"This is crap," Rex announced loudly, "I refuse to play Robin to Phillip's batman."
"It doesn't look like you have a choice," Phillip pointed out, "You're already in costume and all the other costumes are taken. Besides, I don't see what you're complaining about. I wanted to be Superman but no, Bonnie says that Lucas gets to be Superman."
"Couldn't I at least be Spiderman or Daredevil?" Rex asked, glaring at Patrick and Tanner, who were currently wearing those said costumes, "I'd take either one. Anything is better than playing Robin."
"Rex, stop giving everybody a hard time," Mimi chided him, coming up behind the men with an armload of capes in hand, "You look great in your Robin costume." Mimi's gaze slid up and down Rex's body carefully. Yes, he looked very good. In the green leggings, black boots and gloves and red body suit, Mimi knew she would definitely rather shack up with Robin than end up in the backseat of Batman's Bat-mobile at the moment. Not that she had any complaints about Phillip's batman costume. Or any of the costumes for that matter.
"It's not the Robin costume," Rex retorted, "It's an ego thing. I am smarter and better than Phillip, therefore I should be Batman. Besides, I wouldn't mind playing Robin if Lucas or Patrick or Tanner was playing Batman. But there's no way I want to be Phillip's sidekick."
"Come on, we flipped a coin and I won fair and square," Phillip reminded his brother, "Besides, I don't know what you have against me lately. Just give it up, man."
"You're trying to steal Shawn's girl," Rex fumed, "What kind of a friend are you? You're being a complete traitor. I hope Shawn gets back in time to stop you from stealing Belle from him."
Phillip grunted, "You're awfully quick to defend Shawn. Do you love him or something?"
Rex's nose crinkled up in disgust, "He's my cousin."
"Yeah, and your love for him goes beyond cousin-cousin." Phillip added with a snort. Rex's scowl deepened and he stepped toward Phillip and raised a hand to hit him. But Phillip backed up and gave Rex a warning look.
"Don't touch it. You'll mess up my costume."
"All right, that's enough," Mimi stepped between the two men, "Phillip, stop provoking Rex and Rex, stop accusing of Phillip of trying to move in on Belle. God, for two grown men, you both act like ten year olds with a serious case of sibling rivalry."
"That's pretty much it," Lucas spoke up with a raised eyebrow, "Can you two chill out? We're all friends here, right?"
"Well, we're friends with you, Lucas," Rex replied, "I like you because you don't accuse me of being gay with Shawn and don't try to take people's women away from them."
"Yeah and I like you because you're don't accuse me of doing things I don't do," Phillip jumped in, glaring at Rex, "But I'm Lucas' favourite brother. Not you."
"Get real, Lucas likes me better. I'm smarter than you," Rex replied.
"But you used to hate Lucas. You were always a jerk to him and me and Shawn too. I was never as mean to him as you were."
"That was a long time ago. We're cool now. Right, Lucas?"
"Sure, we're cool." Lucas agreed and Rex turned to Phillip triumphantly.
"I told you he liked me better," Rex said to Phillip.
"Just because he says you're cool doesn't mean he likes you better," Phillip argued, "The two of us were brothers for longer."
Mimi looked from Rex to Phillip and then over to Lucas, "Are you finding this disturbing as I am? I can't believe they're fighting over you."
Lucas shook his head, "I think they're just looking for things to fight over now. They're not serious, they're just being idiots."
"All right, you guys," Mimi interrupted them briskly, "Here are your capes." She handed Lucas a red cape, Phillip a black one and Rex a black one with yellow lining, "And Spiderman and Daredevil don't get one."
"Thanks, Meems," Phillip took the cape from her and went to work on tying it around his neck. When he looked up again, Jan was making her way towards him and a smile spread across his face before he could stop himself. Rex, Mimi and Lucas noticed the smile and turned to look at Jan. Mimi let out an indignant gasp when she saw Jan.
"How dare you?" Mimi began to scold Jan before she had even finished making her way to the group of people, "How dare you come back to Salem, let alone enter my mother's club! I'm going to get the bouncers to kick you out!"
Jan gave Mimi a overly sweet smile, "I don't think that's a possibility. I mean, first off, I haven 't done anything wrong and second off, I work here now."
"Work here?" Mimi repeated, dumbstruck.
"That's right," Jan frowned, "Wait, technically, I'm a volunteer since you're mom isn't paying me. She said she only needed you as a water girl but she let me be the second water girl for the strippers because I told her I wanted to work back here so I could start making amends with you for all the horrible things I've done in the past."
"You are so lying to me," Mimi declared with a toss of her short hair, "I am going to go have a talk with my mom right now. There's no way I'm letting you steal my water girl tasks from me. Mother!" Mimi marched out of the dressing room angrily, muttering under her breath. Once Mimi was gone, Rex cleared his throat.
"I have to go get my costume touched up," Rex said before walking away from the group.
Jan looked from Lucas to Phillip, "Wow, your costumes are awesome. Is this the surprise? The super hero costumes?"
"Sort of," Phillip answered, "But there's more to it than that. Tonight, Bonnie wants to get some of the audience members up on stage so they can get in on the action too. There's going to be a little contest."
"Sounds interesting," Jan squinted at the costumes Phillip and Lucas were wearing, "Damn, those are nice costumes. Where did you find material that fits so well?"
Lucas coughed into his hand to hide his laughter, "Gee, I don't know. It's amazing, isn't it?"
"It really is," Jan agreed.
"I think I have to go finish getting my costume together too," Lucas told Phillip and Jan, still trying his best to hide a smirk at Jan's words. She would probably figure out the truth about their 'costumes' from Phillip but before then, Lucas didn't know if he could stop himself from bursting into laughter at the irony of the whole conversation he and Phillip were having with Jan. He began to walk away and Jan turned back to admire the dark glittering silver and black colours.
"Seriously, what is this thing made out of? It fits you like a glove." Jan remarked, not even bother trying to hide the admiration in her voice. Impulsively, she slid her hands up his arm to feel the material. She frowned at Phillip's amused grin and didn't realize what amused him so much until she slid all the way up his arm and shoulder to find that there wasn't a neckline to the costume. She gaped at him.
"Phillip, are you naked?" she asked, her eyes sliding down his chest to lower regions in amazement.
Phillip couldn't stop himself from chuckling at her reaction, "Except for my g-string, yeah. We all are."
Jan twirled around in a full circle, taking a closer look at Rex, Lucas, Patrick and Tanner's appearances. After a minute or two, she turned back to Phillip, "You're right. And I was so sure you guys were all just wearing really sleek body suits of something. I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out. I must be losing my touch."
"And that's not all that's special about these costumes," Phillip told her, enjoying seeing her reactions, "They're edible."
Jan's eyes brightened, "You're kidding," Phillip shook his head and she pulled him behind a rack of clothes so the other strippers couldn't see them, "Then I want to be the first one to taste."
Before Phillip could stop her, Jan brought her head down and nipped at his sugar-coated shoulder. After lightly biting him with her teeth, she flicked out her tongue to taste his shoulder, causing Phillip to jump in surprise. He still couldn't get over how different Jan was from Belle. Belle would probably never lick him without asking for permission first whereas Jan just jumped right in there and did whatever she wanted.
"Good going, Jan," Phillip looked over at his shoulder in disgust, "You licked away my costume. Now I'm going to go have to get the touched up by those makeup artists over there. Just as soon as they finish with Patrick's Spiderman costume and Rex and Lucas' costumes."
Jan ran her tongue over her lips, "You taste sweet. I like that." she smiled almost shyly at him,
"Yeah, well, I hope Belle will enjoy licking all of it off me tonight," Phillip returned, causing Jan to reel back as if she had been slapped.
"What did you just say?"
"Well, that's what the contest is for," Phillip explained, "Each guy picks a girl to come up on stage. The girl that licks the guy clean the fastest wins a prize. It was Bonnie's idea. It took her forever to get all of us to go along with it because, as Lucas pointed out, getting licked all over by females in public could present some problems. But that's okay, the point is, I'm going to pick Belle because I don't want to pick some strange girl I don't know to lick me."
"You think Belle would lick every bit of that of that sugar off of your body in front of that many people? Or even in private with you?" Jan scoffed, "I think not."
"It's worth a try," Phillip replied.
"No, actually it isn't," Jan objected, stepping closer to him, "But I'd do it. And I'd be a lot more likely to win that contest than Belle would."
"What are you saying?" Phillip asked slowly, his eyes glittering playfully.
"I'm saying you better pick me and not Belle. Or else," Jan gave him the most menacing look she could manage under the circumstance.
"Or else what?" Phillip challenged.
"Or else I'll cut off your manhood while you're sleeping and send it to your mom through the mail," Jan dead-panned, trying to keep a straight face.
Phillip's eyes widened and he pretended to be afraid, "Oh, no! Please don't do that! I guess I have no choice. I'll have to pick you," he shook his head sadly.
"I don't see what you're so upset about. I'm a better licker than Belle is. I can prove it. Let's practice. I know you don't want me messing up your costume but I'm sure there's one part of you I can lick that isn't covered in sparkling, edible powder." Jan smiled coyly at him and her hands slid under the straps of his g-string.
"I knew it!" Mimi's shrill voice rang out and Phillip and Jan turned to see Mimi standing behind them, "I knew you had ulterior motives for working here! Now you're trying to rape Phillip. I'm telling my mom!"
"You do that, Mimi. Go cry to mommy," Jan snapped, momentarily forgetting she was supposed to be being nice to Mimi. She turned back to Phillip as Mimi began walking away, "I guess I should go try and stop her. But you're still picking me, aren't you?"
"Sure," Phillip promised, taking another look at his shoulder, "I'm going to go fix this,"
Jan nodded and made a move to go after Mimi, then paused and turned back around, "Lucas is going to ask Sami?"
"Yes," Phillip answered, "And Rex is going to ask Mimi."
"You mean Mimi actually found someone who likes her? There's a shocker." Jan commented, then changed the subject, "What about those two other guys? Are they attached to anyone?"
"I don't think so," Phillip returned, "They'll probably just pick random women out of the crowd."
"Not if I can help it," Jan murmured, forgetting all about Mimi and walking towards Patrick and Tanner. A few minutes later, she was engaged in an animated conversation with both of them and Phillip couldn't even guess what she was talking to them about. She was definitely a wild card, unpredictable and sometimes a little too forward for her own good. That was going to get her in trouble one day. But for the time being, he kind of liked it. It was certainly a big change from Belle. And he knew one thing for sure, she probably would be a lot better at licking him than Belle would ever be.
"Hey, guys," Jan greeted Sami, Nicole and Crystal and slid into the seat they had saved for her, "Guess what?"
"No," Sami said unenthusiastically.
Jan scowled at Sami, "Then don't guess. I'll just tell you. I know what the surprise is! It's going to be awesome. I know all of you will love it." her gaze met each women's suggestively.
"If you're going to love it, then I probably won't," Sami looked up at the still empty stage nervously, "With Bonnie involved, you know it's going to be scary."
"It wasn't scary, believe me," Jan licked her lips, "It was sweet. Literally."
"What are you talking about?" Nicole asked, "Just tell us what the surprise is."
"Now why would I do that? You'll find out in a minute or two anyways." Jan assured Nicole and the four of them fell silent.
As Jan had promised, Bonnie stepped onto the stage a few minutes later. Microphone in hand, she smiled down at the audience members, "Good evening, ladies. Thanks for coming out, we've got something real special planned for you tonight, something that will give five lucky girls the time of their lives and the rest of you some very fine eye candy."
The women in the crowd cheered and Bonnie cleared her throat for silence, "Now we'll introduce you to the sexiest super heros I have ever seen in my life. Let's start off with Daredevil!"
The cheering got louder as a tall, muscular man in a red body suit came out onto the stage. A red mask covered his eyes but Sami could tell immediately that is wasn't Lucas.
"And now let's hear it for everyone's favourite dynamic duo, Batman and Robin!" Bonnie called out over the cheers and Rex and Phillip emerged. Even with the black goggles covering Rex's eyes, Sami could tell that Rex didn't look very happy about something. And Phillip's batman helmet didn't cover the mischievous smile lighting up what the crowd could see of his face. After that, Bonnie called out Spiderman but whoever was hiding under the Spiderman mask was too tall to be Lucas. But after the applause died down, Bonnie looked directly at Sami as she called out the next super hero.
"And last but definitely not least, let's have a big round of applause for Superman!" Bonnie shouted and every clapped and screamed when Lucas appeared on the stage. Sami sucked in her breath when she saw him. Despite the fact she might be a little biased, she still thought he was the best looking super hero up there. He didn't wear a mask like the rest of them and the royal blue body suit shimmered under the stage lights and his costume fit him like a coat of paint. Every hard line of his body was outlined by the body suit and the red and yellow Superman logo sat in the middle of his defined pectorals. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pull her eyes away from his body. But she didn't have long to admire him because Bonnie's voice brought her out of her trance-like state as she stared at Lucas.
"Now, each of these studs are going to select one female from the crowd to be their 'partner' for this competition." Bonnie pointed at the man in the Daredevil costume, "Why don't you start?"
The women in the club went crazy, screaming and waving their arms around, trying to get his attention. The only women that Sami could tell weren't doing this were herself and Jan, who sat calmly next to Sami.
"Why aren't you trying to get up there? I figured you'd be getting more excited about this than anyone."
"I'm very excited," Jan said with a smile, "But I've already got an arrangement with Batboy so I'll let someone else have Daredevil."
Sami nodded and sat back, somewhat surprised to see Crystal get selected by Daredevil. After Daredevil finished, Rex aka Robin picked Mimi, and Spiderman picked Nicole. Sami's lip curled in disgust.
"What is this? This contest has to be fixed or something."
"Don't I know it," Jan spoke up, smiling wickedly up at the stage.
Sami rolled her eyes, "I should have known you were behind this."
"Okay, it's Batman's turn to pick." Bonnie called out and just as Jan had let on, Phillip almost immediately met Jan's eyes and motioned her up to the stage. Which only left Lucas. His eyes met hers and for a moment, he looked like he was going to break eye contact and move on to pick someone else. Sami's heart began pounding at the site of his gaze locked on hers. She didn't know whether she wanted him to pick her or not. She certainly didn't want him picking anyone else but she didn't want to go up there and participate in whatever competition Bonnie had in store for them. Damn Lucas for putting her in such a terrible lose-lose situation. But finally, he pointed at her and made a movement telling her to come up to the stage. Sami remained frozen in her chair for a moment before reluctantly standing up and joining everyone else up on the stage.
"All right," Bonnie flashed another wide smile, "Now, before we start this contest, there's something everyone needs to know about these costumes." As if on cue, each stripper removed their masks and capes and spun around in a circle, "They're actually not costumes at all. They're really edible body suits." Sami's eyes widened at this disclosure and turned to take a closer look at Lucas. He definitely wasn't wearing anything except a g-string. She could see where the strap of the g-string met skin, which had been coloured red with some kind of sparkling powder. And she could make out the darker spots on each pectoral where his nipples stood out.
Once the shocked gasps and murmurs died down, Bonnie spoke again, "That's where these young ladies come in. When I say go, they are going to start licking off the edible body suit. Whoever finishes licking their super hero clean first wins a prize."
Sami looked at Lucas in horror, unable to believe what she had just let herself get mixed up in. She couldn't start licking Lucas in public. She'd die of embarrassment. But it looked like she didn't have a choice anymore and it was better that she did it as opposed to anyone else. But it still pissed her off that Lucas had to get the job as a stripper in the first place. If he wasn't stripping at this club, then she couldn't be in this situation at all. She looked up at him with furious sparks shooting from her eyes.
"I hate you for doing this to me," Sami whispered in his ear, "And I'm going to make you regret ever agreeing to this contest. Especially since I do have the upper hand here,"
"You go ahead and try that, Sami," Lucas whispered back, his voice thick with doubt. We'll see how much he doubts me by the time this is over, Sami thought, baring her teeth at him threateningly.
"Okay, on your mark, get set... Go!" Bonnie cried, the last word echoing through the entire strip club.
