Title: At the Sign of the Bawdy Moogle
Summary: In which we have strippers, rockstars, college, a soon-to-be sabotaged wedding, alcohol, and lots of gay boys. Akuroku, RiSo, KaiSo, C/L, Zemyx
Rating: M for offensive language and adult situations
Disclaimer: Not my sandbox. I just play in it.
…
Chapter the Second
…
It was ten o'clock by the time Roxas arrived back at his dorm, his mind slightly more at ease due to the ice cream-induced daze he currently enjoyed. Most of his dorm mates were still in the common room, biding their time until they felt the need to trail off to bed.
The dorm was quite large, as far as dorms went – six bedrooms, a common room with a kitchen area, and two bathrooms, one for each gender. The boys took the three rooms on the right wing. Hayner and Roxas shared one, of course; their childhood friend Pence James and a boy called Arc Thomas shared another. The last boys' room was occupied by Arc's friends, Luneth Badr and Ingus Fayth.
The girls took the left wing. Another of Roxas' group, Olette Gainsborough, shared a room with Refia Trepe. The second room belonged to two sorority girls who were hardly ever around – Jasmine something-or-other and Meg… well… Roxas never could remember their last names. The final room on the girls' side belonged to the resident advisor, Namine Umino.
Sora's future sister-in-law, if the brunet boy got his way. Roxas tried not to think about it.
At first glance, you wouldn't think Kairi and Namine were even related, let alone twin sisters. Kairi was boldly redheaded where Namine was platinum blonde. Kairi was a gossip and a bit of an airhead where Namine was demure and creative. They even moved in different social circles, Kairi preferring to hang with Sora's friends, while Namine socialized more often than not with Roxas' group. There was one thing the girls had in common, however – they both had infectiously kind personalities.
And they could read people like no other.
"You look like you're feeling a lot better," Namine said with a smile as Roxas walked into the common room and sat next to her at the dining table. Roxas shrugged uncomfortably and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box that was sitting open on the table. Evidently they'd decided to turn tonight into a movie night.
"Ice cream makes it easier to accept," Roxas offered, biting into the slice of cheesy-tomato goodness. Namine giggled softly.
"You missed quite the scene while you were out. Luneth finally asked Refia to go out with him. She said yes, obviously – been dropping hints for weeks – and Arc and Pence decided to throw a little party in celebration." Roxas grinned.
"About time. Now all we need is for Hayner to grow a pair and confess his undying love to Olette, and the unresolved sexual tension will finally dissipate."
"Joy," Namine said dryly, returning to her sketchbook with an ironic little half-smile on her face. Roxas leaned over her shoulder to examine her drawing.
"Who's that?" he asked, mildly interested. The sketch was of a young man with light hair styled to stand straight up at the front. Even in the profile view, Roxas could make out the tribal-esque tattoo that framed his eye. Namine "hm"ed softly, adding a few shadows under the drawn man's chin.
"A guy from my Baroque art class. His name is Zell something… I thought he would be an interesting person to draw," she said with a smile, pulling back from the paper and smiling with satisfaction.
"Interesting is one way to put it," Roxas said with a grin. "I can't help but notice that he is quite good-looking for a guy and most definitely your type, considering he's suffering through a Baroque art class." Namine couldn't hide the blush that rose into her cheeks, although she made a valiant attempt.
"Hush, you." Roxas laughed as finished up the slice of pizza, and then stood.
"I've got a 9 AM class, so I need to get some rest. Try not to be too loud, Namine, you're supposed to be a role model."
"Says the boy who sings Disney songs at the top of his lungs when he wakes up at two in the morning and can't fall back asleep."
"That was one time!" Roxas objected as he walked into his room. Hayner was absent – most likely hanging out in Pence's room next door. The blonde sighed deeply, shutting the door behind him before he flopped down onto his bed. He grabbed a well-worn (well-loved) book from his nightstand, intending to read until he fell asleep with the book open on his face.
No such luck.
"Back to the street, down to our feet, losing the feeling of feeling unique –"
Roxas groaned, slamming his book back down on the nightstand as he glared at his phone, currently serenading him with the dulcet tones of Panic at the Disco. Sora's signature ringtone. After a moment of internal debate, Roxas decided that ignoring his older brother for much longer was immature, and picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Roxas!"
"Sora. What do you want?" Okay, so maybe Roxas wasn't that mature.
"I was thinking we should start to plan my bachelor party… are you busy?" Roxas glanced forlornly at the book that called to him, wincing at the thought of sacrificing it to talk about plans for a party he didn't want to happen.
"No, I'm not busy, Sora…"
"Great! Well, I was thinking…"
…
"This was supposed to be an interesting class," Axel grumbled, slouching in his seat at the back of the lecture hall. Demyx grinned from the seat next to him, in the process of folding a piece of notebook paper into a cootie-catcher.
"It's a philosophy class. Of course it's boring," Demyx said. He finished off his folding and began writing fortunes on the flaps.
"What I don't get," piped up another blonde from Axel's other side, "is how this shit counts for math credit."
"Zell, have you even attempted the homework?" Demyx asked wryly. Zell snorted.
"Hell no."
"Hence, you don't get it," Axel smirked. Demyx had forced Axel into sitting down and doing the homework with him the night before. If Axel ever saw another proof again, it would be too soon.
Zell Dincht, Demyx Myde, and Axel Lee went way back – Zell and Demyx were cousins, in fact. They'd all decided to take Intro to Logic together, against the advice of their respective academic counselors. After all, Zell and Axel had shared a chemistry class the previous term…
The chem lab would never be the same again. And the professor and three of the TAs had resigned.
Axel returned to doodling in his notebook; aside from stick-figure effigies of the Logic professor which were screaming in agony as graphite fire consumed them, scraps of self-written lyrics adorned the light blue lines.
"Fuck, this class is such bull," Zell sighed, raising his feet onto the back of the seat in front of him and ignoring the aggravated look the freshman sitting in it shot at him.
"Like you've got anything better do," Axel smirked. Demyx was finishing off the cootie-catcher.
"I'd rather be in my art history class." Zell scratched his cheek, fingers lingering over the edges of his tribal-design tattoo. Axel and Zell had both gotten drunk one night, and challenged each other to a game of chicken. It somehow ended up with both of them getting facial tattoos – Axel's a set of upside-down teardrops on his cheeks, and Zell's the vine-like monstrosity that adorned his left cheek and temple. Axel still swore that his tattoos were in no way, shape or form inspired by those of his older brother.
Not many people believed him.
"Art history?" Axel asked incredulously, looking up from his doodles and lyrics to give Zell a dubious look. Zell huffed.
"Zell, pick a color!" Demyx said, holding out the cootie-catcher.
"Er, red. It's not as girly as it sounds. Bunch of paintings of naked chicks, and… stuff."
"Uh…huh," Axel replied, not for a moment sounding as if he believed the man.
"Number!" – "Six." – "You know, Ax, it could be that girl whose name he's been drawing hearts around in his notebook," Demyx said cheerily, opening and closing his cootie-catcher. Zell reddened as Axel let out a surprised laugh and grabbed said notebook from Zell's grasp.
"Hey – !"
"Na-mi-ne, huh?" Axel grinned. Zell stiffened and turned away from the redhead, folding his arms in a huff. Miffed at being ignored, Axel returned the notebook. "Tch. No fun, Zell."
"Bully," Zell snapped, stuffing the notebook into his backpack.
"Another number, Zell!" Zell gave the blonde musician a Look.
"Do I have to?" Demyx's eyes got rounder and shinier as he processed Zell's reluctance.
"You – you don't w-want to –"
"Fine! Fucking three," Zell said quickly, attempting to preclude the impending pouting. Dem's pout was dangerous. Demyx happily flipped open the flap for number three.
"Ooh! Zell's got romance in his future!"
It was too difficult for Axel to smother is guffaws and maintain his coordination; he fell out of his chair, clutching his stomach with one hand and clapping the other over his mouth.
…
Pale fingers ran through silky silver hair, the owner blinking his turquoise eyes at his reflection in the mirror. Riku inspected himself, flexing his abs and chuckling to himself. In his line of work, looking good was compulsory. His own ethereal beauty was a stark contrast to the dinginess of his studio apartment.
Stretching, Riku glared at his pig sty of a dwelling. It definitely wasn't easy being a college student with no parents and no means.
Riku's parents had died a scant two years ago, just as Riku was turning eighteen and getting ready to leave for college. It hadn't bothered him much – his parents were never around really, and seemed more preoccupied with each other and their jobs than wasting their time caring about him – but it did pose quite a problem when it came to the high tuition costs posed by the Twilight Institute for Higher Learning.
The government paid for a bit of it, of course, but TIHL was a private college; what the government offered barely covered the tuition of state schools. Scholarships made up most of the rest of the cost, but there was still an extra 5000 munny per quarter that Riku didn't just have lying around.
To be fair, Riku had tried working elsewhere; he'd tried plying his older brother for cash. But on-campus jobs just didn't pay well, and his brother was a bitch who couldn't care less whether Riku got a decent education.
"Why should I give you anything?" Sephiroth had sneered. "There's nothing in it for me. If you need money so badly, go be a stripper."
Riku doubted Sephiroth had actually intended for the younger Jenova to take his advice seriously. He took to the idea with a vindictive pleasure, managing to find the classiest strip club in Twilight Town and getting a job almost as soon as he walked through door. So now, big-shot TV producer Sephiroth Jenova had to live with the shame of having a stripper as a little brother. Ha. Serve him right for refusing to lend Riku a bit of cash.
A quick glance to the analog clock hung haphazardly on Riku's wall told him that it was time to go to work. With a sigh, he pulled a shirt on, grabbed his wallet, and left.
The evening air was crisp. Expected, for November, but in a neighborhood where the buildings were barely standing, the crispness tended to turn into bitingly-cold-and-seeping-through-the-cracks-in-the-masonry-ness. Riku was glad he'd be spending the majority of the night at the strip club, where they had central heating. Ah, blessed climate control.
Not that Riku's neighborhood was that dilapidated. It was just a tad on the outdated side. And it had a slight gang problem. It didn't matter much to Riku. If you kept your head down and your eyes on the sidewalk, no one here would look at you twice.
Riku took a shortcut down an alley and emerged in the Tram Commons – the exact center of the city. You could get anywhere in Twilight Town from the Commons; all you needed to do was latch on to the railing of one of the trams and go with the flow. Eventually, the tram would coast near enough to your destination that you could jump off, cut between a few buildings, and end up exactly where you needed to be.
If you knew what you were about, that is. Riku pitied the poor tourists who heeded the directions of the urchins that plagued the downtown area; he'd had to lead more than one group of Wonderland vacationers out of the labyrinthine alleyways. The yuppies from Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion tended to fair a bit better than those from the backwater areas like Deep Jungle and Wonderland, but not by much.
Riku had grown up in Hollow Bastion, himself; it wasn't until he was applying for colleges that he even thought about living in Twilight Town. He, too, had fallen prey to the convoluted twists and turns of Twilight's inner city – at least until he had managed to befriend a Twilight native, who had told him the secret of navigating those twists and turns like a local.
Since then, he'd felt more at home in the mazelike depths of the city than he had anywhere else.
Riku came presently to his destination, a building placed on the corner of a prominent intersection. Trinity was dim and smelled slightly of cigarettes, but Riku had grown attached to it. His coworkers were amusing, his boss was reasonably laid-back, and the clientele mostly kept their hands to themselves. The club was one of the smaller and more exclusive clubs in Twilight Town; not nearly as high-profile as Club Destiny, but it ranked somewhere in the top-ten.
They loved Riku here. He was the silver-haired Adonis, so far out of everyone's league that it was almost a religious experience to be noticed by him. He had his own pedestal here, and it wasn't merely the stage upon which he danced for the masses.
He nodded to Rude as he entered the club. The bouncer acknowledged him, but said nothing, maintaining his menacing aloofness. Riku made his way to the dressing rooms at the back, whre the performers got ready for their shows. Two girls were lounging there already: Penelo and Ashe Dalmasca, the sisters who shared one of the most popular (and provocative) acts that Trinity had to offer.
"You're late, Riku." Riku turned and shot a winning smile at his boss.
"Sorry, Balthier, my history lecture ran overtime." The blond man rolled his eyes.
" Yeah, yeah. Tch. College students… by the way, kid, I've got a bachelorette party lined up in need of a stripper. You gonna take it?"
Riku shrugged, giving Penelo a high five as the girls sauntered out of the dressing room to start their dance.
"I guess so. Tips?"
"It's for one of those rich whores in the Tram Commons district, so they should be pretty good."
"I'm in," Riku said, giving Balthier a nod before he began preparing for his act. Things were looking up.
…
A/N: You guys honestly have no idea how close I came to losing this document. My computer crashed before I had saved, and I picked the wrong autosave from the document recovery. Luckily, I have mad computer skillz and managed to recover the recovered file with a system restore. :D I am that pro. Yes indeed. I was totally pissed off at myself and almost cried when I realized I'd got it back. I was not looking forward to rewriting half of this…
Roxas' ringtone for Sora is Panic at the Disco's new single, "Nine in the Afternoon," which has been playing in my itunes nonstop. Go check it out on Youtube!
By the way, I love ehow dot com. They have everything there, including details on "how to become a stripper." I nearly choked when I found it.
As for Demyx's pout… visit ladychimera's deviantart if you don't believe me. It's DEADLY.
As for you kiddos who alerted this story and didn't review, please do so this time. : Generally, people judge a story by how many reviews it has… so if it's not worth it for you guys to review, is it really worth it for me to write? I hope it is… I rather like it. So, even if it's just some quick little "update liek now, n00b" review, I'd appreciate the thought. ;P (Although I appreciate critique much more.)
Plus, I gave you an extra-long chapter. Chyeah. Can we say incentive? I'm planning on increasing chapter length by half until I get to 15-20 pages per. First was 4 pages, this one is 6… so next should be 9. : If you review, that is.
Thanks to room mate/ beta Becky, without whom this chapter wouldn't be in existence. It really helps your update schedule if your beta sleeps in a bed five feet away from yours. :D
Please review:3
