"Jesus Christ, where the hell is this place?" Roxas wasn't exactly sure where they were, but the city was about ten times as large as the one back home, as well as about forty-five minutes from 'back home.'

"We're almost there, relax." Roxas's mother was driving like a maniac, their old Pontiac rocketing down the highway at impossible speeds. They were already about twenty minutes late, and still about five minutes away.

"So, quiz time." His mom muttered, glancing at him quickly before cutting off another driver, who began screaming profanities at them. "What's his name?"

"Axel Russo."

"Who is he to you?"

"Mr. Russo."

"What are you going to say?"

"It's nice to meet you, I can't wait to get started."

"Good boy."

"This guy seems weird." Roxas muttered. "I mean, I Googled him, but the only results I got were for some stupid gay dancer who used to live in New York City and do stupid gay dancing shows." He snorted. "Talk about a way to make a living."

"Just remember to be nice, Roxas." His mother said. "And don't use the word gay. I mean, especially coming from someone like you. You know…your kind."

"What do you mean, 'my kind'?" Roxas barked. "At least we can talk about boys together."

She laughed and took a sharp turn into some very nice looking studio/office building type place, parking quickly and turning off the car. "Very true, very true. Just watch what you say, alright? Dancing isn't necessarily gay."

"Yes it is."

"Just watch what you say."

Roxas chuckled and got out of the car, opening the back door to grab his bag that was packed full of stuff his mother had bought for him. Apparently he wasn't supposed to look in it until they got to the physical therapy building (which they were) so that it would be that much more of a surprise. However much of a surprise physical therapy can be.

He met his mom by the stairs into the building and they walked up together, her blonde hair blowing in the wind, his blonde hair just looking wind-blown, like he had been running. There had to be about three sets of three dozen stairs that took you up to double glass doors with the words Intense Physical Therapy (haha just joking) printed on them with two large metal handles.

They both exchanged a glance, Roxas shrugged and his mother pulling the door open. Immediately they were met with the smells of wood and cinnamon spice, and a warmth that felt like there was a fire blazing in one of the odd corners of the small front office space. There was no secretary sitting at a desk, just a sign that said, 'Down the hall, straight through the door. If you can't figure that out, maybe you should be seeing a doctor for brain damage, too.'

"Damn." Roxas muttered. "This guy's kind of…crude, huh?"

"Even is he is," His mom replied. "He's very successful, very wealthy, and has a very nice reputation. And you best be nice to him. Or else I'll make sure you're sorry." She glared at him, and Roxas feigned fear.

"Please be merciful." He whispered. "I'll do anything you ask."

"You'd better." She grabbed his arm and practically dragged him down that hallway, and immediately they spotted an open doorway that opened out into what looked like a large room with a wall of mirrors and a hardwood floor.

"What a weird place to do physical therapy." He muttered.

No sooner had his mother had time to reply than they were completely inside, and Roxas realized exactly what this place was: a dance studio. His jaw dropped, mouth forming a perfect 'o,' and his mother was smirking/grinning beside him.

"What. The hell."

"Oh, please, Roxas. Don't act like you had no idea this was going to happen."

He blinked. "Alright. What the hell?" He tore his arm free of his mother's grasp and stumbled away from her, glancing around the big room. "Is this some sort of joke?"

"Not at all." She shook her head and walked over to him, grabbed his bag, and opened it up. Inside he could see the tight black tank top and the loose-fitting black pants that he would have to wear, the black socks with no shoes to accompany them, a long black scarf (for when he got better and could potentially be performing) a bottle of water, and a snack bar.

"Mother, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you in your sleep." He said numbly, looking up at her with strangely innocent eyes. "How on Earth--"

"Oh good, you're here!" Someone came walking into the room through a door that was behind Roxas, so naturally, the blonde spun around only to be face-to-face with an overly tall redheaded man. The same one that he had read about online a few days ago. "I'm so sorry I'm late."

"Oh, it's fine." Roxas's mother said, coming forward and holding her hand out. "Hi, I'm Claire. Claire DuPont. This is my son Roxas…" She glanced down at Roxas, but instead of holding his hand out, he just stared up at the redhead with large eyes, incredulous expression.

"Nice to meet you in person, Mrs. DuPont."

"It's miss."

The redhead blinked and glanced down at Roxas, then at Claire, and smiled warmly. "Of course, my apologies. Miss DuPont. Of course you already know who I am…"

He looked down at Roxas and continued smiling, held out his hand. "Hi, Roxas. You can call me Axel."

"You're joking." Roxas muttered, laughing humorlessly. "This is my physical therapist? Mom, you've got to be joking!" He stepped back and looked between the two of them, shaking his head. "This is ridiculous. There is no way I'm dancing."

"Yes, you are." Claire hissed. "And you're being rude. Now come shake Mr. Russo's hand. Now."

Roxas shook his head and crossed his arms, eyebrows raised. "No way, Mom. I'll be bedridden before I start dancing."

Axel looked between the two of them, Claire glaring at her son and Roxas looking half amused, half defiant, and shrugged. "It's really not as bad as you think, Roxas." He said. "You're not even really going to be dancing the first couple of lessons."

"Then what will I be doing?" The blonde barked at him.

Naturally, this had absolutely no affect on Axel, who just continued smiling and pulled out two chairs for them each. "Stretching, learning positions, that kind of stuff."

"You should grab three chairs." Roxas remarked.

"Why, do you feel uncomfortable without your mother here?" Axel raised his eyebrows expectantly, his eyes nice and innocent, but Roxas was seething. Here, he had only known this weirdo for like, two minutes, and already he was shooting insults? How the hell did his mother expect him to survive?

"No, that's fine." He growled. "Two chairs. Mom, you can go now if you want."

She laughed and nodded, heading towards the door. "Okay, Roxas. I'll be back in two hours, possibly longer."

"Why longer?"

"You know how good my reputation is for being on time." She called from the hallway. "Have fun!"

--

"So I think we should take this time to learn about each other." Axel said, smiling. His legs were crossed and he was holding a steaming cup of tea on his lap, tapping his fingers mindlessly on the rim. "What did you do before you had surgery?"

"I played lacrosse." Roxas hadn't been forced to change into his "dance" clothes, and Axel had even offered to let Roxas keep a locker for free to hold his stuff in. Not that the blonde thought it was generous or anything. At the moment, the only feelings he had towards the redhead were those of contempt and irritation.

"Were you captain of the team, or just on the team?"

"Captain."

"Oh, that's cool." Axel nodded and titled his head to the side, and Roxas thought that made his teardrop tattoos look strangely distorted. "What happened?"

"I was tripped and head checked my another team player." The blonde answered. "But my team won State anyway, so it's not like it mattered…"

"But it did, didn't it?" Axel raised an eyebrow and righted himself, took a sip of his tea. "Are you going to be able to play again after I clear you?"

Roxas chose to avert his gaze at this, shrugging, chewing on his lower lip. "They're not sure."

"Well, Roxas, let me give you a bit of advice, in that case." Axel set his cup down and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. "I suggest that you give this program your best effort. Because if you weigh in at the end of the eight month period, you're flexible, you can do all right and left and up and down with your ankle and you can dance worth a shit, then there's a very good chance that you're going to be able to play lacrosse next season."

"Yeah, okay."

"I'm serious." Axel sat up and shrugged. "I've had football players with crushed feet and messed up hips who were told that they would never play football again and are now out there plowing through the opposing teams and scoring touchdowns."

"Okay, whatever."

Axel sighed and followed Roxas's gaze to the other end of the room, his tea back in his hands. "Don't you have any questions for me?"

"Not really." Roxas muttered. "You're that fag who used to be all dancey-dance in New York City, right?"

"You're using some pretty harsh language, Rox." Axel muttered. The blonde glanced at him to measure his reaction, but as far as he could see there wasn't an ounce of anger in the redhead's expression. He didn't even look offended.

"So what?" Roxas shrugged. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"You are." That patient smile slid back into place on Axel's face, and he took a sip of his tea. "I was a dancer for quite a few years, actually. I really enjoyed myself."

Roxas sighed. "Okay, I'll bite. What happened?"

"I was dropped by one of my co-workers and I broke my ankle." He replied, eyes going out of focus for a moment or two as though he were in deep though. "I ended up having to have surgery and was told I would never be able to dance professionally again."

"And?"

"And I ended up dancing professionally again." Axel answered, shrugging. "Doctors. They have no idea what they're talking about, in my opinion."

Roxas groaned inwardly. Axel was pretty much summing up everything that he had felt in the last two weeks or so in five minutes. "So…you think I can play lacrosse again?"

"Most definitely." Axel replied, nodding. "Just give it your all."

--

"So how was it?"

"Terrible. I hate him."

Roxas was glaring out the window, arms crossed, pouting like a little kid. The sun was setting, and the blonde was enjoying watching it for a few seconds and then closing his eyes and looking at the image burned behind his eyelids. His mother was driving slower and much more safely now that they had no where to be but home, and she kept chuckling and smirking and such.

"I think you like him."

"Well, you're wrong. He's creepy. He's probably a child rapist and is right now planning on how he's going to get in my pants."

"Roxas!" His mother scolded, but was smiling nonetheless. "You shouldn't say such things. People will take offense."

"Yeah, okay, whatever." The blonde sighed and slid down lower in his seat, shrugging. "I still don't like him. I don't think I'm going to enjoy myself one bit."

"You say that now. But just watch. I think you already have a bud of a crush on his already. I'm just waiting to see when it blossoms."

"Mother!" He bolted up in his seat, looked at her with wide eyes. "Why on Earth would you say that? It's disgusting!"

"Well, he's a very attractive man." She remarked. "I think he's the kind of person you would be interested in. He seems nice, funny…"

"Mother, stop it." Roxas folded his arms and turned his gaze back to what was going on outside, where they sky was already a deep indigo. "He's like, 35. So that makes him like…18 years older than I am. And that's just nasty. So don't even go there."

"Hey kiddo, no need to get all defensive." She smiled and shrugged. "I'm just saying. He seems like he would be your type."

"Mom, how the hell can I have a type? I've only had one boyfriend! Like…ever!" He threw his hands up in exasperation and fell back against the window, pouting. "Plus, he's so not my type."

"He's tall."

"So?"

"He's nice."

"Mom…"

"He's funny."

"Mother!"


A/N: ;D Okay, so, I kinda like this chapter. I mean...yeah. I like this chapter. xDD I think that the AkuRoku's going to be coming wayyy sooner in this story than it did in Amber. 'Cuz we all love AkuRoku. ^^ I know you guise do...

The next chapters are going to be kinda short...definitely not as long as Amber. But whatever. This is cute and there isn't as much angst. xD I hope you guise enjoy yourselves! Huggles!

~Sara