"I can't believe they did this to me." Roxas mumbled as he slumped dismally in the back of the bus.

Yeah, okay. So he'd totally fucked up his grades. So he'd gotten in with the 'wrong' crowd… fuck, why not, it was where he belonged. So he'd done a monster doobie, some mushrooms and then had an orgy with Hayner, Olette and a bunch of people he couldn't remember. He'd ended up on his parents porch wrapped in a blanket with twigs in his hair and had to get tested for STD's which had miraculously come out clean. Well, he was young. What was wrong with that?

A lot according to his parents. Roxas was disgusted. He'd grown up all by himself with a cat for company, basically. What in hell did they expect would happen? He'd been smoking blunts since he was ten and they hadn't seemed to notice. But oh, can't let the grades go! And can't have any hint he might be bi or gay. That was just horrible you know. So off he went to Christian boot camp.

"Fuck them." Roxas hissed. He stewed in resentment for a moment then sighed. Roxas didn't have any choice in the matter. He was only seventeen and hadn't a dime to his name. He was on a one way trip to a special 'camp' for troubled teens. The one thing his parents had a load of was money and this was a very exclusive camp that promised results. Apparently they'd make him into everything his parents wanted although it might take an entire year. Roxas wanted to see how they were going to do that. He knew he was never, ever going to change.

The bus dropped him off at a remote little stop in front of a diner. Roxas looked around, frowning. He'd been told someone from the camp would be here to pick him up but the only person there was someone who could not be from a fundamentalist Christian camp! A hot redheaded guy wearing an outfit that would have given his teachers a heart attack, let alone the pastor. Roxas swallowed hard as he looked the man over. He was wearing low rise jeans with an ornate and surely non-functional belt, a tight black t-shirt that revealed an expanse of very toned stomach and black leather cuffs on his wrists. The tattoos on his face and four piercings in each ear just completed the impression of a complete badass. Of course, the wrapping might not mean much. Roxas had known complete pussies who –

Roxas swallowed again as the boy walked towards him and decided that this man wasn't a pussy. He moved with complete confidence and a grace that Roxas bet owed a lot to martial arts training. There was something about him that seemed to say I can fuck you up if I want to Roxas. Then he suddenly blinked as he realized the shirt had a logo on it, stitched in white. St. Jude's Camp.

"Hey there. Would you be Roxas?" The man was looking at a picture dubiously and Roxas knew why. He'd TOLD his family not to send that idiotic Christmas card picture but they hadn't listened. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered to talk. It was such a waste of breath.

"Uh, y – yes. Who are you?" Roxas hated his stammer and hated even more the grin the guy gave him. It was definitely an 'I know why you stuttered there' look.

"I'm Axel, the guy everyone loves to hate. Come right this way to my rolling torture chamber." Axel waved a hand and Roxas followed the gesture to a van. If it hadn't been for the logo on the side he'd have been very worried. It looked like something pedobear would buy. "I have candy." Roxas snorted and took a quick glance at the paper Axel was holding. Yes, that was definitely the e-mail he'd sent to his parents. This might be weird as hell but it was legitimate.

"It better not be gumballs. I hate gumballs." Roxas grumbled as he slid into the front seat of the van. Axel laughed and took his seat, firing up the van and whistling as he peeled out onto the road. "Hey, watch the speed limit!"

"I'm watching. I just don't care." Axel said with a smile and Roxas sighed to himself. At least he redhead seemed to be a good driver even if he was easily doing thirty over the limit.

"What's a guy like you doing working for a Christian camp for kids with problems?" Roxas abruptly asked. Why pussyfoot around it? Axel glanced at him with an amused look before looking back at the road.

"Are you judging me by appearances Roxas? That's not a very Christian thing to do." Axel said mockingly and Roxas scowled at him.

"Sure it is." Axel gave him a surprised glance. "Why else do people dress up to go to church on Sunday? And doesn't the bible say that the body is a temple and shouldn't be defaced?" Roxas was pretty sure that was in there somewhere.

"Roxy, you have to remember that the bible was written a long time ago and it was basically done by committee. A bunch of little stories that got shoved together to make a whole. But if you look at things historically I don't think they were referring to piercings and tats when they came up with that. I think they were talking more about, um, what's it called." Axel seemed to be struggling to find a word. "Nutting?"

"Nut… oh. Castration." Roxas filled in the blank. Axel nodded enthusiastically.

"That's the one! And I tell you, I do not want that part of my temple defiled." Roxas couldn't help but laugh at that and admired Axel for a moment. The redhead was smoking hot and had a sense of humor. Not at ALL what he'd been expecting. Still…

"You haven't answered my question though. What is it you do at a Christian camp?" He asked and Axel grinned.

"Eh, got me. I'm the gym teacher." That, Roxas could actually see. "I also teach martial arts and horseback riding." That he could see even more. He tried to picture Axel in a western saddle, in flannel, jeans and boots. That worked. "And that's why I'm the guy everyone loves to hate. You're going to be running laps sweetheart."

"Fuck you. I'm in the track and field club." Roxas said succinctly and Axel grinned.

"Oh, a fit one! Excellent. I'm sure you'll be wanting to learn martial arts then." Axel said happily and Roxas regretted opening his mouth. On the other hand, it would be rather nice to learn martial arts. His parents had been death on violence of any kind.

"Yeah, I guess." Roxas watched the scenery go by for a while. "So. How far away is this place?"

"Half an hour. Not so long." Axel answered and Roxas sighed, fiddling with the radio. "Hey, did I say you could do that?"

"Are you saying I can't? You want to sit in silence the whole trip?" Roxas said, irritated, and Axel glanced over with a smile.

"Silence is golden, but I was just sayin' you should have asked. Ah, go ahead. I'm tone deaf but I can take it." Axel couldn't help it, he just didn't appreciate music much. Roxas frowned but shrugged and began searching through the stations.

"Could listen to a talk show." He murmured and managed to find one. Axel groaned.

"Oh god please no." Suddenly curious Roxas listened and realized it was a well known, syndicated personality who was pretty open about his anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion stances. "Can we just listen to music instead? I don't mind that guy having his opinions but he's fucking obnoxious!"

"You're a fundamentalist Christian. Don't you agree with him?" Roxas asked as he obediently changed the channel. He wasn't really interested in listening to the guy either. Axel snorted.

"Don't bring religion into this. It has nothing to do with it. His tone of voice just grates on my last nerve, the way he sounds like a televangelist…" Roxas blinked and laughed. Axel was right, that guy did sound like he'd been trained at televangelists R us. "But if you really want my personal opinions, I'm bi and have no problem with gay people. Are you gay?" Axel asked idly and Roxas hesitated a moment.

"Yes, I am." He said abruptly. He could perform with women and probably had during that orgy but he knew he was gay. When he fantasized about someone it was always about other guys. Axel nodded, unsurprised.

"That was what your parents said but I figured I might as well ask. You never know, parents can be wrong sometimes." Axel said as he began slowing to make a right hand turn. Roxas blinked at that but he thought he could see that happening. Straight boy gets kissed by gay friend, parents find out and disbelieve his protests. Rare scenario but it could happen. Or maybe boy is molested, finally confesses to parents and they're nutty and decide that means he's gay… yeah, Roxas could think of several possibilities where that could happen.

Roxas was still musing about it when he felt the van come to a halt. Blinking he realized they'd just pulled up in front of a huge ranch house. It was made out of red brick with a weathered wooden roof and looked very old and very solid. There was a girl sitting on the doorstep and doodling on a piece of paper, looking into the sunset dreamily.

"Hello Axel." She said with a smile as they got out of the car. Axel was frowning as he looked at her but then he shrugged and smiled.

"Hey Nam'. How's it hanging?" She smiled and Roxas eyed her warily. If he hadn't known better he would have thought she was on something. She seemed a bit out of it.

"Pretty good. I've been drawing you and Roxas." She said and Roxas briefly wondered how she knew his name. Oh, they'd probably told everyone there was going to be a new student. "Want to see?"

"Sure." Axel took the notepad and tilted his head as he looked at it. Roxas peeked over his shoulder and was disappointed. They were just stick figures, really, crudely drawn. But he could still recognize himself and Axel, largely from the hair. Why were they wearing black coats though? Axel gazed at the picture for a moment then shook his head and handed it back. "Thanks Namine. Oh, Roxy, this is Namine. She's the resident witch." Namine laughed and shook her head.

"Oh Axel, you make me sound so terrible! Don't worry Roxas, I think you'll like it here." She took her notepad and went back into the building. Axel and Roxas followed.

The house, facility, whatever you wanted to call it was just as big as Roxas had expected. There were classrooms for teaching and a huge gym, and to his surprise a pool as well. Axel showed him everything and introduced him to the students and teachers. Too many names were going through his head but Roxas managed to hang onto a few of the more memorable ones. There was a guy named Demyx who had the most awful hair he'd ever seen. A kid named Zexion who always had his nose in a book and a girl named Larxene who liked to play with a butter knife, for some reason. The others were a collection of misfits who melted together. There wasn't really that many of them, only twenty or so.

The teachers stood out in his mind more. There was a slender girl named Xion who taught history and English. She seemed vaguely familiar to Roxas for some reason. There was a tall, thin man with long blonde hair named Vexen. He was the math and chemistry teacher. A very tall, bulky man named Lexaeus who taught social studies and languages. Roxas was vaguely impressed to find out that he spoke six fluently and two more not as well. Namine was a teacher as well and she handled Art. A pink haired man named Marluxia taught biology. Axel was the phys-ed teacher just as he'd claimed and while the kids clearly liked him as a person no one looked forward to his classes. There were also several other adults although Roxas couldn't really figure out what they did. They were all very compelling though and Roxas quickly met Xigbar, Xaldin and Luxord. They were all playing a game of cards and drinking when Axel introduced him to them. Something about that bothered Roxas and he quickly figured it out.

"I thought fundamentalist Christians were down on gambling." He asked Axel as they left the room. If the stuff they were using was monopoly money then he was the Queen of England. Axel laughed at that.

"Ah, but Luxord would die without his daily dose! We've gotten him away from the racehorses. He almost got both his legs broken by the mob." Roxas listened, fascinated, as Axel shared some gossip about his fellow teacher. Well, maybe it wasn't really gossip. Axel wasn't troubling himself to lower his voice so it was probably all common knowledge. "Hey, want to come see the horses?"

"Huh? Oh sure." Roxas followed Axel obediently as the redhead showed him the stable. "Wow!" Roxas admired the horses although he really knew nothing about them. But they all seemed very well cared for.

"Part of everyone's duties is to help muck out the stalls while they're on turnout." Axel said casually and Roxas glanced at him to see if he was serious. Seeing the redhead was he groaned. Using a shovel and cleaning out horse poo was not his idea of fun. "It's not really that bad. There's twenty of you and only ten horses." If everyone buckled down it was possible to clean out the stalls quickly. Roxas blinked as something occurred to him.

"Hey, is that what Xigbar, Xaldin and Luxord do here? Take care of the horses?" That might make sense given Axel's comment about racehorses. Perhaps Luxord hadn't just been involved in betting on them. Axel nodded.

"Luxord used to be a racehorse trainer. Xigbar was a ranch hand and Xaldin is a vet tech as well as a decent farrier." Roxas nodded, satisfied. He still wasn't happy about being here but at least he knew what everyone was doing. "Oh, we also have a Headmaster too. That's Xemnas, you won't see him around much. And a lay minister, Saix. I have no idea where he is but you'll meet him on Sunday."

"Hmm." Was all Roxas said. He wasn't really looking forward to meeting a priest, even a lay one. Especially not at a camp that was supposed to be straightening out his drug use and sexual orientation. The first might happen but the second? Never.

"This is your room." Axel flung open a door and Roxas looked around before nodding. It actually wasn't bad. A comfortable looking bed, a desk with a computer and a bookshelf full of books. Even a small TV. It made Roxas think of a minimum security prison. "There's plenty of clothes in the shelves over there. Should all be your size." Roxas nodded again. All the students here wore a uniform and he felt a flare of resentment at it. He'd liked his style a lot and had carefully picked it out, but now he'd be wearing nothing but white tees and black pants with an odd, almost phallic logo. Roxas started checking out the room and to his discomfort Axel stayed, just leaning against the wall and watching him with a small smile.

"Isn't there something you need to do?" Roxas finally asked. He wanted to take a nap and how could he do that with a teacher in the room? Axel scratched his head, thinking for a moment.

"Nope. Except wait for the supper bell which should be soon then show you to the mess hall." Axel said mildly and Roxas sighed to himself. Of course his annoying, intrusive behavior would actually make sense. Roxas glanced at Axel and was struck again by how bright his green eyes were, how impressive his hair was. Along with the piercings and tats Axel was just the kind of guy Roxas would have loved to get fucked by in the school bathroom. The thought tightened his pants a little and Roxas quickly shoved it away. Axel wouldn't be receptive. He was a teacher at a Catholic school! Although in the movies it was always the gym teacher… The bell rang and Axel grinned. Roxas stared at him as the redhead caught his hand, pulling him out of the room.

"This way!" With nothing else to do Roxas followed Axel. But he smiled to himself as he formulated the beginnings of a plan.

If he was stuck at a Christian camp he might as well try to corrupt it as much as he could.

"We've got a good group this time." Axel said complacently as Luxord shuffled the cards and dealt. Xion lifted her eyebrows at him as Vexen snorted expressively.

"There is nothing exceptional about any of them." He said repressively as he flipped his bet into the centre of the table. It was a tiny bead of amber, glowing with an inner radiance. Axel matched it and raised a pearl. Xion idly stirred her pile of gemstones with a finger before she smiled slyly and added a sapphire to the mix. If any of the children had happened to glance in the room, they would have seen their teachers playing cards for quarters. But there were many things the students couldn't see at St. Jude's camp.

"Psh, you don't watch them the way I do." Axel disagreed as he flipped over his cards. "Three aces? You bitch." Xion just laughed and pulled in her winnings. "Mmm, that Roxas kid has got it for sure. He picked out all the other ones who have it instantly."

"Really? That's interesting." Vexen murmured. Like called to like and if Roxas had reacted to Demyx, Zexion and Larxene he was likely what they wanted. Still. "Only four out of twenty is still terrible. And only one a girl. We need more girls." Xion gave him a disgusted look. "What? It is a biological fact that women carry children."

"Oh blow me. It's not like we're lacking for time." That was completely true so Vexen just nodded before placing a cautious bet. That was how he played the game, slow and steady. Axel decided he was tired and shoved all his gems to the centre. Luxord laughed and called him on it and soon he was out of the game. Xion shook her head as he stood, stretching.

"You're a terrible gambler." When Axel decided he didn't want to play anymore he just threw everything away. It made him very hard to predict. Axel laughed and shrugged.

"I only gamble what I can afford to lose. Later Xion." Walking back to his room Axel reflected on a cute little blonde.

Maybe he'd gamble with something else soon. He didn't believe he could really lose his heart.