Warnings: Roxas being a bitch.

Pairing: Sora/Roxas

Sassy's Note: Eh… it's done. Nothing else I'd like to say.

Shoes

"I hate my life," Roxas muttered, leaning against the counter. This job was hardly worth the pay. Though, what more could expect from Payless?

A few giggling teenage girls in the back burst into new fits of giggles. Roxas glared in their direction. He hated this place. He hated shoes. He hated the mall. So why was he working here? He needed the money. End of story. College wasn't going to pay for itself, and his parents weren't paying for it either.

"Hey," one the teenage girls whispered, laying a rather large shoe box on the counter. Roxas, despite himself, smiled at her.

"Find everything alright, ma'am?" I hope you die.

"Oh yes. Everything just… fine." Yeah, I bet. Bitch, stop fluttering your eyelashes. You look like a crack baby.

"Good, that's good." Roxas rang up the box without even looking at what could possibly be in there. When she handed him the munny, her hand purposely ran over his. Touch me again, and I'll put those stilettos over there through your eye socket.

"There you go," Roxas chirped, hanging her the change. "Have a nice day." Have it elsewhere and never come in here again.

"Bye," she whispered in a dreamy voice, laying something on the counter. She and her friend breezed away, giggling as soon as they left the store. Roxas looked down at the counter and the little piece of paper she had left behind.

"As if," he snorted, snatching up the phone number and ripping it to shreds. "Bitch."

"You know, you're not very nice." Roxas jumped, sent the little shreds of paper flying through the air in alarm and nearly choked on his tongue. Standing beside the counter was a brunette boy with blue eyes to rival Roxas' own. He was grinning amusedly at him, hands locked behind his head.

"What?" Roxas snapped, gathering up the paper and dropping them one by one into the trashcan. The other boy's grin widened marginally.

"That's okay though. A lot of people go for the badass attitude."

Roxas stared incredulously at this strange newcomer. "Who are you?"

"The name's Sora!" He leaned forward to read the tag on the blond's chest. "Nice to meet you, Roxas."

Roxas gave a noncommittal grunt and picked up his Sudoku book again.

"Sooooo…" Sora traced his finger across the countertop. "If you're not interested in girls… perhaps you'd like to go out with me?"

Roxas instantly began choking again. Sora, with a chuckle and half a pirouette, dropped another slip of paper onto the counter and skipped away, out of Roxas sight back into the sea of mall goers. Roxas was so stunned for the rest of that day he left the slip the paper lying on the counter as he locked the store up, and it was only until the next afternoon he saw it again. Though the strange boy – Sora, was it? – kept surfacing in his mind.

"Hey, Roxas," Axel chuckled at him when Roxas walked into work. "You left this last night." He waved the paper through the air, smirking. "Another proposal? Who is she this time?"

"Nobody," Roxas growled, snatching Sora's number away from his best friend. He stuffed in his pocket unconcernedly and stalked off to clock into work.

When Axel joined him in the back, clocking out, the redhead idly commented, "You know, it really sucks that I work the morning shift. All I ever see are little old women."

"I'll trade with you any day."

"Ha, no thanks. While you may see all the horny girls in here in the afternoon, I get to go hang out with said horny girls every afternoon elsewhere."

Roxas snorted. "Yeah, too bad everyone thinks you're gay because of your stalker."

The redhead frowned. "Marluxia hasn't shown up around me in public for… five days."

"You sound like you're starting to like having him around, Axel…"

"No! He's still a creepy pervert, but he can be a nice enough guy."

"You were drunk, weren't you?" There was amusement in the blond's voice.

"No! Well… yes… but we just-"

"HEY!"

Roxas and Axel jumped and swiveled around. Their manager stood there, puffing up like an indignant badger. "You're not being paid to stand around like idiots. Roxas, to the front! And, Axel… get the hell out of here."

Axel saluted the silver-haired man. "Yes sir, Xem-man-a-man-man-nes!"

The corner's of Xemnas' mouth twitched as if he were trying not to smile. "I know how to get in touch with Marluxia, if you'd like me to him your address."

Axel beat it out of there fairly quickly after that, and Roxas – once again – took his place at the front counter.

Five hours later and the trashcan beside the counter was filled with countless numbers from countless teenage girls. Roxas was almost ready beat his brains out with a pair of boots. Next time he saw Xemnas, he was putting in his two weeks' notice.

"I hate this place…"

"Aww, c'mon. What's wrong with shoes?" There was that bouncing brunette again. Sora grinned at him, leaning on the side of the counter opposite Roxas. "Hiya!"

"Hi."

"You got my number yesterday, right? Cause I never got a call."

"I never intended to give you one."

Sora's smile did not waver. "Well you could always give me your number."

"No." Roxas could not believe he was having this conversation.

"Or I could wait for you to get off then we could go have a drink somewhere."

"I work until close. It's dark then, when kids like you should be asleep in bed."

Sora finally looked mildly offended. "I'm eighteen years old, thank you." Well, he was older than Roxas then. That was a surprise…

"Why are you here?" the blond snapped. He'd had enough of this. Sora winked at him.

"I like you."

"Well, I don't like you, and since I'm not allowed to tell customers to go away, I'll just be ignoring you now."

"Aww, come on. We'd make a fine couple." Roxas' back went rigid at that statement.

"Look, apart from the wrongness of that statement, maybe you haven't noticed the eerily detailed physical similarities between us. It'd look like… I dunno… twincest, or something."

Sora shrugged. "Don't care. I like you. We should go get some coffee tonight."

"Dude, please," Roxas said, sounding strained. "Leave me in peace. I'm not into guys. I'm not even into girls. I'm asexual."

"Ever gone out with a guy?"

"No."

"Ever gone out with a girl?"

"… no…"

Sora's grin stretched to epic proportions. "Then let me take you on your first date!"

"No!"

"I'll buy."

"No!" Roxas slammed his head down on the counter.

"Please?"

"No." The blond's voice was monotone.

"Please?"

"No."

"Just one date? I'll never ask you again, and if you don't like me I'll never speak to you again. Please?" Well, that was always a plus. And free coffee didn't sound bad, even if some lunatic bought it.

"… Fine. I close at nine."

Sora's lips quirked into a sweet little smile. Not that Sora was sweet. He was nothing but the devil. The devil offering Roxas free coffee. Wait…

"See you then, Roxykins!" The brunette did his little half-dance out of

It was at the point, when Roxas' blood began to boil at the nickname, that he regretted ever taking this job at Payless. He really hated shoes.

-end-

Sassy: In other news, I will never work at Payless. All the people there are either already mean or eventually turn mean. It's the shoes, I tell you!

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