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 Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:30 pm
"You b*****d," Eles huffed as the boy reached past him, his knees pushed further toward his own chest as Eles abandoned his resistance efforts.
"You can't tease me like that. I can't get to them." And he wanted to say it was Malory's fault. All those tantalizing shots and they were locked behind a black mirror. It was so very Malory to pull a stunt like that, to prime with punishment. To wind him up just to see what it would look like, just to see what he would do about it. And what could he do but start looking for friends who could teach him to use a cell phone?
After all, he couldn't ask Malory. That would blow up the boy's ego, give him too much satisfaction.
"They cut the lights and the sound. Then just the floor lights come on, and they have these canister lights built into the stage so it's all dreary underlighting. There's no announcement — people know or they don't. I never talk at the bar.
"It stays dark when I'm out there. If I'm the only one, at least."
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:30 pm
It sounded like they invested in creating a suitable lighting environment for each dancer, which Malory felt a bit of approval over. Give his boy the drama he deserved, give him a stage that held him like a treasure, like something strange and precious to behold, even while grinding a pole to Milkshake or…
“And then?” Standing up, he slid the door open and filled the shower with a rush of cool, fresh air. He grabbed a fresh, fluffy towel and knelt back down.
“How do you start? How do you hook them in?”
The towel was dropped on Eles’s head, followed by a pair of hands insistent on drying his hair for him. Was there a fog machine? Something to paint him in clouds of smoke.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:31 pm
The cool air dispersing the steam instantly chilled him, but Malory was going to do what Malory wanted to do and Eles simply had to suffer through it. And suffer he did; he didn't care much for being cold or feeling an unbidden shiver dart across his skin.
The boy kept close enough, which he liked, though he could do without the towel thrown over him like he was doing tryouts for the bedsheet ghost. At least he was gentle about it; too much jostling might sour his stomach again. The thought of breakfast — even lunch — had been sworn off entirely for the mere chance of returning it to the plate. Dinner wasn't looking very fortuitous, either, but Eles would survive the day as long as he was better on the morrow.
Eles hummed thoughtfully while he tried to pull together an explanation. His performance wasn't intentional in quite that way — or rather, it was, but its intentionality wasn't up to him. But if he tried to explain that, he'd have to explain much more than Malory asked for.
"By not looking at them, I guess. Like I'm something untouchable and unknowable in some other dimension. They don't matter to me. And whether I matter to them doesn't matter to me. But what gets them? I'd guess the outfits. Usually enough metal on them in the right places to catch and reflect the light. If I get to decide how I'm dancing, I like to keep the warm-up slow. Well controlled. Sort of like when you told me about the best part of acting.
"But I don't always get to choose. It's a weird setup. Lots of college kids involved — you'd fit right in, actually. We've got this theatre tech guy who's also doing playlists? So he finds us all our songs, builds themes for each of us. He thought up the lighting trick for me. Handles the stages. Think he's maybe a drop-out? Never seen him sober before, but he's nice enough, even if he gives me all the slow, ******** up, depressing tracks with a lot of bass and distortion.
"Then there's the designers and choreographers who also wait tables sometimes. They build their portfolios with us. Design whatever s**t they want us in for a bigger show and the choreographers tell us how to dance to it. They get portfolio material, we get better tips."
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:32 pm
The more he heard the more Malory’s interest turned from the novelty of it, the inherent thrill in the association with what might be considered sex work, and into something closer to professional curiosity. When the towel lowered to Eles’s shoulder, he was treated to a gaze that was generally reserved for instructors and classmates, one he saw sometimes at the dance class, and, briefly, at a youma made of fireflies.
“So it’s a full production?” He’d only ever seen strippers in person at events and private parties. And while he had gone to burlesque shows, hadn’t considered that the clubs might be working hard as creative teams to create something more within their realm of entertainment. It was foolish of him, really, and not in the ways he often aspired to be. The towel moved to Eles’s knees.
“I want to see you on stage.” And then an almost innocent consternation, “I’ve never been to one, is there an etiquette?” By now he was just absent-mindedly patting whatever skin was available with the towel while he, himself, was left to dry in the rapidly cooling air.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:32 pm
"I… Yes?" He hadn't thought of it that way. Full productions were what Malory did. Something polished, with a director, with other actors and a cohesion and setup meant to be something bigger than the sum of its parts. Plays were someone's opus. A craft of love and dedication and devotion. Everyone knew their part and they worked together all the more for it.
The club lacked that element. In the end, at some of the events, they might work together insofar as their dances coinciding with the same song, but they didn't practice together. They had separate stages. As far as Eles knew, everyone was made aware of the song and the theme, then left to carve out whatever interpretations fit their styles and portfolios. If the end result looked cohesive, it was a fortunate accident. They had no director; they would take turns to genesis the theme and the music selection was left to Ed or Fred or whoever. Perhaps all of it would have been asynchronous if he'd known how to use FaceTime for coaching.
Once he'd been dried enough that the air wasn't drawing away his body heat so quickly, Eles stood with a deliberate slowness. When his head didn't swim and his stomach hadn't churned, he considered it a small win.
"Come to the next event, then. First Saturday of each month. Usually happens around 10PM, but we take turns before and after. If you show up as Hybris and start draining people, pick on the penny-pinchers. And don't buy any drinks for the theatre tech." Eles was pretty sure his name was Ed.
Stepping out, Eles was quick to snatch the towel about himself. "Don't know about an etiquette. The place is kind of trashy. All skill, no money. Alcohol's usually middle shelf at best, bottom shelf if you stink or look homeless. People smoke in there and no one really cares. If a lot of people are there, it gets sort of foggy.
"But before I give you the name, you have to answer something for me."
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:32 pm
It was doable, and he’d never go there as Hybris. Don’t s**t where you sleep was an adage that Malory had long tried to live by and it had helped the generally smooth sailing of his life. There were, of course, exceptions and Eles seemed to love being one of them, but still. He’d go as Malory, and, he supposed, need to withdraw quite a lot of cash in anticipation of seeing how his boy went about earning it. Interest and again that low stirring that never seemed to be quite done with this boy combined, and he was a little thoughtless stepping out the shower, only belated realizing he should grab a towel for himself, deal with himself, moisturize and style and add the touches necessary to swan beautifully past the messed Eles had left in the bedroom.
He’d have to have the staff throw out all the offensive leftovers later. In fact, it’d be better to just leave the house for a day or two altogether.
“I’ll answer,” Malory offered as the world began to right itself from the almost surreal intimacy of the shower and he began to go about his business as usual.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:33 pm
Eles claimed his seat on the toilet lid while he watched Malory. It was strange to see him so absent-minded; he'd guess the excitement of visiting a strip club had gotten to him, but that wasn't the usual response to such things. It was a curiosity he'd mull over later, like a hard candy that would last on his tongue for hours.
That moment hadn't lasted, either. Malory toweled himself off and got right to being the focus of the mirror, in the clearer parts where the steam hadn't clouded it over. How he liked to preen at himself there, like he was his own favorite thing, and he never cared about whether Eles witnessed such fervid moments with himself. Eles watched nonetheless. The way a boy took care of himself was plainly interesting for how those actions reflected on the boy. It was a way to get to know someone who so seldom spoke about himself.
Elbow on the counter, Eles rested his chin on the heel of his unmarked hand. He knew what he wanted to say. Knew how to cut with it. But, when the words came out, they were softened by his traitor's tongue. "Do you hurt me when I hurt you?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:34 pm
“Sometimes,” Malory answered quietly, making eye contact with only himself. “If I can. But sometimes I want to treat you a little nicer for it too.” The difference between sharing and simply taking. There was room for both between them.
Looking away from himself, he regarded Eles for a moment, “Do you want me to hurt you more?” And then, as the option only belatedly occurred to him, “Or less?”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:35 pm
He answered, and Eles let that answer surround him and pass through him. It felt like smoke — a symptom of something hidden from him. It delighted him in ways that didn't deserve breath, but reminded him to breathe all the same.
Eles leaned more of his weight onto the countertop while he considered the question. He let it hang in the air — something ornamental — while he reached across the vanity, across Malory's business, to snatch up a lipstick. Then he busied himself writing along the edge of the mirror, near the bottom, in script as sharp as a dagger: STARLIGHT. Then that lipstick was twisted back, capped, and held captive in his hands.
"It'd depend." Eles watched the boy in the mirror. "On the type of pain. But I'd let you hurt me more if it meant you stuck around, I guess."
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:35 pm
Starlight. Malory had to smile for it. Destiny City did so love the stars beyond the sky and everything in between. Even at the furthest reaches, the Aphelion waiting in the dark of his stage. The offer was considered for only a moment before it got a shake of the head, “I don’t want that sort of compromise from you.”
Besides…
“Besides,” he went on, echoing his own thoughts for once, “...you’re the one with another home out there, and people likely waiting for you in it.” Or out committing frantic arson in hopes of finding him. “Shouldn’t I be the one trying to make little deals to tie you closer? Figuring out the if/then promises to feel a little more assured?”
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:35 pm
"Oh," Eles returned, playing affronted. "My compromises aren't good enough for you."
But there came a point when the play ended, when a solemn, almost resentful mood overtook him over the course of a few words. You're the one with another home out there but Eles hadn't seen even a mention of it. He didn't have keys that unlocked a house until Malory gave him a pair. He didn't have an ID that reminded him where he lived.
And people likely waiting for you in it. No missing posters went up, calling him by another name. He never once heard a tearful family member calling for him on the radio waves. No one visited him in the hospital.
No one ******** visited him in the ******** hospital. No one came for him. No one called to see if he was there. No one. Not even Malory.
Malory Medraut is a ******** c**t, he thought bitterly.
"No," he answered. sounding strained. Eles pushed away the lipstick and let it fall into the sink where it rattled around like a shitty marble. "I like you more than I need to.
"I'm taking a nap." Eles pushed away from his unflattering perch and went for the door. It was a shitty mess out there, but he'd just go downstairs.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:35 pm
Picking up the lipstick from the sink, Malry regarded it silently, expression set in his typical mildness. Then he carefully set it aside to put on later, maybe to kiss and make up for his many transgressions, maybe to mark up and annoy and dirty Eles once again. I like you more than I need to was such a resentful and pissy sort of confession.
Very counter to the stumbling sweet reasoning he gave for his new job.
But Malory found he liked both, maybe wouldn’t have one without the other now that he’d come so far in tasting, moment by moment, Eles’s growing spectrum of emotions. The frustrations and pleasures along with all those poor impulses. Especially when it came to him. And his boy was right, Malory loved the attention and better yet, the surprises. Because despite their deal, neither truly abided by their roles. Malory had always had general insistence that even if he wasn’t the one in control of a relationship, somebody needed to be. And here neither of them were, not in the least.
And he liked it. Loving Eles just a little had been easy and fun, but loving him a lot had brought a razor’s edge of affection kissing along the choking thickness in his throat, dragging down a chest that pushed and strained to meet its edge and let it sink in. It was scary, And it did hurt.
And he liked it.
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