Lesson 1
"Stretching." Axel said for the third time, rolling his eyes. He had Roxas had been bickering for at least twenty minutes about what they were going to do that day. It seemed the blonde had the idea in his head that if he was just defiant, he would get out of physical therapy. Axel found that near comical.
"I'm not going to be any good at it." Roxas's arms were crossed stubbornly, and he sat on the folding chair that Axel had pulled out for him with his legs crossed and his eyebrows raised.
"That's fine, Roxas. It's only your first time. You'll get better with practice. And believe me when I say you're going to have plenty of practice." Axel came forward and tapped his shoulder, cracking his knuckles. "Come on, stand up. It's easy. The faster you get it done and over with, the sooner you'll get out of here."
"So not true!" Roxas protested. "My mom said that she wasn't going to be back until six to pick me up. It's only three thirty."
"I'll give you your snack/water break earlier and drive you home, if I feel so inclined." The redhead frowned at his new student, the nicotine tickle starting up in the back of his throat. Idly, he wondered if he could get away with having a smoke while Roxas was there.
"Fine." Roxas stood up quickly and Axel immediately folded the chair up, setting it against the wall. He was finally in the proper attire today, simply because Axel refused to acknowledge him until he changed. The last couple of lessons, he had shown up in jeans and a t-shirt and wouldn't change, and it drove Axel crazy.
But aside from Roxas's defiance, Axel noticed exactly how tight his tank top was and exactly how deliciously his pants hugged his small, former-lacrosse-player's ass. Damn you Roxas and all of your cute blondeness. He thought, sighing. "Alright. Are you ready to cooperate?"
"No."
"Well too bad, because you're going to." Axel turned around and crossed his arms equally as stubbornly as Roxas's were crossed, but he thought that staring down the blonde would have to work eventually.
"Or what?"
"Or I'll bitch slap you into next week." Axel smirked and raised an eyebrow, and almost immediately Roxas's mouth formed a perfect 'o' and he stomped his feet like an impatient child.
"You…you can't do that! That's…you can't do that! I'll tell my mom, and you'll get--"
"Aw, is Roxy going to go crying to mommy?" Axel taunted, sneering. "I'd like to see you try, kid. In all likelihood, she'd probably agree with me. Now stop pouting and sit down so I can teach you the proper way to stretch."
Roxas gaped for a few more moments as Axel sat down and crossed his legs, letting his hands sit on his knees, posture perfect. Naturally. He waited as patiently as possible for Roxas until said adorable teenager finally sat down across from him in the same position, not nearly the same straight back.
"Sit up straight."
Roxas adjusted his posture immediately, and Axel could've sworn that the kid was afraid of him now. Great…
"Now, first we're going to work on our breathing."
--
Lesson 2
"Damn it, Roxas!" Axel yelled, running his hands through his hair. If he had anything that even closely resembled composure before, it was long gone now. His eyes were wide and he was practically shaking with frustration, the blonde sitting on the floor and staring up at him innocently. "This isn't that difficult!"
"Yeah, maybe not if you've been dancing for thirty years." Roxas replied sourly. "It's going to take me a while!"
"Jesus Christ." Axel breathed. He took a deep breath and turned back to Roxas, arms crossed. "Didn't they make you stretch at all before games and practice or whatever?"
"No." Roxas's eyes were still wide, but he had a look about him that indicated the irritation that Axel was trying to hide. "We were supposed to stretch after games, but if we stretched before they were afraid that we would tear our muscles because they were cold."
"Okay, well, regardless of when the actual stretching took place." The redhead said. "What did you do for stretching in lacrosse?"
"Touched my toes."
"Anything else?"
"No."
Axel sighed and closed his eyes, counting silently to ten, just like his therapist taught him to do. Or rather…that's what Dr. Phil said you should do when you have a wave of seemingly uncontrollable rage. But whatever.
"Alright. Stand up and touch you toes for me."
"Ugh. Fine." Roxas stood up and sighed, bending over. Remarkably, surprisingly, he was able to touch the palms of his hands to the floor. Sure, he was only about 5'6" or so, but it was still noteworthy.
Of course, Axel also happened to notice as he was walking over to examine the teen's form the way that his shirt rode up on his back a little tiny bit and exposed a small amount of pale skin. Not that he was interested or anything. Axel? Psht. No…
He swallowed and crouched down, placing one hand behind Roxas's knees and another in front and pushed them up so that his legs were straight.
"Ow, thanks…" Roxas hissed, straightening up a little so that he was more comfortable, his fingertips the only things touching the ground due to his adjustment.
"In two weeks, you'll be able to stand up perfectly straight with your palms flat on the ground." Axel said. "Then maybe we can work on having you sit on the ground and stretch out. If we're feeling ambitious."
"You mean you can help me work on that if you're feeling ambitious." Roxas corrected with a stubborn frown.
"Oh, come on, Roxas." Axel said, smiling. He stood up and Roxas followed suit, both of them cracking their knuckles. "We're a team!"
"Haha. No."
--
Lesson 3
"I'm sorry, how much more would you like me to annunciate for you?" Roxas hissed. "You are. A. Pedophile."
"Roxas, I am not." Axel breathed for what felt like the millionth time. "Just because I just so happened to be in the locker room while you just so happened to be changing doesn't mean that I'm a pedophile!"
"Yes it does! It totally was not a coincidence!" Roxas backed away as the redhead stepped toward him, holding his hand out in a gesture of accusation. "I'm going to tell my mom that you tried to touch me!"
"That's such a lie!" Axel yelled back. "Jesus Christ, I've known you for four days and already you're accusing me of sexual harassment? Sexual harassment that didn't even take place, might I add."
"Well…you were going to do something." Roxas muttered somberly. "I mean, you are, after all--"
"Oh, that's great, Roxas." Axel sneered sarcastically. "Just because I'm gay you think I'm going to try to rape you in the showers? That's lovely. Talk about stereotyping!"
"It's not exactly untrue, though." The blonde retorted. "I mean, think about all of those boy scout leaders and boy scouts and people that are abused! Like, two years ago this guy at my mom's daycare center was arrested for fondling a little boy who went there, and they found out that it was going on for like, eight months. That hit pretty close to home, you know."
"Oh please." Axel walked up to him, affectively cornering Roxas, and crossed his arms with a smirk. "You know that they only reason your sick teenage mind would come up with something like this is because you want it really bad."
Roxas opened his mouth to retort but stopped, blinked, and then snorted. "What the hell makes you think that? Plus, even if it was true, I wouldn't want it from you. That'd just be nasty. You're like, eighteen years older than me."
"Well I am drop dead gorgeous after all." Axel grinned and walked the rest of the way over to Roxas, dragged him out of the corner, and set him up near one of the balance beams that had been pushed to the most unused wall of the room. "Now bend over."
"What the hell are you going to do to me?" Roxas asked incredulously. Axel, in response, rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to fuck you against the wall." Upon receiving an aghast look from Roxas, the redhead laughed and shook his head. "What do you think I'm going to do? I want to work on your form. Just because you're good at bending over for boys doesn't mean you're good and bending over for dancing. Come on, princess. I promise; it won't hurt that bad."
--
"So Roxas. You've been with him for a week. What do you think?"
"I think I want to kill myself."
"That's a little extreme, honey. It could be a whole lot worse."
Roxas threw his hands up in frustration and combed one of said hands through his hair, fell back against the passenger seat. "Mom, the guy's a freaking pedo. I swear to God he tried to rape me the other day. And he's a stretching Nazi! I mean, all he makes me do is stretch, stretch, stretch!"
"Well of course he does." His mother replied matter-of-factly. "You're never going to be a good dancer if you can't stretch, honey. Everyone knows that."
"But mom!" Roxas complained. He sighed, shook his head. "I just can't believe that I have to go back there after the weekend. I mean, I'm never going to survive this guy! He's a complete psycho."
"Maybe you're the psycho and he's the normal one."
"Not. Helping."
"Okay, well, let's think of it this way." She said, stopped at a red light. "Are there any things about him that you like?"
Roxas shrugged. "Dunno."
"Come on, Rox. Think about it. I promise it'll help you when you're there. I mean, the whole point of physical therapy isn't for you to be miserable." She sighed and glanced at her son, eyebrows raised. "I can think of stuff I like about him."
Roxas chuckled and shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess…" He sighed and crossed his arms, his brows knitting together on his forehead. "I guess I kind of like his hair. A little."
"See! That's one thing. What else?"
"He's…" Roxas turned his head and looked out the window, at the scenery passing by them on their way home. He didn't even notice the blush that had crept up onto his face and the tips of his ears as he thought about Axel, but did his best to hide it once it made itself completely known. "I guess he's got kind of a nice body."
"Aha! I knew it. You do have a crush on him."
"Um…no." Roxas laughed and turned to his mother, his eyebrows now raised. "He doesn't exactly have a winning personality."
"He seemed nice when I met him."
"Yeah, all of ten minutes."
"Well, how bad could it be, really?" She asked. "I mean, honestly think about this. What's the worst thing that could possibly happen when you're with him? Realistically."
"He could rape me in the shower."
"Roxas! I said realistically."
"…I know."
A/N: Holy crap. xDD Sorry this chapter took so long, guise. I've been like, procrastinating really bad. And I haven't gotten nearly as many reviews as I did with Amber, so I'm slightly discouraged. xD Despite the fact that Amber was overly popular (not really sure why, looking back on it...full of plot holes...xDD)
Anyway. Yes. I'm going to be getting to the fluff much sooner with this story than with Amber. Which means that this one will be shorter. Not that I think you guise will mind that much. xDD It's going to be nice and fluffy and we're all going to love it.
HOWEVER!
I could really use some ideas for plot right now, so I'll take anything you guise have to offer. xDD I'm kinda of slow this week month year time thing. I have stuff. Happening. O.o (that's code for 'I'm too lazy to think of a good plot.' btw)
~Sara