A/N: Honestly, I'm not really sure where this idea came from. It just came to me, and I wrote it, so now it's a thing. I don't usually put warnings at the front of my stories, but this one is different, so I figure I should. Like in a couple of my other stories about either Mick, or Len, I figure I should tell you how old they are before we start, so there's no confusion. Mick is seventeen, Len is fifteen, and both of them are just fresh out of juvie. So, yeah, these aren't a couple of adults running around.
Warnings: Prostitution. Implied forced prostitution. Some kinky sex stuff. Underage sex. Very dubious-consent from a minor. This whole thing is rated M for a reason. I considered just having it as a high T rating, but considering the content I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry. So please, read at your own discretion.
Lenny was struggling with money again.
He hadn't actually said anything (he never did) but Mick could tell. Len was getting more and more snippity lately. He stayed awake later than he normally did, and some nights didn't end up sleeping at all. Most telling though was that Len had been doing more and more jobs for his dad, and he wasn't even complaining about them.
Mick didn't really get it. Len was always so smart and careful with his money, and even with his father demanding more than half of Len's take on any individual job he should still have a good amount saved away in case of an emergency.
It took awhile for Mick to remember that Len probably would save every cent he could for himself, if it wasn't for his dear little sister. All of Len's money seemed to be just for her. Half of it was set aside for college savings, because she may just be a little kid right now, but Len wanted her to have a chance at a good education if she wanted it.
There was also Lisa's weekly skating lessons that Len paid for, as well as her ice skating summer camp. Throw on the fact that Lisa was starting to get an interest in clothes, jewelry, and other pretty things, and Len's money was basically completely gone.
Mick thought it was kinda dumb for Len to literally give up every dollar to his name just for his kid sister, but he never said anything about it. He knew that if he did than Len would never forgive him. Besides, most of the time Len was able to manage things just fine without having money for himself.
...Most of the time.
The terrible thing was, occasionally Len would receive a particularly bad beating from his dad. One that required a visit to the hospital. Even though Lewis Snart was the one who had caused the injury, he refused to pay for any of it. So Len was stuck with struggling to figure out how to pay the hospital with money he didn't have.
Mick hated to see him stress about it so much, and he wanted to do something to help. Sure, he had been saving up his own money so he could get a place of his own as soon as he turned eighteen, but that could wait. There was still a few months until that happened, and Len needed help now, so Mick decided to help him.
It had been a complete accident that Mick had found out a way to earn that kind of money.
He had just been trying to sneak into a bar. He knew perfectly well that he was underage, and he didn't care. He just wanted a drink. The bartender immediately noticed that he was underage though, but he didn't toss him out right away. Instead he whispered an offer to him.
"Ya can stay as long as ya want, but if ya stay around 'till closin', I can make it worth yer while." The bartender had a hungry, lust filled look in his eyes. Mick knew that a lot of people thought he was stupid, but he wasn't that stupid. He knew exactly what the man was saying. He was just surprised that he found himself seriously considering it.
Mick hadn't exactly been a virgin at that point. His older brothers had taken him to the city a couple of times before the whole fire incident to have a few flings. After the first two times Mick just spent those nights hanging in his brother's truck, stealing his beer. His brothers had all practically been obsessed with sex. Mick had just thought that it was okay.
He didn't exactly hate it, but he didn't really love it either. It was just a thing that other people did, and he didn't see why he should have to, so he didn't.
With the bartender's offer though Mick realized that people got paid to have sex, and he thought it might be a good side hobby for him. He didn't exactly hate sex, so that would work in his advantage, and he had a high level of pain tolerance, which considering his previous experiences with it,would probably also be extremely useful.
So, yeah, Mick thought, why not let other people use him for a few hours? Everybody in the world, even Len, seemed to want to use Mick in one way or another, but at least this way he was getting paid for it and knew exactly what he was getting into.
It was only later that night, about a half hour after the bar had closed did Mick realize that maybe he hadn't known exactly what he was getting into. Sex was a lot different when he was being used as the bitch. It was uncomfortable, and painful, and super weird on so many levels. But when the bartender whose name Mick just couldn't remember for the life of him had given him a hundred dollars, plus the fact that he had let Mick have free drinks all night, the teenager thought that maybe this was something he could get used to.
And it was.
Mick still didn't like sex, and he didn't think he ever would, but it was something he was willing to tolerate for some quick and easy cash. Half the time Mick didn't even have to look for 'customers'. A lot of them just came to him. Apparently the bartender spread the word that he was young, cheap, easy, and desperate...apparently. Mick didn't really know how much of that was true, but if it got him some 'customers' then he wouldn't complain about it.
Mick didn't go out every night, he didn't think he had it in him to do that. He only went out once or twice a week, maybe more depending on if Len needed some money help or not. He would go to the bar that he was practically a regular at now, and somebody would usually approach him. He would play their game, get paid, and go home. Easy.
Things went pretty smoothly this way for about a month before he ran into some trouble, and by trouble he meant a cop.
Mick had no idea how it had happened, but somehow a cop had found out what he was doing and had approached him. Mick had gotten the shit scared out of him, because he could see by looking into the cop's eyes that he knew exactly who he was, and the teenager was worried that he was going to get arrested.
He didn't though. Apparently the cop just wanted the same thing from him that all the other guys had...weird.
It hadn't been a fun experience. The cop was rough, and he paid like crap, but Mick just considered himself lucky that he hadn't gotten himself arrested.
Though he did get extremely pissed off when the cop had told all his buddies about him, and a bunch of them made it a pastime to screw around with him. They kept on saying that they were 'punishing' him or something, as if they were just serving justice. Mick hated every single one of them, but he let them think whatever they felt like they needed to, as long as they paid at the end of it. Because as cheap as the cops were, money was money.
A few months later a new cop that Mick had seen around had switched the game up a bit. He had legitimately jumped Mick one night outside the bar. He had dragged him into the empty alleyway behind the bar that smelled overwhelmingly like bad booze, vomit, and a hint of urine. The cop had shoved Mick face-first to the ground and leaned close to him.
"Stop struggling, Rory." The man had growled, which just made Mick struggle that much more, but as a cop the guy knew how to get the advantage over somebody. Mick was stuck. "The other guys told me you'd be easy, and I'm not going to be fighting you about this the entire time. So if you don't calm the hell down right now then I'll just have to find somebody else to take your place. I'm sure my old partner, Snart, would be more than willing to give up his son."
Shit. Mick froze at those words and actually felt fear rise up in his chest. He had almost forgotten that Len's dad had been a cop. A miniscule part of Mick wanted to think that even Lewis Snart wouldn't stoop so low as to sell his own son off like that, but he knew better. That was definitely something that Lewis would do, if the price was right.
Mick couldn't let that happen.
"T-that guy's a greedy bastard." Mick said through his teeth. "He'll scam you out of everything you got."
"We both know that's the truth." The sick cop agreed. "So, you going to hold still now?"
"I've stopped struggling, haven't I?" Mick winced at the way his voice cracked when he said that, because the thing was, he was scared. Scared of what this guy could do to Len, and terrified about what he would be doing to Mick.
"That's a good boy." Mick felt a bite at his ear that made him shudder in disgust and fear. Too scared of what would happen if he moved an inch, Mick stayed perfectly still as the cop undid his belt and used it to bind his hands behind his back. He didn't move when the man was too forceful about getting his pants off and ended up ripping them. He was a little less successful at not shaking when the man went through whatever counted as foreplay in his sick mind.
Mick couldn't help but tremble and whimper slightly when the man finally just had his way with him. He was just relieved when it was all over.
And at the end of it all the guy didn't even pay him a cent. What a bastard.
And if Mick spent the next week curled up in the safety of his bed, completely unwilling to move, well, that was his own business.
Things only went downhill from there. That sick freak became a kind of regular of his, he always refused to pay, and everything hurt for days after Mick was with him. His ass hurt. His chest hurt. And the empty feeling in his stomach hurt more than anything else. And, to make matters worse (well, maybe not worse, but definitely not better) the guy must've told all his other cop friends about what had happened, and they all started getting rougher, paying less, and coming to him more frequently. And if he refused them, then his ass would be thrown into prison. Simple as that.
Not everything about this whole situation was bad though. Mick didn't think he had ever had an inherently good experience, but there were certainly better ones. Like when the first cop he had gotten involved with wanted to take things a step further. He had Mick strip completely, blindfolded him and then handcuffed him to the bedpost.
Then came the fire.
Mick couldn't see what the cop was doing, but he just knew that there were flames involved. He could feel the heat on his skin, very nearly burning him, but it always got pulled away before things could get too intense. It was such a tease, and absolute torture. Mick loved every second of it, and it felt like his body did too.
"I thought that would get a reaction out of you." The cop had said. He had then turned up the heat, both figuratively and literally. After a bit the cop got bored of playing with fire and turned to the main event, which was a little more intense than it usually was. The guy must've been turned on by the fact that Mick was turned on.
Creep.
But still, Mick hadn't complained. Even when the cop had moved on from the fire, Mick's mind and body were still affected by it. The whole experience just left Mick completely tense and yet relaxed at the same time all while the cop had his fun.
And then, when the cop was finally done he had just left...yeah, just like that. He didn't uncuff him. He didn't take the blindfold off. He didn't even bother to cover him with a damn sheet or something. He just left Mick right where he was
He left him like that for a whole day.
The cop didn't return until the next night. He ended up doing some more kinky stuff that Mick wasn't entirely into but wasn't completely against. And, at the end of it all, he paid Mick three hundred dollars.
Three hundred stinking dollars. Maybe it wasn't that much for some other people who did the same thing that Mick did, but he had never been very good at haggling prices for this thing. Guys just paid him whatever the hell they felt like. So three hundred dollars, especially coming from a cop, who were always extremely cheap with him, was downright amazing.
And, honestly, the sex stuff hadn't been all that bad either.
All in all, while it wasn't exactly the best experience ever, it was definitely okay. If a few changes were made (Mick had never been a huge fan of the bondage stuff, and some of the stuff that the cop had done were just weird and kinda painful) then Mick could see himself actually being okay with a repeat performance.
It was about six months into this whole thing that Mick realized that not all cops who knew about what he was doing were his customers. He wasn't arrested or anything like that, but one day when he and Len were hanging out at the diner across from the police station a cop had come over, a Detective East, or West, or something like that. He had dragged Mick off, giving some lame excuse about having questions about a recent arsonry case, and then handed him five one hundred dollar bills.
Mick's eyes about popped out of his sockets when he saw the money.
"I'm not asking for anything." Detective whatever-direction said. He actually looked somewhat disgusted about the idea, though Mick could see something like pity in his eyes. "I don't know what you need the money for, and I don't care,just...try to keep off the streets, alright?"
Mick nodded and took the money, because what else was he supposed to do?
The five hundred just being handed to him on a silver platter did actually help Mick out a ton. It was more than what he could make in two weeks with both this sex thing and his actual job at the mechanic's combined (maybe he should start demanding more money for what he did). Mick actually allowed himself a full month of nights to himself after that. No sex. No creepy cops. Just him and Len hanging out.
But then Lewis had to go and ruin it all by practically snapping Len's wrist in two and nearly cracking his head open.
Now, they once again Len had hospital bills to take care of. And, as usual, Mick took it upon himself to take care of it for Len. It was about time he get back into this sleeping around business anyways, because if he kept people waiting for too long then they just got in a bad mood.
And the last thing Mick wanted to deal with it was a customer that was in a bad mood.
So the second that Len, who had been working himself to pieces trying to find a solution to his money problem, had fallen asleep in exhaustion, Mick, who already had a perfectly fine solution, set out to work.
"Hey, Fireboy." Mick's favorite customer, the first cop, greeted him with a smile the second he entered the bar. "I was wondering when you were going to show your face here again." The man gestured to the seat next to him and actually bought Mick a beer. He must've been feeling generous that night.
"I got caught up with stuff." Mick lied. "You interested in doing something tonight?" Mick knew that he was, because this cop didn't come to this bar unless he was there specifically for Mick.
"I've got one or two ideas I've been wanting to try out with you." The cop said with an excited look in his eyes. He brought out four fifties out of his pocket and pushed them towards Mick. "You in?"
"I always am." Mick pocketed the money and took another swig of his drink. It tasted cheap and stung his throat, but it had a dulling effect on his mind, which was exactly what Mick needed. He didn't like doing this kind of thing when he was completely sober. "So, what've you got in mind?"
The cop's smile was not a friendly one. "It's a surprise." It had to be a pretty big one if Mick was being paid two hundred upfront. He didn't really consider himself a big fan of surprises, but he would do almost anything for cash. Besides, this particular cop was never all that bad. In fact, his latest goal seemed to be finding the right kinks that got Mick's body going. So far he hadn't found anything besides fire, but he was certainly trying pretty hard.
And who knows? Maybe tonight would be his lucky night.
(And, if Mick was lucky, there would be more fire involved, because that had been extraordinary.)
"Can't wait to find out." Mick said, which was a half lie, and half truth. A part of him was still kinda nervous about this being another painful, bad night that made Mick regret starting this in the first place. Another side of him was almost looking forward to it. The sex itself was just whatever to Mick, probably always would be, but this cop always made things pretty interesting, and sometimes it was even in a good way.
Sometimes Mick felt like he was playing a big game of chance. Sometimes he would get paid, and sometimes he wouldn't. Sometimes he would get a say in what was going to happen, other times he was gagged before he could get a single word in. Sometimes his customers played with fire, other times they brought out ice or water. It was all just a big gamble.
And Mick was feeling kinda lucky tonight.
He just had to keep in mind that sometimes when you gambled, you lost. If you took too many chances, you could either hit the jackpot or lose everything. As exciting or painful as this whole experience could be sometimes, Mick had neither won nor lost completely, he was just playing the game. He knew that if he kept risking things then sooner or later his luck would run out, and he didn't want to even think about what would happen when it did.
But he couldn't back out. Mick had started this whole thing for Lenny, and it wasn't a good time for him to back out. Mick was willing to keep in the game for as long as it took. Because if he couldn't do this much for his only friend, then Mick really didn't think he was good for anything.
As long as Lenny needed him, Mick would continue playing by the rules that other people set out for him. If he had a decent time, fine. If the creepy cop took things to the next level, whatever, Mick would just take a night off and deal with it. He would deal with whatever was thrown his way. He had to.
For Len's sake.