Why is this happening to me?

 J didn't want to be full of envy, but he couldn't help it. After all, Stevie got to wear more fashionable clothes than he did. J had to cover his hair with a cap and wear a uniform that didn't do much for his figure. Funny, how this never mattered until now.

"Well, who do you have to impress?" Stevie wanted to know. Besides, he thought the black polo and dark pants weren't that awful. "You'll get grease on your clothes anyway. It would be a waste to wear them there." But even the shoes were under strict regulations. It wasn't until then that Stevie noticed just how chunky J's feet were.

"I know you're on your feet a lot," Stevie took the industrial sneakers off J's feet who sat at the foot of the bed as if he couldn't wait to nap. 

Stevie went to look in his parent's closet. All the while J complained, "You get to have fun." He pouted.

"I have to entertain," Stevie clarified as he dug through the floor of shoes.

"People are always ..being.." J was too tired to talk about it.

"You knew it would be this way," Stevie turned back to him. "It's just the way it is. You've got to find a way to want to be there or, or it won't work. How will you ever get to that job that you actually want?" He made it sound like life's goals were just baby steps and it was up to you to find the joy of it. J sighed back sleepy-eyed. He was going nowhere very fast.

Stevie came back with a pair of cushioned work sneakers. They looked brand new. Of course, he rubbed J's socked feet and J was certain he could be in dreamland in seconds. Before he knew it, Stevie slipped on the shoes and tied them.

"My father never gives anything away," Stevie said these were probably too wide for his feet.

J shook his head. He could definitely use them. 

"Maybe you need vitamins," Stevie suggested. He plopped next to J. "Don't eat the bread nor the fries there. You need more veg."

"Oh," J yawned. He felt certain Stevie was asking for a lot out of him, Nobody had ever talked this much about health. Not where he came from. He'd grown up on Ramen noodles and MacDonalds.