"They say that a hero can save us..."

[themiraclekid]

Who? Ainsley Ashwood and Cheyne Rousseau
What? When it hurts...
When? After receiving Nick's text
Where? Nick/Cheyne/Harry's apartment

Ainsley had to admit that, when Nick told him that Harry had been hurt, he was shaken. He and Harry were still in the early days of getting to know each other, but they definitely liked each other, and they were enjoying their time together now that Ainsley had learned to chill the fuck out and quit being nuts. Or at least he was learning. It was nice now that it wasn't stressful. But hearing Harry had been hurt was stressful, and Ains was trying not to panic as he caught the train over.

Once he was at Nick's apartment, he was taking the stairs two at a time to the front of the building before cursing the elevator for being too slow. But once he'd arrived at Nick's front door, he was ushered inside by Cheyne with reassurance that Harry was going to be okay, just was feeling pretty crap now, and had wanted to see Ainsley. But Ainsley couldn't completely be okay until he saw the other boy. Which he did, when Cheyne brought him to Harry's room. The other boy was sleeping, but that didn't mean that Ainsley wouldn't lie there with him for a while to provide cuddles, gentle though they may have been for fear of hurting him more.

After a while, though, he was up again, and making his way to the living room where Cheyne was on the sofa. He'd told Ainsley that Nick was Skyping with the family to let them know that Harry was okay, and now Ains wanted to talk to Cheyne. He'd been there when Harry was hurt, and Ainsley needed to know how and why. He sat down awkwardly next to Cheyne, somewhat in awe of who he was, but wanting to talk to him. "Hey," he said sheepishly. "I... Um... What happened with Haz? Nick told me he got hurt dancing. Is he gonna be able to dance in Romeo & Juliet? Because he'll be crushed if he can't."

Comments

[pirouetteinrhythm]

Cheyne hadn't been involved in the audition or casting process of the Romeo & Juliet production. That wasn't part of his role at the school. He was on the panel for new students, but not the actual productions. Once the ball was rolling, he helped train the kids in the auditions, but he didn't have the time to be instrumental in the production process with the school. He only worked there part-time, and his other job with the New York Ballet was more demanding than Joffrey. He took the second job at Joffrey because he knew he wanted to help young dancers with incredible talent come up in the world. He had the talent himself, so he wanted to share it. Kids like Harry. It made his life rewarding when being a Principal Dancer for a major ballet company took its toll. Which it did. It was all grace, beauty and breathtaking performances on the outside, but on the inside, it was a gruelling schedule. "It's natural to have insecurities early on in any career, but it is perhaps more impactful on performers and artists, because we put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect. It's just easy to forget there is a road you have to take from imperfect to perfect, and the only way to get to the finishing line is a lot of hard work and focus. Harry is dripping in natural talent, there is no doubt about that. But dance is about choreography. The whole purpose of it is to learn and perfect new routines. The career is going back to the start, and aiming for the finishing point, over and over again. Accidents happen. Every dancer will have falls, or accidents, or screw ups. It's part of the journey."

He laughed a little. "Oh, yes. I've had many accidents. Many times I have relied on modern medicine to make me better or well enough to just get through a performance. The show must go on. But we were all amateurs once. I just happened to have been one when I was very young. My mother is a dancer, I learned from her. But one of the silver linings is that because a dancer's body is resilient and strong, it is usually fit and healthy enough to recover from accidents swiftly," he explained. "Until you lose the capacity to walk or stand entirely, there is always a way back on the stage. He'll have had quite a scare. He does, however, have a very protective family who will ultimately have the final say in what he does."