(I've been tweaking this story for about a week. The themes and other elements got changed during the process but this wound up being in character yet interesting... maybe. I dunno, it was still sort of rushed but better than it was a week ago. xP

You all need to write some Zero fics. He is awesome. And why Rage is in this, I'm not sure... part of one of those things I changed while writing this fanfic. Still, I guess they're two of the most different people on the game and that's what interests me. ^^;

As with any guy/guy fic I've written, this is not intended to be romance, in case anyone thought it would be, for some reason. o_o;

For the record, unless this was made obvious or deemed false by Konami and I missed it, I simply believe DDR X takes place in America, or at least some place that isn't Japan. Rage moved there in SuperNOVA and I don't recall him moving back to Japan since... also, Yuni's mansion is (likely) in New York. However, please correct me if I'm wrong. ^^;

Enjoy~)

On a usual day, Rage would take a bus to the busy city and set up his stand for business in the morning.

It wasn't normal, however, that the passengers would grow just a little silent after a person came on board. While many failed to notice this person, others' conversations faded to whispers. Rage sat up to look over his seat and instantly recognized the jacket covered in faux fur heading his way. Zero found a seat across the aisle and completely ignored everyone else, keeping his frustrated eyes shut. His arms were crossed and he tapped his finger against his left arm impatiently. Not taking his stress into consideration, Rage made the mistake of blurting out a rather rude greeting...

"Whoa, you come out during the day?"

Zero growled, which was actually pretty rare for him. Rage backed away from him. Zero glared through the side of his face at the slightly frightened man. "I have to make a living. Even a fry cook would relate to that."

"Hey, it was a joke," he argued, offended. "What's a rich guy like you doing on a public bus anyway?"

"My vehicle isn't working," he muttered simply, briefly swishing his hair out of his now closed eyes.

"Uh. Is that why you're just a little more bitter than usual?" Rage asked.

"You're talkative today," Zero told him, not answering his question. "Leave me alone."

"Geez, you don't have to get angry about it," Rage mumbled. "Riding the bus isn't so bad."

The silver-haired man sighed. "Some people can make it a bad experience," Zero stated, becoming annoyed. He crossed his legs and slightly tightened his body.

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Rage demanded, assuming that was Zero's was of telling him to shut up.

Zero took a second to come up with a simple reply. "No, it isn't," he answered indifferently. He pointlessly flipped some hair away from his right eye again only to have most of it flow back into place.

Rage was confused. He didn't want to pry, and he certainly wasn't the kind of person who would in the first place. He leaned back into his seat and stared forward. His seat was somewhat in the back of the bus, and the front was somewhat crowded. People were chattering to each other and teenagers were on their phones. A few people were giving odd looks to the back, toward Rage. Or so he thought.

Rage couldn't figure out what was wrong, for a while. Zero was human (to some people) and probably felt some emotions when they weren't around, but nothing ever seemed to bother him. This one ride on the bus irked him more than Jenny's constant pleas to make him a model, and it wasn't making sense.

But he caught onto it. He remembered when he first came to America. Not knowing anyone besides his friends from Japan made it hard to fit in. Even if they weren't close friends, Rage was the only person Zero knew there, and the only person who knew that he wasn't as scary as he looked. Rage certainly thought he was kind of a jerk, but he wasn't afraid of him.

Referring back to the current situation, Zero slouched and aimed his face toward the floor. His eyebrows had apparently given up on looking angry and his face looked much calmer than slightly curled pose was. He seemed like he tried to forget he was even on the bus and was lost in his own thoughts. Rage wondered if he'd even notice when it stopped.

"So... when's your stop?" Rage asked curiously.

Zero said nothing for a moment. "It'll come when it comes," he replied quietly. His eyebrows furrowed again.

Rage leaned back in his seat. "You know," he started, "you don't have to stress out over the people here." He waited for some kind of response, but got nothing. "It's not like they're gonna remember you, anyway."

"I find that hard to believe," Zero interrupted. "I developed a reputation amongst you and your friends the first day I got here."

"That's 'cause you're a good dancer," Rage said, as if it was obvious. "But my point is, don't... think about what these people here think of you. They don't matter too much."

Zero smirked. "Are you going to follow that up with something overused speech about friendship?"

"Erm," Rage suddenly felt like he would've been better off not saying anything. Was that half-smile an accomplishment or a mistake? With Zero, you could never be sure...

Rage looked out the window and realized that he needed to get off soon. He pushed a button to signal his stop, and the bus slowed. He stood up, a little faster than usual, carrying some items, and decided to say good bye.

"Well... see you, Zero," he said a little reluctantly. Zero opened his eyes as Rage spoke, but closed them again a few seconds later, not even looking at his face.

Rage groaned and walked out of the bus, gently pushing through the small crowd of passengers. He stepped off and slowed his pace after the bus sped away behind him. "So much for being nice..."

"Eager to get rid of me?"

Rage jumped at the eerie voice behind him and turned around. He didn't expect Zero to follow him out. The man still had his cool and emotionless expression as he looked straight at Rage.

"How was I supposed to know you were getting off here?" Rage asked angrily.

Zero looked to his left, avoiding eye contact before his next statement.

"You know of the hospital around here, right?"

Rage sighed. Again, Zero ignored his question. "Yeah, why?"

He flipped some of his hair to hide his face and spoke with a hint of embarrassment. "Where is it?"

Of course he'd have to ask. He'd only been here for about a week or two. "It's uh... up that street," Rage answered, pointing to his left. "Then you go right when you get to that Italian restaurant, and you'll see it if you keep going straight. It's pretty far but-"

"All right, then." Zero began walking away before Rage finished his sentence.

Rage blinked. "Hey! Don't I get a 'thank you' or something?"

His "friend" hesitated, but then proceeded to his destination. Rage let out an irritated sigh as he walked the opposite direction to his stand, unaware that Zero did faintly say "thanks" before he left.

(The ending could've been better, and I was almost gonna make Zero nice to Rage, but... that's so not Zero-like. xP Review but perhaps more importantly, go write DDR chara fics~ They need luff~)