Finally alone in the studio after his temporary partner had left, Max sighed to himself. That... hadn’t been the best, he had to admit. Sometimes it was hard to not get frustrated, but that was almost always a combination of factors - the high energy of some dances, the stress of needing to be perfect...<br/><br/>~<br/><br/>Him and Bella... They’d been at the top of their game. If the trophies and certificates were anything to go by, certainly, they were some of the best. If not THE best - but that was Bella’s view, she always seemed to be a lot more... fiery... when it came to high-stakes competitions.<br/><br/>There had been that incident two years ago... but they didn’t talk about that. It was better to just ignore it, or so Bella had said. It had never really sat right with Max, not deep down, but he couldn’t deny that he craved the feeling of being top dog. It was like a high in itself, the exhilaration of all that training, all that hard work and months to come to a grand feeling.<br/><br/>Bella... Oh Bella...<br/>She was a firecracker, for sure, but that heated passion was what had gotten them so far together, had them coming in first place time and time again. He wasn’t too sure what had happened, why things had gone so wrong for his partner, but to get that call... No, no that had not been pleasant at all. ‘Dismay’ was just just the start of what Max felt - all that training, all that hard work, all those almost-sleepless nights... for what? It had all seemed to come crashing down around them, hopes and dreams in tatters.<br/><br/>~<br/><br/>Letting out a sigh, Max leant against the wall and folded his arms in clear defence, but panting slightly from the effort even then.<em>No pain, no gain, right?</em><br/><br/>He lifted his head at a call of his name, looking across the floor at where the instructor, Pyotr, was walking towards him, footsteps almost seeming to echo around the studio.<br/><br/>“Good news, your luck’s in. I found you one last available partner if you still want to compete in the Nationals. Last chance to prove yourself, because she’s the only one who I think can match your level.”<br/><br/>“Yeah? Who?” Max asked, his interest piqued there and then even if he still had to hide how he felt. It had been a while, numerous partners who just couldn’t keep up or weren’t quite at his level of skill. If Bella was still there, she probably would have laughed (‘all in good fun, of course’ she’d say) and turned them down so much as to look at them.<br/><br/>Pyotr, the instructor, simply smiled - or at least that was the expression he gave off - and beckoned for the other man to follow him, but outright avoiding answering the question.<br/><br/>“Promise me this. You work WITH them, not against them. So, I don’t want any remarks, any sulking. Okay?”<br/><br/><em>I don’t sulk...</em><br/><br/>Max accepted, but tried again to figure out who this other person could be.<br/><br/>“Fine, Fine... Who is it?”<br/><br/>“Come on, all will be revealed.”<br/><br/>Sighing and shaking his head in mild amusement, it wasn’t like Max had a choice but to follow along. Getting an answer out of Pyotr was sometimes like getting blood from a stone. But he meant well, it was all for better development, or so he said. Max had to admit that the instructor’s methods had worked on more than one occasion though.