Hey guys! So I got this idea for a story involving Jean and Armin - it's long and kinda dark in parts but it is, ultimately, a love story. I won't say too much for now, I'll let the prologue do the talking. Hope you enjoy 3
It is a truth universally known that you can tell a lot about a place by its bars and the dingier the dive, the poorer the town. So really it should have been no surprise to Jean, after having seen what the rest of Shinganshina has to offer, that their dive bar is an absolute shit-hole. Dingy and grimy there is a very real possibility that one could contract hepatitis just from sitting on one of the seats for too long. Still this is the nearest bar for miles and, after the day he's had, Jean needs a stiff drink.
The trick with dives is to act like you're supposed to be there so Jean purposefully makes his way over to the bar. There are a few people here and there but it's not full by any stretch of the imagination. All the patrons wear the same bleak, vacant expression, none of them looking up from their drinks as if they can find the answer to their problems at the bottom of the glass. It's the same dull eyed face Jean has seen on most of the people he's met in Shinganshina and it makes him wonder why he came to this backwater town in the first place.
At the bar Jean waits as an unhappy looking blonde girl, dressed in nothing but a bra and a tiny pair of shorts that may as well be underwear, brings the man standing next to him his drinks. Once he's left she turns to him and Jean catches a flash of her name-badge: Titan. Odd name for someone so small and twiggy...
"What can I get you?" she asks. She sounds as bored as her dull blue eyes look and Jean can't help but feel a little sorry for her. Working in a place like this must be hell...
"Double scotch, no ice," Jean replies.
Titan nods and goes to prepare his drink. Not that it requires much preparation – in a place like this you don't want to water down the booze as it's probably watered down enough as it is and drinking the tap water isn't a good idea either. When she returns she places the glass down on the filthy bar top and Jean notes, with genuine surprise, that the glass is at least clean.
"Seven fifty," she tells him.
Jean hands her a note. "Keep the change."
Titan gives him the barest hint of a smile before disappearing off to the next customer. That may well have just made her night, Jean realises.
He picks up his drink and turns to look around at the rest of the bar. Everything about it looks filthy and out-dated and a place like this really has no business charging seven fifty for a double scotch. There must be some pull to this place although Jean can't for the life of him figure out what and he isn't all together sure he wants to hang around to find out. He is about to down the drink and leave when the lights go out.
Music begins to blare out of the speakers and a set of huge grimy looking curtains along one wall slowly part. Spotlights shine on the revealed stage showcasing a single pole in the centre. Ah so that's why people come here...
"Ladies and gentlemen of Club Rose please welcome to the stage the tantalising Azure," a booming voice echoes through the speakers.
The spotlights snap off and a second later the stage is backlit to reveal the silhouette of a slender figure with hair that stops just above their shoulders. The spotlights suddenly light up again to reveal a stunning, slightly feminine blond man in tight jeans and a white tank top. Jean's heart stops as the angel on stage takes hold of the pole and begins to sensually grind his hips against it to cheers and wolf whistles from the small crowd. Who is he...?
With transfixed eyes Jean watches as the dancer – Azure – runs a hand down his chest and back up, taking the hem of the tank top with him and revealing taught muscles underneath. The cheers of the crowd get louder as hands suddenly fly to the low collar of the tank top and Azure tears it open, right down the middle and pulls it off. Jean's breath catches in his throat as the now shirtless beauty tosses the tattered scraps across the stage and begins to dance. Azure works the pole like a lover's body, grinding against it and wrapping himself around it, making sure those impossibly tight trousers tighten even more.
Throughout the performance Jean watches, utterly spellbound, almost wishing that he could trade places with that pole, if only for a second. To have those legs wrapped around him and those hips grinding against his must be what heaven feels like. Don't get too carried away, you're still in public... When the dance finally comes to an end and Azure leaves the stage Jean downs his drink, the spell broken as he comes back to himself, and turns back to the bar. Titan just so happens to be free and behind him and she looks up when she sees movement.
"Same again?" she asks.
"Thanks but I'm good," Jean says. Titan turns to leave. "One second."
"Yeah?"
"Who was that?"
"Who?"
"The dancer," Jean replies nodding his head in the direction of the stage. Titan's eyes briefly follow the movement but her expression doesn't seem to change at all.
"That?" she asks. "That was Azure. He's the most popular dancer we have here."
"I can see why," Jean says more to himself than to her. He turns his attention back to the stage and Titan moves on to the next customer. As the stage lights up on the next dancer – a tall well built man with cropped black hair – Jean realises that he needs to see Azure again. Even if it means coming back to this shit-hole every night until he sees him, Jean will make sure that he does see him again.