Lipstick and Low Necklines FF
Disclaimer: I'm much too lazy to think of a cleaver disclaimer. I disclaim all rights to Hetalia, the characters of Hetalia, or the countries of the world. :P If I thought doing homework sucked, imagine the paperwork involved in running a whole country? ...I could not take that kind of stress...
Everywhere skirts flipped, flying to reveal carefully placed garters above fishnet tights. From all corners of the room, dark spotlights turned, illuminating the dimly lit space just enough to add to the mystique and seduction of the dancers. All of their hair was curled to perfect voluptuous ringlets, bouncing with each jump and turn. Lipstick as red as rubies, rouge to give the appearance of a flush and glittering jewels covered each girl's skin in all the right places to complement them and their individual qualities. The necklines were low and their hands drifted even lower on the men they preoccupied themselves with.
Their steps were planned and coordinated to perfection in a way that could only be described as a sexual disarray of madness. Knees and legs bent and kicked into the air in perfect synchronization, capturing any eyes that weren't already captivated in their movements.
The exceptions were the eyes of Toris Laurinaitis, a boy who was being forcibly dragged through said skirts and trying to dodge said stockinged legs as his friend Alfred pulled him toward the American's other friends.
He owed his life to the blond boy. Alfred had managed to befriend him and save him from the watchful eye of his ex-friend/terrorizer Ivan. Without Alfred, he'd probably be a tainted soul without a life or will of his own. Ivan was, above many other endearing qualities, very possessive and controlling. During Toris' friendship with Ivan, Toris had been nothing more than a pawn, a small plaything of Ivan's. That was why when he had been asked to come with his friend to this 'gentleman's club' he'd come along against his better judgement. He owed it to the boy.
Toris ducked to avoid another pointed and very laced boot. While he ducked, he noticed that the arm that had been pulling him was no longer headed toward their friends. They'd changed direction.
"A-Alfred! W-Where are we going? The g-guys are that way!" He called to the blond boy that he couldn't truly see anymore. All that kept him from thinking he was abandoned was the ever present tight grip clutching his hand.
The American laughed from in front of him. "Yah, but dude! Felicyta comes out in a couple and for the love of all things deep fried, she is sexy! I'm gonna try and get some alone time," He smirked and waggled his eyebrows. "If you know what I mean."
Toris blushed and resisted turning his head. If he were to do that he'd get a mouth full of feathers and then a face full of ground. "B-But doesn't the g-girl choose her own partner?"
Alfred stopped without warning, almost introducing the shorter boy to the floor. "Dude. Who wouldn't choose me?" And with that he continued to pull Toris through the swarms of dancers.
Because the Lithuanian didn't know how to respond to that, he tried and failed to catch up to the American once again, continuing to fumble around the scantily dressed women.
To be truthfully honest, all of these girls made Toris feel really awkward and uncomfortable. They were all very... attractive and it made him want to hide in a corner and blush. However, from the moment he arrived here and tried to find a corner, Toris learned that corners were not a place of sanctuary for the nervous and cowardly in this establishment. They were a place for much... different uses. Toris blushed again at the memory. Women had always had made him uncomfortable.
The other reason behind his awkwardness was that his heart belonged to someone already, though he did not intend to tell them such.
Finally, Alfred seemed to find the place he was looking for. Apparently, so did a large group of men because they were all standing around a single darkened stage. The men flicked around until the spaces behind him were very filled.
All of the men, like Toris, were dressed in a proper suits and ties. They all seemed to be much older than him and once again he wondered how Alfred had managed to get them in. Toris himself had on his old grade eight graduation suit. Luckily, back then he'd already had his growth spurt, so it's tailored seems still fit him effortlessly, even though four years had passed. His tie was simple and white because he didn't want to stand out too much in the crowd.
"Yo Toris! Dude! Here she comes!" Alfred said, tugging his shirt sleeve.
Toris' eyes drifted to the stage, where a single beam of light came down from the ceiling, slowly transitioning from shallow light to a glow. Smoke machines were obviously turned on because the light beam stretched from the roof to the floor. The light slowly drifted from center stage to closer towards the back.
At first, the brunette didn't understand. Then he saw the pole. Then he saw the girl.
His green eyes widened as he took her in. She was beautiful and sexy and she moved in a way that controlled the stage. She had long blond hair and piercing green eyes hooked him in like none of the other dancers here had. Her dress was probably the most extravagant that he'd seen all night. It had a tight fitting silver sequined bodice with lace tying it up in the front and a shorter skirt than the other dancers with a crinoline that seemed to poof out every time she took a step. For the first time that night he felt an undeniable attraction. There was just something different about her...
It took him a second to realize why she was walking towards the pole. When it hit him, he tried to blush and look away; if only to give the girl some decency, but he found that he just couldn't turn his gaze away from her. He swore that wearing that dress and doing what she was doing had to be illegal.
Finally, after much effort, he managed to forcibly drag his eyes from her figure. It took will-power, but he did it mainly for the sake of Felicia.
His timing was oddly horrible because she chose that moment to dance her way over to the edge of the stage, nearly right in front of him.
In a sing song voice, she called out to the crowd, "Now all of you boys have been like totally good tonight, but sadly there's only one of the totally fab me and so tonight, I choose..." A roar went out across the crowd and a beefy hand smacked him in the nose. Her eyes scanned the crowd and then they fell on a certain figure and her eyes widened for a moment, only to smile, point and cry. "You!"
'You' was Toris.
A slim hand was suddenly outstretched to him, a finger pointing directly into his eyes.
It was a blur as to how he got there, but somehow Toris managed to hop up onto the stage and follow the blonde into a dark room, the heavy wooden door closing behind them with a hollow 'boom'.
The room, above all things, was beautiful and sexy and seductive and very not his style. A bottle of what he believed to be Russian vodka was on a small tea table and a dark crimson bed was in the center of the room. Around the bed was a veil of fabric, thinly shielding the inside of the canopy bed.
A hand on his back snapped him out of his reverie. It travelled up and along his shoulder. "So..." Breathed a voice into his ear.
Toris eeped and jumped away, blushing. "W-W-What are you doing?"
"Well, I don't like put out or anything, but I can like totally put on a show." She said, turning to face him with a flirtatious smile and a wink.
Blood rushed to Toris' face. "Y-You don't u-understand! I-I-I'm just h-here with a-a friend of m-mine! I'm n-n-not h-here for anything like... /that/! And I already kind of l-l-li- ...Never mind."
The blonde pouted and Tori's realized for the first time how young this girl looked. They'd probably be about the same age. She /couldn't/ be much older than him, if at all.
Felicyta let out a deep sigh, crossed her arms and pouted a bit. "But Lei-"
Her eyes widened.
His eyes widened.
"But aren't I, like pretty enough?" She corrected herself, moving on as if nothing had happened, pushing him onto a wooden chair and straddled him, making him blush a bit.
Through his blush, Toris almost smirked but held it back. He was surprised 'Felicyta' hid from him this long. If she were going to play that way, then so was he. "Umm... If you don't mind me asking, why do you do this?"
Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, momentarily losing her sexual persona. "Well, I like totally need the money and stuff."
Toris inwardly smirked. He had her cornered. "But by the way you act and by your body, you don't have any problems with money. I bet you even have money to spare."
The girl jumped off of his lap and stared at him in bewilderment. "And, like, what do you mean by that?"
Toris smirked, an expression that normally didn't fall on his face. Only one person he knew did he feel comfortable enough to smirk with. He found his stutter had disappeared as well. "Well it's just that I think someone your age doesn't need to worry about money that much. I mean, high school students normally just get jobs at fast food restaurants."
"Well like maybe I kind of like this job? I could, like, want to work here and stuff!" She exclaimed, abandoning all facades. Her voice even deepened a bit from the high falsetto it had been.
Toris knew he was winning. "So you are a high school student then?"
She frowned realizing her mistake and turned away from him. "Now you're just, like, putting words into my mouth. It's, like, my mouth and I didn't say that. You always put words into my mouth and I, like, don't appreciate it." She huffed, not realizing her slip up. She had said he 'always' did something. As if they'd met before.
Inside, Toris was quite pleased with himself. "But Feliks I can't put words in your mouth. You talk too fast."
He spun to face him. "Ya well, Liet, ya know-"
Feliks' eyes widened when he saw the huge smirk on Toris' face. He was so shocked that he didn't even make a move to stop him when Toris slowly made his way towards him and carefully removed his wig, revealing the shorter blond hair underneath that fell down to his shoulders.
The two boys stood facing each other, both eyeing the other up trying to figure out where they each stood in this situation. Finally, deciding that since he wasn't the one in a dress that he'd be the man in the situation, Toris smiled and sat down on the bed, gesturing Feliks over.
Feliks looked hesitant as he made his way to sit beside Toris on the canopy bed.
"So are you going to explain any of this?" Toris asked in a calm, unobtrusive voice, gesturing towards Feliks' dress, the walls, and the bed.
In response, Feliks grabbed a pillow, hugged it and said, "Nope." in the most stubborn way that he could. In Toris' opinion it just sounded pouty.
Toris sighed and lay back on the bed, facing the ceiling. "Then can you at least tell me why you chose me tonight? I might not have known it was you, but you knew who I was all along."
Feliks shook his head again, the pout in his voice increasing. "I'd rather tell you what happened than answer that." He turned away from Tori's so that he sat facing the crimson walls.
Toris sat looking at his friend's back, noticing that the sequins on the dress glimmered when he moved. Sequins were so Feliks. He didn't know why he'd never realized it before.
It must have been five minutes before Feliks finally built up the courage to speak. "Well it started when you left Ivan's group. He got like really jealous and angry, which is how he was when General Winter found him. He's the owner of this... Establishment and totally offered Ivan a job here the moment they met. Ivan hates him, but accepted Winter's job offer to become the enforcer of, like, all the work here."
Feliks' voice got shakier. "It didn't affect me until Winter's lead dancer went... 'missing' after skipping a practice. That was when he decided that I would fill in... indefinitely."
Feliks stood up and turned around to face Toris, gesturing wildly to himself. Tears were streaming down his face. "Liet I don't like doing this! It makes me feel dirty."
The Lithuanian stood up and wrapped his arms around his friend, letting Feliks sob into his shoulder. "At least you don't..." He blushed. "'put out'"
Still crying into his shoulder, Feliks whimpered, "They touch me. It makes me feel really tainted and defiled."
Toris gently lifted his friend's head up to look him straight in the eyes. "Feliks I won't let them touch you again. You can leave Ivan. I did. We can go away from him together."
"But there's a reason Ivan is the enforcer! He's like totally ripped and like bat shit crazy!" Feliks exclaimed, tears streaming down his face again.
Toris laid a hand on Feliks' shoulder and gently with the other hand he wiped away his friend's tears. "I don't care. You're more important than my safety."
Once again, for a moment they simply stared at each other, realizing exactly what Toris had just said. His words were strong and powerful and completely not like his usual timid self. In that moment, for the first time, Toris noticed all the different shades and depths to Feliks' eyes. He saw the conflicting emotions swirling around his eyes as they tried to figure out what to say.
Feliks sighed and looked away, cutting off Toris' view of his eyes. "You don't understand..."
Toris' eye brows bunched in confusion, but he put a hand on his friend's shoulder anyway. "Then help me understand." He said calmly, hoping Feliks might look him in the eye.
He didn't. Feliks turned away and stared out the small window at the end of the room, watching the empty alleyway outside. Whatever he saw there must have strengthened his will because, though he didn't turn around, he said one of the most influential statements Toris would ever hear.
"You didn't actually think Ivan would let you go without a fight did you?"
For a moment, Toris couldn't breathe. He couldn't speak. He couldn't think. For a moment, there was nothing. His legs crumpled beneath him and he tumbled to the deep hardwood floor. His hands found his way to his face and then he was crying. They weren't loud sobs or sniffles. Tears just streamed down his face in silence. In that moment, noise seemed impossible.
"Liet! Like, what's wrong? You're not, like, hurt are you?" Feliks exclaimed, dropping down to his knees to run Toris' back. "I'm, like, totally sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that. I should've told you, like, totes slower than I did and, like-"
Toris' head sprung up to look Feliks in the eyes, grabbing both his shoulders forcibly. "What did he do to you?"
The blonde's eyes widened. "It's, like, totally fine Liet. I did it for you. Don't feel bad or-"
"He hurt you... He hurt you and it's my fault." He swallowed and took a deep breath. "Did he threaten you into coming here?" He said in a choked voice.
Feliks mumbled something and stood up, shaking off Toris' grip on his shoulders in the process. He walk over to the old window again.
"Pardon?" Toris said as he got up to make his way to his friend.
He mumbled something again.
"I can't understand you Feliks. Please just tell me. If you don't tell me I'll assume that it's worse than it is."
"I-I said... He didn't threaten me."
When Toris looked confused, Feliks elaborated. "Ivan told me first that he'd, like, really hurt me if I didn't come here. I'm not scared of him, so I, like, told him no and that he could do some, like, totally do some anatomically impossible stuff with himself, but then... he said he'd hurt you and bring you back to him whether you wanted to or not if I didn't come to this place."
"Feliks, you idiot! Why did you do that? I'd rather be under Ivan's wing again than have you go through what you've been through!" Toris cried, waving his finger accusingly at the Pole, who had turned around to state at him with wide eyes and a mouth wide open. "You're a free spirit! You can't just be chained under him and- and- If I'd known-"
If Toris wasn't so upset he'd have laughed that he'd finally managed to make his talkative friend lost for words. In any other situation, he would have celebrated.
"Feliks?"
The boy in question jutted out his hip and crossed his arms, falling into the diva he usually was. "Like, what?"
"You're worth more so much more than this. Y-You have to swear to me that you're not going to come back. Not for me and especially not for Ivan. Please?"
Feliks sighed and looked away. "I can't do that Liet. I'm, like, totes sorry, but until Ivan tells me to, like, get lost, I have to keeping coming back and there's, like, nothing you can do to, like, stop me or anything."
Toris felt like his insides were going to burst and destroy him from the inside. He knew that no matter how hard he pleaded with Ivan, Ivan would never relinquish one of his toys without payment and the payment for releasing Feliks... Well... Toris didn't think that there was one.
The only way Feliks would be free was if-
A grin slowly spread up Toris' face. "I guess we'll just have to make it so that he can't use you anymore."
Feliks raised an eyebrow. "Like, what are you smoking and where can I, like, get some? What are you talking about, Liet?"
The Lithuanian didn't answer. He just grabbed Feliks by the wrist and started pulling him out of the bedroom, despite the resistance from his friend.
"Wait! Liet! This is, like, totally not cool! I've gotta, like, put my wig on and stuff!" Feliks cried as he grabbed his wig and started shoving it on his head, still in the process of being dragged by his friend out of the room.
Toris shoved the door open and ran through the hallways that he didn't even remember coming through. Tori's smiled as he pulled his friend. He'd been in such a daze on the way here. Now, he felt more awake then he'd ever been before.
Toris reached the end of the hallway, Feliks with his wig firmly on his head in tow. He thrust open the wooden door and onto the stage from earlier.
In any other situation, Toris would have frozen with stage fright and stopped directly where he was so that he wouldn't be in the spotlight, but he had a purpose, so he bit it back and called out, "I need everyone's attention!"
After seeing that 'Felicyta' was with him, the men of the club crowded around him and the stage.
"Yo! What's with her?" yelled one of the men.
Another yelled, "I'm always up for some one-on-one!"
"Hey babe! Let's finish where we started yesterday! Just you and me!"
Tori's resisted getting mad. He had a purpose and he was egging to complete it. He wanted Feliks free. He needed to give his friend his freedom back.
"Y-You all need to know something." Toris said to the crowd of observers.
"Ya, ya, ya just spit it out!"
Feliks just looked at him in confusion. "Ya, like, what are you doing Liet?"
Toris smiled shyly and looked his friend in the eye as he brought his hand up gently towards his face. "This is for you, okay?" He whispered.
"Felicyta," Toris said, looking at boy in question. "isn't a girl." And he ripped the wig off his friends head.
A collective gasp was heard over the crowd, but Tori's wasn't done yet.
"And anyways, he's mine." And then he brought his lips to the very surprised Pole.
The mouths of the men watching hung open as their kiss deepened. Toris brought his arms around Feliks' neck and pulled him closer. His heart was thudding in his chest. He couldn't believe Feliks was responding to the kiss. It was- It was- It was too good to be true. It was as if he was living for the first time.
A wolf whistle cut through the air, crushing the moment in all it's glory. "Ya! Go get 'im man!"
They jumped away from each other, both not meeting the other's eyes and blushing a beat red. Well that was awkward. They had forgotten that they had an audience and shocked was that audience to say the least. Their mouths hung wide open in shock and not one of them made a move to close them. In those minutes, no one in the audience moved.
But Alfred had brought them back to reality. It was a harsh wake up, but it was much appreciated none the less.
Toris took a step away from Feliks and cleared his throat. "Umm... S-S-So... Ummm... What I-I was saying was that- I just m-meant that-that- well... Feliks can't work here! H-He's taken and he's a guy and y-you guys are l-looking for time with g-girls a-and stuff, so..."
Feliks cut in to save Toris, turning to face a tinted window at the back of the room, presumably where Ivan was. "And you can't, like, keep me here 'cause they all, like, know I'm a dude and stuff and I..." He blushed and wrapped his arm around Toris' waist. "I, like, totally love Toris here, so I'm not gonna, like, stay here, so... like..."
"Find yourself a new boy toy, Ivan you commie bastard!" screamed a voice from the lower level. It was Alfred. Suddenly Alfred's mysterious ability to gain admittance here made sense. He got in because he had black mail on Ivan. To think Ivan was black-mailable.
"Get off the stage!" Screamed a rather large man from the audience. "We want a show, not some cross-dresser and his gay friend. We want action."
"Yo man, I'm just saying, but with a face like that you aren't getting any action." Alfred told the man, a cocky grin on his face and a glint in his eyes.
The man's eyes darkened in rage. "What did you just say, punk?" The man said cracking his knuckles and wrists.
"I said-"
"I know what you said, I was just giving you a chance to revise it." He snapped as he moved towards Alfred, sizing him up. "How about 'cause I'm feeling real generous I'll give you a five second head start. Run little boy. Go back to your mommy."
Alfred laughed obnoxiously and smirked at the man. "I'm the hero! I can take you! Oh, and I'm not little. I am a strong and mighty American who lives off of hamburgers and freedom!"
The man didn't even respond. Instead he took a swing at the already ducking and counteracting blond.
Toris smiled. His friend had gotten in so many fights as a kid that his mother had taken him to self defense and karate lessons. Alfred probably wouldn't even get a scratch on him. As if to back up his thought process, mid-dodge Alfred looked Toris in the eyes, then towards the exit, and then winked.
Reading his friend's signal, Toris grabbed his friend's hand and pulled him towards the door. Everyone's attention was towards the fight, so no one even noticed as the pair slipped around the frozen dancers and spectators and through the door.
Behind them, the door closed with a heavy slam and a click. As soon as the light from the club was gone, Toris slid down the wall and buried his face in his hands in exhaustion. Not long after, Feliks slid down beside him.
The two friends couldn't bring themselves to speak for the longest time. Shit had gone down in that club and it was taking it's time sinking in. When it finally did, not surprisingly, Feliks was the one who spoke.
"Hey Liet?" Feliks said cautiously, turning to face Toris, a blush rising up on his cheeks.
Toris turned to look at the blond in the dress.
"Did you mean what you said in there? About, like, you know," He looked away. "Liking me and stuff."
Toris' face burned and he looked at his knees to avoid seeing his friend's face. "Y-ya I really did. I've loved you for as long as I can remember." When Feliks didn't turn around, Toris continued. "And if you don't like me, that's fine, because I'm just going to keep loving you and I'm going to keep caring about you, but I won't force you into anything because that would be really lame of me and it would make me no better that Ivan and I swear I'll never hurt you Feliks because I love you a-a-and I-"
Feliks turned around and Toris saw that tears were running down his friend's face and he was smiling so much that it looked like it hurt. He put a hand over Toris' mouth. "Liet, you, like, are, like, totally talking way too much and that's, like, coming from me." And with that, he took his hand off of Toris' mouth and replaced it with his own mouth.
The kiss was really short, but the emotion behind it made was that of ten kisses. It was also a promise. A promise of a better future. A future without creepy Russians, with the freedom to be themselves and maybe still with a few dresses, but only when the Polish boy felt like it or the Lithuanian didn't feel like resisting. It was the promise of a future together.
The two boys grinned at each other.
...
"Feliks?"
"Ya Liet?"
"You never did tell me why you chose me instead of all those other guys back in the club."
"Lieeeeeeet! You totally know why!"
AN To begin I must give credit where credit is due. My idea was inspired by Moulin Rouge, though Moulin Rouge did not involve psychotic Russians or cross-dressers, so... Also a thanks goes out to Madik my most spectacular beta. Thank you to Naviar for first of all letting me rant on the phone to her for about an hour and a half... At least... When I got stuck on this plot. She helped me greatly by sorting out my messed up thought process. Another thanks to CrayonCrisis69 for more or less letting me tell her what direction I wanted the ending to go. Her nod was what made the ending not angsty. It could have been so angsty...
ALSO I disclaim rights to the line "Alfred laughed obnoxiously and smirked at the man."I'm the hero! I can take you! Oh, and I'm not little. I am a strong and mighty American who lives off of hamburgers and freedom!"" because emmie333 wrote that when I was watching Captain America on the bus ride to New York. She stole my iPod when I wasn't looking. I let her get away with it and decided to roll with the paragraph. That line is rightfully hers. :) (She didn't even realize that I was going to keep it :P)
Last but not least a great big thanks to the rest of The Table for reading my fic and stuff and for being totally awesome (but not as awesome as Prussia). Check out The Table! We prompt each other with random countries and it's amusing! :D I'm writing a China and Hungary fic next. What to do with it... What to do with it...
-Ash
PS I would greatly appreciate a couple reviews and stuff. Just kind of about your opinions and things and if you liked it and what not. I'm not going to check until my exams are over (because I'm starting my exams), so a couple reviews would be a great pick-me-up and a wonderful start to my summer vacation. :D So ya... Review? :)