"Fuck!" Larxene brought her finger to her mouth and sucked at where the elevator belt had pinched down on the skin. Laving the muscle over the broken flesh, she hissed at the pain and taste of blood. 'This is what I get for not turning it off sooner. At least it's better than that time I got burned on the motor.' Tightening the part back up with the screwdriver, she had finished the two o'clock repair.

Of course in about an hour, there would be a complaint that the Floor Three Escalator B was broken again and that she should do something about it, so she would take the missing part from Floor Two Escalator A up there and slide it into place. The cycle would repeat, and her boss would complain that, "Geez, is one of these things always broken?" Of course he knew that yes, one of them was always broken because two years ago when Larxene had decided higher education was for chumps, she had learned that for the past thirteen years, one of the escalators at the Park Springs Mall had been broken because Higher Metals had gone out of business and no other escalator repair company carried the parts she needed to properly repair the machines.

To combat this issue, she had been slyly shuffling the few parts between the six escalators, so that at any given time, it seemed that only on of their escalator was down instead of one single one all the time. It made sense to her. It made sense to the boss. It's what she got paid to do. "Larx, you have a work order put in from store 702, something about their lights not working." An employee from some mall stall peeked their head in her office and handed her the paper.

Putting out her cigarette, she stood and snatched the paper from the teen's hand, "Alright, thanks." Not really, it meant that she had to go fix some stupid electrical wiring and honestly she wasn't paid enough to do some electrician's job.

Larxene prided herself at being a babe. Hell, it wasn't easy to look this good. She worked hard. Not that Marluxia, her roommate (and maybe long time fuck-buddy-not-going-to-be-anything-more), ever noticed. 'Fuck him, he's an asshole anyways. He's so in love with his computer it's creepy.' The guy spent more time indoors working in the dimly lit room than she did at work, trying to bring home a paycheck for the two of them. 'I don't know why I don't just throw him out.' He never cooked, cleaned, or did anything remotely helpful around the house. 'Total waste of space.' Rolling up her sleeves, she headed off to the shop.

After work, she let down her hair and headed home. Another thing the blonde boasted was her ability to save money. By walking and not taking the bus, she could save an extra sixty- five bucks a month. Sure it was a hike, but again, how else was she supposed to get in her exercise? Unlocking the door to her ranch style house when she got home, Larxene called out to see if Marluxia was still alive, "You here?"

"Always." At least he hadn't passed out from the heat, the asshat.

Throwing her keys and bag down, she grunted, "What do you want for dinner?"

"Whatever you want to make." He answered back.

Honestly.

It wasn't as if Marluxia didn't bring in any money, though. He did, even if it was in a way that Larxene hated. "Did you do anything productive today?" She always sounded like she was whining around him, ugh. 'Grow up, Larxene. Big girls don't cry.'

"Brought home the bacon." Cry. Cry. Cry. Why wasn't he coming out of his room?

Are you okay? Were you hurt? Did you do anything I need to worry about? Who did you sell a part of your soul to today? "Do you want me to fix it?" Lines, this was all rehearsed. This was a stage, and the words were a double entendre every single time. Do you want me to fix it? Do you want me to fix you?

She wasn't paid enough to be a nurse.

Or a therapist.

Or a maid.

Or an accomplice in a crime of this magnitude.

"Can you come on out to eat?" Her words were strong and demanding like she tried to be. An iron woman, that's what she thought herself. There were no tears because tears caused rust.

She was invincible.

When the pink haired man emerged from the part of the house that they both recognized as his, she bit the inside of her cheek, "How much?"

"A couple thousand. It was only a vile." Marluxia's voice was rich and smooth. He could have been a con-man or a lawyer with a voice like that.

Checking him over, she rolled her eyes, "Alright. That'll let us catch up on the house payments." Wish some old place in a neighborhood as crappy as this didn't break their bank, but it had to do. "I guess I'll do pasta." It was too near the end of the month for there to be meat in the sauce, but food was food. Pasta was always cheap yet filling.

Marluxia pulled out a chair, "Sounds good." He had started picking at his skin again. She saw the marks before he pulled down his sleeve to hide it from her. Looking up, he knew he was caught. She was the judge and the verdict was guilty.

"That's an ugly habit." She grumbled, slapping his hand away from the hem of his sleeve.

He snorted, "You know I'll just fix them up later."

"Just because you make nanomachines, doesn't mean you should use them to fix every little problem." Larxene hissed.

The man's grip on the chair tightened, "And so what if I do, huh?" His eyes challenged her for a long moment, "You won't do anything. We all know who runs this pony show."

Her face twisted up in a snarl, "I hate you."

"Then why are you still here?"

Sometimes Larxene wondered if Marluxia was actually an AI, his emotions were cold, hard, calculated. The way he treated her was as if he knew she'd never leave. They were caustic to each other. Burning, tearing, scratching. The sex was rough; the words were sharper. Pulling away like she had been slapped, the blonde moved to the stove.

They stood there in the dim light like that for a while. Listening to the water boil.

"I'm sorry." He didn't mean it. "I'm sorry. I'll make this up to you, Larxene. Why don't we go somewhere on your day off, baby?" Baby, he was sweet talking now. Fucker.

"Where?" Couldn't afford to go somewhere nice, but she had been baited.

"They're having that AI competition. Riku and the little twerps will be down there. They got like, some art garden thing. I can cook." He was digging deep now for something. They both could tell, "I'll make a picnic. There will be kids there." He knew that she didn't even like Riku. She didn't like any of his clients or friends, but she did like kids. She loved kids.

Larxene bit her lip, leaving him on the edge for as long as possible, "Alright." She snorted, "I'll go."

Marluxia was wise not to sigh in relief, "That's my girl." He padded over slowly to where she was standing. His bare feet stuck to the tile in that clammy way, and the pink haired man slipped his long arms around her, pulling the blonde against his body. "Larxene, you're my everything, baby girl. I need you." He whispered soft into her ear before kissing her cheek.

Lies. Lies. Lies.

Artificial.

No one in this city had time for anyone but themselves. Least of all love.

I had a lot of fun writing this! Review :D