D: Ohhay. Long time no update, huh? Yeah. Um. I … suck. Hard. But summer's brought on a little more pressure than I thought. I'm working almost nonstop now and most of the time I spend at home is being exhausted or going nuts over my Roxas cosplay for Otakon. I'm very sorry, guys, but please bear with me, I'm trying my utmost best to get back into writing, truly.

Written for, as always, Nijuuni. May this chapter be as to your liking as the first one was.

Entregarme

Step Two - "Arrepentida"

"Morning, guys. We'll be starting a new dance today. How many of you are familiar with… tango?"

Roxas had always had a passion for dance. He blamed most of it on his ballroom-dance obsessed mother. She had spent most of her life competing in dance tournaments and attempting to pass on her talent to her young son. Nevertheless, he would never allow her to take all the credit. No mother in the world could have made him attend a dance academy if he hadn't wanted it. The fact that he was gay eased the pain of wearing tights for four years, too.

He kept his talents to ballroom; nothing interpretive or hip-hop-ish for him. However, out of all the styles he knew so well -- rumba, foxtrot, samba, salsa, waltz, lambada, and so on -- tango was still his favorite, even if he kept all of his routines on the calmer, safer side. Which was funny, considering just how much he currently despised the dance.

He wanted to blame it on a nice, rational cause. But his nagging brain wouldn't let him. It knew very well that the reason he was having second thoughts about tango was because now, he couldn't imagine himself as lead, but as the follow.

And as his imagination brought Axel in as the lead, Roxas couldn't deny that that fact alone was the very reason he was displeased. Or, to be completely specific, the reality that he liked the fact that Axel was the lead was why his mood had taken a grim turn.

It didn't help that he had to start tango lessons today. He led dance classes at the studio every day and the course had specified that they'd start on that style of dance by the end of the week. Roxas looked out at the pairs standing before him, getting ready for their class. He could deal with it. They were beginners; they wouldn't be getting into anything as extensive as what he and Axel had done exactly seven days ago. What with their intimacy and daring moves that had only been witnessed before being done by a man and a woman. The swaying hips, the close proximity… Roxas abruptly frowned, realizing his imagination was running away with him again.

The way that Axel had pinned him to the wall still sent shivers up his spine.

Roxas nearly smacked himself for bringing that up again. It was bad enough that he had started having dreams about it, but to continue thinking about it in his waking reality only made matters worse. He had been trying to steer clear of the prying and nagging red-head and had succeeded in avoiding confrontation thus far; the blond had yet to give a definite answer as to whether or not he would be Axel's partner for the competition. Roxas himself wasn't exactly sure what to say yet.

After all, he was crushing on the red-head. Developing thoughts beyond friendship, thinking outside the box, wanting to take a step further, so to speak. Roxas had even been unable to resist flirting with Axel, despite his better judgment. Not that Axel even suspected, of course. The blond still supposed that the previous week's stunt of oh-so casually peeling his shirt off and flicking his hair back, right in front of the other man, had been a little too much.

But while dancing with Axel at a tournament, and tango no less, was extremely tempting, the blatant man-on-man action was probably not going to fly very well with the judges or the crowd, and Roxas didn't want to ruin his or Axel's reputations.

The infamous gay tango dancers… oh yeah, catchy. Roxas inwardly cringed. He didn't want to think about it now. It wasn't the time. He had a class to lead. With a bright smile, he stepped forward to address his students, eyes roaming over all six pairs as he shoved his own thoughts to the back of his mind.

"So. Can anyone tell me the basic idea of tango?"

"It's a dance of passion, meant to express the intimacy between the lead and his follow." An amused reply immediately came from the end of the line of dancers. Roxas didn't even need to turn his head to know who had spoken.

The lanky red-head smirked at the instructor, arms folded across his chest and scarlet ponytail draped over his shoulder and tight black shirt. Roxas could only quirk an eyebrow at his best student, unsurprised. He decided to comment on the empty space beside the man instead. "Reno, where's your partner today?"

"Elena's out sick, but she made me come away." Reno replied with an easy grin, shrugging and moving his arms to prop them on his hips instead. "I guess you're just going to have to be my partner, teacher."

Roxas didn't miss the gleam in the man's sly eyes. He sighed as the rest of the class's females giggled to themselves.

He really hated tango.

"One, two, three, four… One, two, three, four… One, two-- ah, fuck this…"

With a curse, the red-head kicked the nearby beat box and angrily threw himself down onto the floor to sit as the tango music continued to stubbornly play.

Axel was sulking. Moping. Brooding. Sitting with a particularly pissed off but gloomy expression on his face, so to speak.

He didn't like to sulk, mope, brood, etc. It certainly wasn't manly, for one. But after being avoided by a certain blond for a week, he just couldn't help it. Roxas had yet to give an answer to his suggestion about the competition and the time for them to practice their routine was growing shorter by the day. Even worse, the red-head was almost positive that Roxas was actually avoiding him.

'Pining' could have very well been added to his list, too.

It had been a stressing week. The red-head had been putting all of his effort into mixing up his old tango routine, making sure to keep the moves acceptable enough for Roxas's taste. At the same time, he fretted and worried to a possible unnecessary extent. Roxas's missing presence was quite discouraging. Axel had been sure that after a few days, the blond would have returned to practicing with him as usual, even with the partner proposal hanging over their heads. Instead, the red-head hadn't even caught a glimpse of Roxas since the partner auditions.

There were times before where the two of them had spent whole days together, dancing, working on choreography, as well as going out to lunch. It had been a norm for Axel to see his friend's face almost constantly.

That had probably been one of the key reasons why the red-head had unknowingly begun taking an interest in the other man, but it certainly wasn't his fault. The blond was just too… something for his own good. Cuteness? Stubbornness? Axel couldn't exactly put his finger on what it was, but there was an aspect about the blond that kept the older dancer coming back for more, whether he liked it or not.

"This blows."

Axel stared mournfully at his reflection, sitting on the floor in one of the practice rooms as he frowned to himself. The tango music he had been dancing to was still continuing in the background, but the man wasn't paying attention. He was thinking.

At this point, a few options were still open to him. He could find a new partner; almost certainly female. Axel frowned. I suppose that option is still open. In fact, that's what I'm going to fall back on if Roxas absolutely refuses. Which he won't, because I'll start begging him if he does, damnit.

Axel could forget the whole competition altogether and wait for Yuffie and another tournament. The red-head immediately shot that one down with a huff. No way in hell. I didn't just re-do my whole routine to wait another five or six months to actually dance it.

Axel sighed, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully and stretching his legs out before himself. That left the final option.

If Roxas wouldn't give him an answer, Axel would have to go and make him answer. And that sounded like the perfect and, really, only reasonable option. Or, at least, the most effective.

Axel glanced at the nearby clock as he tied his hair back. The blond was in the middle of lessons, but that hadn't been a problem for him before. Axel had interrupted some of his other classes loads of times. It was almost worth it to have all of the girls in the class stop dead and start squealing in his direction while Roxas gave him the best death glare he could muster.

And if Axel had to go and do something drastic in front of all those squealing girls to convince Roxas to dance with him at the competition, he would. Without hesitation. Granted, Roxas would be pissed off at him, but the blond just didn't know any better.

Roxas would see that agreeing to dance with him was the right choice. He would see that they made the perfect pair.

"Let's just hope this works." Axel muttered under his breath, standing. With a final direct kick to the boombox's stop button, making the music come to a screeching halt, the red-head walked out of the room, ready to get himself a partner.

He walked at first, smiling to himself as he passed by other dancers in the hall who were getting ready to practice. Sure, he would possibly be a little uncompromising and stiff at first, but the scowling blond would see the light eventually. Right? Dancing together wouldn't make them seem overly gay or stupid. The competition wouldn't put a strain on their relationship in the least and Axel wouldn't let his stupid little attraction to his friend get in the way, either. Of course not.

Quite innocently, Axel picked it up to a decent speed-walking pace. Axel wanted to hurry, after all. He couldn't miss Roxas's lesson. There was only half an hour left of it and it took two minutes to walk there from his own end of the studio to the other where the dance classes were.

He was jogging now. Accidents could happen on the way there. The red-head could slip and fall, which would take about five minutes of recovery time, and Axel had absolutely no time to lose. Every second was absolutely vital in his quest to convince Roxas.

Axel wasn't panicking. He wasn't panicking or getting nervous or stressed at all. A nervous gulp later, red-head went into an all-out sprint, dodging around the other occupants of the hall as he ran. The unshakable thought of "What if he says no?" gave him speed and suddenly, the man couldn't wait a moment longer. He needed to see Roxas now.

Seeing Axel, on the other hand, was the last thing on Roxas's mind. He already had one cocky red-head on his hands and two would have been pushing his patience limit.

Reno had turned out to be a good lead. He had style and grace, as well as confidence. Roxas had no problem instructing him in what steps and the taller man proved to be an excellent partner for demonstrating the basics of the tango to the rest of the dance class. In fact, Roxas would have been extremely impressed with the red-head if not for the man's obnoxious, overwhelming, bothersome cockiness.

"We're not working on these steps right now, y'know." The blond grit out, trying his best to keep his cool. They had just barely gotten into the basic steps of the tango and the student was already pulling intricate footwork and twists while the rest of the class struggled to simply fall into beat with the tango music filling the room. Roxas was not amused and the way that his patience was slowly being chipped away did not improve his mood.

Barrida… cangrejo… picados… Roxas named off the intricate little steps as they went along, trying not to roll his eyes, Yes, alright, I get it, you're amazing, now knock it off…

Reno smirked in response, leading the shorter blond into a spin, his slender hands wrapped firmly about Roxas's waist. "I realize, actually, teacher, but I figured that since this might be my only chance to dance with you, I should attempt to maybe impress you."

"Oh?" Roxas merely raised an eyebrow, not looking too surprised as he silently cursed his height. He had no trouble keeping up with Reno's little trick and turns, but it was the way that Reno seemed to overpower him that bothered him the most. The blond actually had to look up to meet Reno's gaze. "And you think that throwing in an extra step or two will just render me awe-struck and flabbergasted with amazement, huh?"

"Are you saying that it's not working?" Reno looked almost hurt, but Roxas knew better. People like the red-haired student always had other ploys up their sleeves.

The blond looked away briefly to make sure the rest of the class was still practicing before returning to Reno's amused stare. "I've practiced with championship winners, Reno. I'm not going to lie, I'm quite impressed with your skills as is; I'm not even entirely sure why you're in this class since you dance so well already, but it's not anything I haven't seen before."

I've never seen anyone so absolutely full of themselves before like you, though. Even Axel can't top you. The blond thought with a grumble, wondering how much longer the torture could last. Instead of voicing his disgruntled thoughts, though, Roxas forced Reno to slow their steps and looked back to his students. "Now, try to throw in some turns and dips, or get in a little closer into the abrazo position that we went over yesterday, guys-gah!"

Reno hadn't waited a moment longer, dragging Roxas back into step with the music and proceeded to spin him away from himself. As soon as the blond returned back to position with the red-head and placed his hand back on Reno's shoulder, they went off again into their regular basic steps, the taller man grinning sneakily, looking as pleased as a cat with a bird in its mouth.

Roxas's lips dropped into a scowl. "Do you mind giving me a little warning next time before you start flinging me around like that?"

"What, can't keep up, teach?" Reno tried to look innocent, but failed, obviously finding it difficult to keep the pleased smirk off his face. Roxas's temper only continued to rise. If it had been Axel, the blond would have taken control of the dance, pulling out some tricks of his own. But they would be wasted on Reno, so Roxas kept himself in check, biting back his annoyance and, to his woe, allowing Reno to continue leading him about.

He may have very well made it through the class, Reno and all, but the red-head obviously hadn't picked up on the warning signs from Roxas. He decided to play his ace. That was about when Reno began throwing in little subtle touches. A swipe of his hand up Roxas's thigh, a brief, feather-like squeeze of his hips, a barely-there rub of his ass…

Roxas nearly snapped and his eyes immediately darkened with anger. The man was not only cocky, but he just didn't know when to quit. After the third time that Reno's sneaky fingers fondled his bottom, the dance teacher had had enough. As calmly and elegantly as possible, Roxas attempted to slide out from Reno's arms, intent on addressing the class again with the excuse that he needed a 'break.'

"Roxas." The blond paused, surprised to hear his actual name on the taller student's lips, rather than the regular teasing 'teacher' nickname. He just managed to turn and face Reno when the red-head reached out and pulled Roxas in. One blink later and already, Roxas's back was up against Reno's chest and he was trapped.

Roxas felt one of Reno's arms creep around to curl around his shoulder while another hand slipped down to slide along his outer thigh, which quickly progressed to the inner side. Even worse, there was a pair of lips soon at his ear. Their backs were to the class, so Roxas could see his own startled expression in the wall of mirrors before him, as well as his partner's head propped on his shoulder. Reno was so obviously in his personal space.

"Roxas…" Reno whispered slyly, voice soft as he met the blond's eyes in their mirror reflections, "Don't you want to keep dancing?"

Blessing himself with his fortune of having had experience in this sort of thing with another particularly obnoxious red-head, Roxas relaxed. Lifting his arm, he pulled it up to Reno's neck, looking straight up at the other man, nose just barely sliding across the taller man's cheek.

"Reno…" He sighed softly, fingers gently curling into the neck hairs beneath Reno's ponytail. His eyes floated up wistfully to meet Reno's smoldering gaze and he held his breath a moment. Just as he saw the spark of triumph in the red-head's eyes, just as he could see Reno's smirk widening slightly with delight, Roxas abruptly smirked and tugged back at the man's hair, free hand moving to shove Reno in the chest, away from himself. "Take a break, Reno."

Reno grunted in pain, stumbling back while Roxas began to put some distance between them, eager to get out of the other man's seduction zone or whatever that was. He didn't take two steps when he bumped into his very own red-head.

"Oh… Axel." Roxas blinked, taking in the sight of the other man. Axel was staring directly over his shoulder, at Reno, hands tightened into fists.

And he didn't look very happy.

Axel had been trying to prepare himself for the worst. He had been more than ready for Roxas's downright refusal, for his rejection, for practically anything. Or so he had decided as he had sprinted down the halls.

But as he had skidded to a halt outside of Roxas's class, peering through the small door window, his eyes had nearly fallen out of his head with shock. Nothing in the world could have prepared him for that.

Axel couldn't exactly wrap his mind around the sight. Roxas certainly wasn't dancing with a taller red-head, a student of his, no less. Roxas's back wasn't at that moment attached to the stranger's chest. He didn't have his arm about the other man's neck, and the other man didn't have his own hands all over his Roxas. No. Absolutely not.

He vaguely remembered slamming open the door and storming in. He just barely recalled glowering at the strange red-head before forcing a steely smile. It was hard to think straight, his mind was buzzing too loudly with anger as his inner self howled with disgust, wanting to rip apart the wannabe dancer who had been touching his blond. His blond, thank you very much.

"May I cut in?"

"Axel, it's not-" Roxas started, but was interrupted.

The strange red-head returned the smile, looking a tad annoyed despite the supposed friendly gesture. "Be my guest. We were just finishing up, anyway."

"Thank you." Axel replied coldly, stepping forward and snatching up Roxas's hand, the blond's protests passing right over his head. Roxas looked irritated and still a little surprised. Axel's brain sensed a tango tune playing somewhere and his feet were already falling into rhythm, pulling his partner and friend close as he began to lead.

He moved without thinking, just seeing Roxas's blue eyes staring at him past the hazy mist over his vision. He couldn't get over the fact that Roxas, his Roxas, had been dancing with another guy. After all that nonsense the previous week and the blond was already dancing with some other guy? That just would not do.

Axel pulled Roxas in as close as possible, dropping his voice to a whisper as they continued to move. "So have you taken enough time to think about my offer?"

"Er…" The blond took a longer pause than what Axel had enough patience to wait for. The red-head swiftly stepped forward, bending his legs. Roxas matched him step for step, keeping a tight grip on Axel's shoulder and hand as they moved into a set of quick footsteps, Roxas's mind automatically rattling off the names of the steps.

Media Vuelta… lapiz…The two of them spread apart, taking half-steps away from each other, then Axel pulled Roxas right back again, one leg sweeping outward, foot tracing the beginnings of circle on the floor.

"Well?" Axel murmured as their faces came close.

Roxas didn't exactly have an answer ready. He swallowed, "Well… I have thought about it."

The two spun together, quickly performing figure eights, ochos, as they moved. Roxas's world spun and his words flew back into his throat. Axel still seemed to be in control, though, and the red-head's face was the only thing still in focus for the blond. Their pace was quick, but the movements were slow and deliberate, Axel controlling every move they made, making sure to make it obvious that he was the lead, that he was the one chasing after his partner. There was a meaning behind every turn and twist and still, Axel never tore his burning gaze away from Roxas's for more than a second.

"And?"

"Ah…" Roxas stuttered. Axel twisted them around, releasing the blond's torso slightly so that Roxas leaned away from him. They swiftly went into a spin that brought Roxas back into an upright position from the momentum. "Damnit, stop dancing and give me a moment to explain!"

The end was abrupt. Axel, more than happy to comply, came to a quick halt, arms sliding down to Roxas's waist to pull the smaller man into himself. After a moment, his wildly beating heart calmed, even though Axel hadn't even noticed that it had been pounding away in his chest in the first place. His vision even managed to clear away some of the furious crimson mist over his eyes and the red-head finally saw Roxas in clear view, frowning at him. A quick glance around proved that the rest of the blond's class had ceased dancing and all of the students were gaping in awe at the two.

Huh. Maybe I overdid it a little with impressing Roxas into submission.

"Do you have an answer now?" Axel turned back to Roxas, eyes shining from the effort he had put into the dance, unable to keep the smirk from his lips at the blond's dazed expression.

"I…" Roxas stared blankly at Axel, trying to bring his spinning thoughts back to earth. It was cruel of the red-head to make him decide now. The blond had spent a week racking his brains over his choice and after such a mind-rattling dance where it had taken all of his thoughts to keep up with Axel, all of his energy just to maintain speed, he was being forced to choose?

He furrowed his brow. "You're not being fair."

Axel was smiling, though, holding the blond close enough so that his warm breath skittered over Roxas's nose. "You saw what we just did, didn't you? Without even any warning, you fell right into step with me and didn't miss a beat."

"That's not the point!"

Axel pouted slightly. "I think it is. Do you really need any more proof that you should dance with me at the competition? You're the only one, Roxas. Please."

"Was that what you came here for?" Roxas finally sighed, pushing away at the red-head until Axel released him.

"You have been avoiding me for a week. It's not like I had a choice." Axel replied, scratching the back of his head. With the euphoria of dancing now fading, the red-head was quickly getting nervous again. "Plus, I don't like him." He jabbed a finger over his shoulder to where Reno was still standing, looking quite defeated, as Axel noted happily.

Roxas glared at him, his staring dance students forgotten. "You can't just storm in here and expect me to give you my answer!"

"But you can't just ignore me for a week and expect me to be patient!" Axel argued, getting annoyed with how stubborn the blond was. "All I need to know is yes or no!"

The blond's body went rigid. "It's not that simple!"

Axel took a deep breath, stepping forward to clasp Roxas's shoulder, trying to keep the peace. He frowned as he noticed that Roxas was avoiding his eyes, staring down angrily at the floor. "It is that simple. Yes or no, Roxas. Will you dance with me at the competition in a few weeks?"

In the silence that followed, Reno unexpectedly spoke up, causing the squabbling two to turn in his direction.

"I think you should do it, teach. You two look amazing together."

"Yeah, do it, Roxas!" Another student spoke up, grinning and flashing the blond a thumbs-up.

Roxas looked up in disbelief, watching as the rest of the class began to join in, clamoring and urging their teacher to dance. He looked back to Axel, intent on telling him off for corrupting his students, but the words died in his throat as he noticed Axel's anxious smile.

"C'mon, Rox." Axel spoke softly, chuckling, "If you won't listen to me, would you at least listen to your class? It's only one dance, I think we can handle that much."

Roxas looked from his class to the red-head a few more times before putting on an angry scowl to hide his embarrassment. He could already feel his other excuses, his defenses against the idea, just being cracked the thrown away. Once a push-over… always a push-over. Damn it.

"Just one dance, right?" He mumbled gruffly, glancing up to Axel's hopeful look.

"Just one little tango performance, Roxas." The red-head squeezed his partner's shoulder. "C'mon. For me?"

"I won't do it for you." Roxas replied, ignoring the warmth that was spreading through his arm from Axel's hand. It grew quiet in the room as everyone waited for his answer. The blond finally flushed, running a hand through his hair as he shook off Axel, "I'll do it for Yuffie."

Axel's eyes visibly widened. "But you'll do it?"

Roxas began to turn away, hoping to make a break for it and avoid the cheery response from Axel. He just knew that if he saw the other man smile, he would too, and he didn't want to be defeated so easily quite yet. Roxas just knew that he would regret his decision. There would be repercussions later and he didn't have the right to be smiling and laughing about it. If Axel wasn't going to see any flaws in his plan, it was up to Roxas to point them out for him.

"Yeah, I'll do it."

It was all for naught. Axel moved quickly, tugging the blond back into his trap, arms flying forward to curl around Roxas. Dragged back into a hug, Roxas struggled weakly to escape, glowering with all the power he could muster, but Axel just had to go and pull him tightly against him.

"Thank you, Rox. Really." The red-head whispered into the blond's ear, grateful and relieved.

And goddamn, before Roxas knew it, his lips were tipping upwards into an unwanted smile. "Just don't make me regret this."

"Oh, I won't." Axel crooned happily back, nuzzling his face into Roxas's neck and unknowingly making the blond stiffen from all the attention and touches. "But wait until you see our routine! It's so sexy!"

The smile immediately slipped.

Oh yeah. I'm gonna regret this.

Arrepentida: Repentant - To change one's mind.