, there was little Roxas would do to step in between it.

The two idly chatted until Axel had to get ready for work, and then Roxas went home to gather up some clothes to his the laundry mat. He decided he'd do at least something semi-productive today.

He reached his apartment, going inside to dig around his jean pockets for some quarters until he had enough for a few loads, and if he was lucky, a snack from the vending machine. Making sure he grabbed his work clothes, he balled up a few more things to toss in a small plastic basket before heading down the street to the mat.

For a Sunday, the place was pretty empty; the only other person being an older woman who was doing what seemed to be piles upon piles of towels. Scratching at his face, he walked to the farthest one and began loading his clothes in before inserting the change. Once he had two loads going, he tossed the basket beside a chair, plopping down in it and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

He realized he hadn't brought anything with him to pass the time, hell, he didn't even have his phone. Sighing, he leaned his head back and shut his eyes, figuring he could just try and relax for an hour or so.

He was vaguely aware of hands over his eyes, at least he assumed that's what it was that had woken him up. He blinked a few times, raising his head and wincing as he did so. That had not been the ideal position for his neck.

"Boo," A soft voice spoke into his ear, causing him to arch a brow against their hand.

Not in the mood for whoever was breathing down his neck, he rose to his feet, making the hands fall from his eyes. He turned to see the blonde girl from the Tower last night with her hands behind her back, smiling.

"Nice seeing you again." She offered warmly when a few moments of silence had passed. The older lady that was in here before was long gone.

"Uh, yeah…" He ran a hand over his eyes before turning away from her to look at the two machines he had stuck his clothes in. He mindlessly opened one and felt to see if it was dry before pulling them all out and walking over to where he had tossed the basket. Righting it with his foot, he dropped the clothes before returning for the other load. The whole time she just stood rocking on her toes, her short skirt riding up her thighs every time she moved forward. "Do you need something?"

She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout before nodding her head towards his basket of laundry. "Aren't you going to fold it?"

He shook his head before picking up the basket and heading for the exit. He hadn't been able to tell in the light of the restaurant, but he could clearly see now that she was young. And no matter how pretty she was, nowadays, it was enough to put up red flags for him.

"Hey," She grabbed onto the back of his shirt, furrowing her brows in confusion as he tried to walk past her, "What's your issue?"

"I don't know you," He replied simply, shrugging out of her hold only for her to grab on again.

"Hey," she protested loudly, jerking him to a stop before moving in front of him and extending out her hand, "I'm Naminé."

He shook his head, letting her hand meet nothing but air. "Look, I've got a lot to do today, so, it was nice meeting you but, I need to get goin'." What the hell was even up with this girl?

"Fine, whatever then," She pulled her hand back to her chest, dropping her other arm and moving to the other side of the laundry mat where she sat in front of a unit, her legs crossed to mirror her arms. He wasn't great at understanding women at all, but he knew that was clearly body language for pissed off.

Roxas sighed, torn between just leaving and apologizing. He stood there a few moments before calling across the large room, "M'Roxas, I'll see you 'round." He didn't bother waiting for a reply, she had made it clear she didn't care to give him one, but he at least felt better knowing he had returned a common courtesy of presenting his name to her.

He honestly just hoped that'd be the first and last time he was attacked in a laundry mat. Within a few minutes he was standing in the lobby of the apartment, balancing the basket against the wall as he spun the combo for his P.O. box. He slid the stack of envelopes out of the cubicle and into his basket, slamming it shut and locking it before heading out the building again and up the stairs along the side.

He didn't need to look down to know what he had gotten. Credit card statements, student loan statements, phone bill, car insurance; hell the only thing he wasn't getting slammed for was his apartment, which he had always prioritized since he could pay it just down the stairs.

Shuffling his feet, he slowly opened the door to his apartment, tossing the basket to the side and scooping the envelopes off the top. He walked into the kitchen/den and sat them on the arm of the single armchair he owned before falling back into it himself. He slowly lifted the stack before crinkling his nose and tossing it onto the small round table beside him.

Not today.

Weeks passed, and the more Roxas avoided it, the more he realized that he had a serious issue. He sat at the small round table that served as a dining area in his apartment as he stared hard at the piles of papers and envelopes he had tossed around. What the hell was he supposed to do?

He tried to calm down his thoughts, beginning to sort the piles between things he knew he could pay, things he couldn't pay now and finally things he just figured he could put off a bit longer. But the more organized he tried to get over it, and the more times he tried to cycle out his paycheck evenly to each thing, he realized he'd have to take a very different route to this.

Sighing, he cast a glance at the clock on the far wall, making sure he had enough time to get down to the university. Halfheartedly, he stood and hesitated before walking to his bedroom to put on clothes. He skipped his classes that morning, not having the work done, again, embarrassed him enough to where he didn't want to have to face the scrutiny of the professors when he didn't hand in a paper or partake in a discussion.

Why even go at this point, he thought? What was the point in wasting money on classes when he wasn't taking them seriously anyway? He had only gone to school in the first place to prove his mother wrong; and so far that wasn't really looking up in his favor. He grabbed his keys off the kitchen counter before exiting the apartment and headed towards the university to drop his classes.

Roxas yawned as he walked into work, walking past the dinner hostess with little more than a wave. He didn't even care enough to see who it was. His decision was weighing heavy on his chest, and even though he felt he had made the right one, part of him was saying otherwise.

Shuffling to the back of the restaurant, he clocked in and tossed his jacket into the back office on the rack with all the others. He was glad for the rain today; it was fitting to his mood and also was a nice cool off from the summer heat. However rain was not good for business, and that meant the night would go by painstakingly slow. Hopefully the few people that did trickle in would feel generous when tipping.

With a slight jump in his step at that thought, he made his way back to the front of the restaurant, leaning over the girl at the hostess stand to see what section he had for the night. He placed a hand on her shoulder to keep himself balanced and then grinned. He had the other half of the smoking section with Tifa.

"Get off," The hostess shrugged his hand off her shoulder, turning around to face him with a frown. "You didn't even say hello when you came in."

"I was wet," He offered with a small smile, holding up his hands in mock defeat. He let his hands fall to his side before he reached up and smacked the bun on her head with a grin, "What the hell is that?"

"I can't deal with you being up here all night," She huffed, swatting his hand away before crossing her arms. He smirked, poking her side causing her to slap and grab his wrist, "Roxas!"

He gently pried his arm out of her grip before chuckling and backing away. She rolled her eyes, blowing a stray strand of her auburn hair out of her face before turning back around to the door as a couple walked in. Shaking his head, he crossed the short distance from the entrance to the bar, leaning against the counter as he looked up at the televisions. It was always too loud to hear what was going on, but the channels were tuned to the sports network and to the news.

His eyes narrowed as he tried to better his vision to read the small headlines scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Instead he was smacked in the forehead with one of the menus, causing him to let out a cry of protest as he covered his face with his hands.

"I saw what you were doing," her light voice scolded him, "Give this back to her and don't harass her this time."

Roxas looked through his fingers at the bartender, scowling at her as he snatched the menu from her outstretched hand. He turned and walked back to the hostess stand, poking the girl's side to move her out of the way so he could slide the menu back into its cubby.

"Roxas, I swear to—" He didn't even let her finish before turning and walking back to the bar to lean over the counter again.

He glared at Tifa as she smiled at him from the other side of the counter, a glass in her hand that she was busy "cleaning". Really she was just running the cloth around the rim because she had absolutely nothing else to do. "You really shouldn't pick at her, ya know. Goin' to give that poor girl the wrong impression."

Roxas scoffed, rolling his eyes as he looked over his shoulder at the redhead, "Who, Kairi?" Tifa nodded and he shook his head in response, "I don't think so." He simply replied, shrugging. And he knew for a fact that his constant teasing wasn't an issue. She had been here for almost a month now and hadn't suspected anything from him. At least from what he could tell.

Tifa shrugged, replacing the glass in her hand with another one. She turned her attentions to the three televisions above her, arching a brow as she watched the one with the news. Shaking her head, she looked over her shoulder at Roxas. "I can't believe that's really starting to be an issue…" She muttered. Roxas mimicked her facial expression, looking up at the television with a confused look.

"Issue of what?"

Tifa chuckled softly, turning to face him. "Can you really not see the screen, Roxas?" Her eyes showed slight concern, though it was mostly masked by her amusement. "Have you thought about glasses?"

He blushed; leaning away and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Ain't got the money, right now." She nodded, giving him a look of pity before turning away from him again. "Do you know any place that's hiring?"

She gave him her full attention again, her brows knit together in confusion, "Thinking of leaving me, Roxas?" She teased slightly, though the frown she wore was genuine. "What's wrong?"

He couldn't help but to smile at her in return, "I just… I need another job," He admitted, placing his arms on the counter to wring them in front of him. He noted her expression and continued, "In addition to this one, not just, this one, you know?"

"You don't have the time to work two jobs, Roxas." She chastised him, shaking her head and folding her arms, "How's school? Axel said you were having a hard time. I can help you study, if you need it."

Roxas winced at the subject, quickly putting on a grin and putting his hands up in defense, "That's what I need, the bartender teaching me fractals." She narrowed her eyes at his teasing, picking up a straw from the holder she had on the other side of the counter and throwing it at him. The projectile fell short, landing on the counter.

"I worry about you, Roxas." There it was again. One thing that always unnerved him about talking to Tifa was her way to worm into anything. All she had to do was say his name enough and he let his guard down. She was staring at him, a weird look upon her face as he tried to keep eye contact. "And for your information, I can compute partial fraction integrals."

"What does that even mean…" Tifa chuckled at his response, shaking her head once more and turning away to walk back to the kitchen.

He felt a jab in his side, causing him to squirm and shove his body against the stools against the bar, nearly causing a domino effect. He gripped the counter, turning to see Kairi motioning towards a booth with her thumb. "It means you have a table." He groaned tossing his head back in a childish manner before gently shoving Kairi out of the way, however before he could move past her she grabbed his sleeve jerking him to a stop, "Do you know her? She asked for your section."

Roxas narrowed his eyes in confusion as he stared at Kairi for a few moments before leaning around her to look at the booth near the entrance. He resisted the urge to face palm as he took note of the girl sitting there. It was Naminé. Instead he gently brought his hand to rest on his forehead as he straightened, "I can't deal with this tonight."

"Is she your girlfriend?" Kairi teased, leaning close. He promptly put a hand over her face, pushing her away from him. She squealed as she grabbed his arm, removing his hand and glaring at him. "What was that for!?" Roxas pulled out of her hold, choosing to ignore Kairi as he walked over to the table with a frown.

She had been staring intently at the menu for a while now, and he hoped she was oblivious to the commotion the redhead was attempting to cause on the other side of the bar. He leaned up against the wooden cabinet that separated the booth from the hostess stand, staring down at her. What the hell was she doing here?

He knew however, he couldn't be rude, not here. With his luck he'd choose to approach the conversation casually and she'd complain to Joshua about his "attitude" towards her. So instead he went with the mantra.

"Hey how's it goin', I'm Roxas, I'll be your server, and can I start you off with something to drink?" He said it in one breath, not wanting to toy around. The faster he got her order, the sooner she'd eat and the sooner she'd leave.

She looked up at him over the menu with an arched brow, slowly letting the menu lie against the tabletop. She clasped her hands together, and leaned back in the booth before blowing out a bit of air. "Water."

She opened her mouth to speak again, but he didn't give her time to say anything else before darting back towards the drink machine and the kitchen. Sighing as he reached the back, he grabbed a glass from the rack and stuck it under the drink machine, slowly letting the machine crank out ice and then finally water. He let up on the tab a bit, casting a few glances over his shoulder until he spotted Tifa at the window of the kitchen. She was busy chatting it up with Zack, one of the cooks, and he waved at her trying to get her attention.

Tifa held up a finger to Zack before walking over to him with a smile, "What's up, friend? Someone at the bar?" He shook his head, and she spoke before he could tell her, "Then what is it?"

"I have a problem."

"Oh?"

"Yes "oh"," he frowned, craning his neck towards the other side of the restaurant, "There's this gir-"

She held up a hand, smirking and turning away from him briefly before just walking back to the window. She cast him one last glance, "You're a big boy, Roxas," and then turned her attention fully back to Zack.

Roxas huffed, walking out from behind the drink area to shuffle back across the restaurant with the drink. When he reached the booth, he noticed she had switched sides and was now facing the bar and the rest of the smoking section. Hesitating, he slowly walked over and sat her drink down.

"Know what you want ma'am?" He said with as much pep as he could, shooting her a smile as he stood opposite of her.

She snorted, quickly covering it up with a giggle. "No, this is fine," She returned the gesture before picking up the glass and sipping it. "Ma'am…" She muttered, "Where are you even from?" Arching a brow, he slowly lowered the writing pad in his hands and just stared at her. "What? Oh. I'm not hungry."

Then what the hell are you doing at a restaurant in the rain? He shook his head before moving to walk past her and beeline for the back again. She grabbed the apron around his waist, causing him to freeze up and look down at her, only for her hand to quickly retreat.

"It's not like you have another table, so let's talk?" Roxas let out a low puff of air as his eyes darted around. He needed out of this. But neither Kairi nor Tifa were up here for him to remotely even pretend they needed him. Sighing, he backtracked a bit and sat on the edge of the booth across from her.

He squirmed in his seat slightly as she looked him over, a smile slowly forming on her face. "You're really weird," he finally said, breaking the silence of her scrutiny.

She didn't reply to his comment, shrugging it off and instead leaning forward, "What do you do besides your laundry once a month and working here?"

"Uh…why?" Maybe weird wasn't a strong enough word here.

"You look stressed."

"That's because I am stressed."

"Yeah, but why?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, not really liking the twenty questions game she was so intent on playing. She just continued to stare and smile at him, waiting for an answer. "How old are you?"

"I'm old enough," Her tone was no longer playful like before, and it seemed he had hit a sore spot. "How old are you?"

"I'm eighteen. Now what's with the third degree?" If he was going to get slammed with questions, he was going to at least know the damn reason why. "And answer me this time, or I'm done."

She huffed slightly, crossing her arms as she averted her eyes briefly, looking like she was almost reconsidering what came out of her mouth next, "I was wondering… If you'd go somewhere with me."

Roxas arched a brow, his gaze never leaving hers as he slowly responded, "Go somewhere with you?"

"I need you to help me do something." Okay. But why him? She seemed to predict his question, continuing as she shifted in her seat, "I just- I really don't have anyone else to go with me and I don't know who else to ask."

"So you pick some random guy at a bar?" He stated simply, shaking his head and moving to get up again.

"No look, you don't even have to stay. Just, get me in, and I'll be fine from there." She reached across the table and grabbed his shirt, "Please, I need to get in." Get in? Get in to what?!

Roxas shrugged her off, shooting her a glare, "I don't even know you, what the hell is your problem?" He stood finally, standing over her as he tried not to raise his voice and draw attention to them. "Are you insane?" His whispered harshly, gesturing to himself, "Why does this matter so much?"

She shook her head, and clasped her hands in front of her, "Please, just do this one thing and I swear I'll leave you alone after this, okay? I swear. "She stuck out her pinky finger, only to receive an incredulous look from Roxas. "Come on, pinky swear."

He stared at her for a few moments before groaning and locking his finger with hers, causing her to grin madly as she slid out of the booth. She grabbed her purse, taking out a few dollars and tossing them on the table before making to leave. She stopped before she reached the door, turning to look at him like she had the night they met, "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist. Meet me here Friday night, okay? Don't be working!"

And with that she was gone. Roxas slid back into the booth, letting his head rest in his hands. He had no idea what the fuck he was agreeing to. There was something seriously wrong with that girl. But there was something even more wrong with him for agreeing. He let out another sigh as he stood, gathering up the menu, barely touched glass, and the five dollars she had left him. What the hell had he gotten himself into?