Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > What Goes Around
What Goes Around
1 reviewFrerard AU. Gerard is a stripper struggling to get by. Help comes in the unlikely form of the man lurking in the shadows of the club.
5Original
Gerard sat in front of the massive vanity in the dressing room of the strip club. He tried not to let his mind wander as he applied powder to his face, sucking in his cheeks to dust blush along his cheekbones. When he’d followed his teenage sweetheart out to California at eighteen, when he was in the middle of high school, he never thought it would have ended like this. Abandoned in an apartment just four months after running away, no way of paying the bills or rent he’d suddenly been saddled with, and not forgetting the heartbreak of his one true love leaving him with only a note saying a brusque bye.
He gazed at the clock and noted that he only had enough ten minutes until he had to be on stage, dancing and watching other men leer at him. He stood up and asked another man working at the club to tighten his black corset, leaning down to slip on a matching pair of heels. He finally dusted some shimmer on his face before pacing around the dressing room, his heels click-clacking on the bare, concrete floor.
“Jitters again?” Charlie asked from the corner. Charlie was about twenty five, five years older than Gerard, and was the longest current serving member of the club, having joined six years ago. Gerard was twenty and had been working there around a year.
Charlie opened his hand to reveal a few small pills in his hand, offering them to Gerard wordlessly. Gerard smiled warmly and took them, swallowing them dry and shaking his head.
“Don’t know what I’d do without you, Charlie,” Gerard sighed, running his fingers through his hair and shivering. Charlie winked at him, his blond hair flopping graciously over his face.
“Don’t worry about it, Babe,” Charlie smiled, going over to help someone else with their costume. Gerard exhaled slowly before stepping forward to loiter behind the curtains, fiddling with the ribbons of his corset and his hair. As soon as the man before him stepped off, he walked out, the lights familiarly blinding and the faces of the crowd as menacing as always.
*
His parents had never been keen on the fact that he was gay. They never said it openly, but after he came out, things were never the same between them. They talked to him less, grew that little bit more distant, refocussed themselves on his brother, Mikey. Gerard has always dreamed of going to art school, but as soon as he met Adam, who went to a neighbouring Catholic school, he knew he was the one. Adam was cool and funny and hot and so out of Gerard’s league. When Adam decided, a year after his first year at community college, that he wanted to run away to California, Gerard, who was still infatuated with him, said yes immediately.
When Adam left him, he’d been too proud to go to his parents. He’d left them and his brother without a word, and he didn’t want to look weak now. It would have been humiliating to come home four months later with his tail between his legs. He never intended for it to tend up like this.
*
Gerard ran his hands through his hair as he swayed his hips to the beat of the music. He tipped his head back and turned around, unlacing his corset slowly, running his hands up and down his stockinged legs. Men leered at him everywhere, shoving wads into the tips of his stockings. Time seemed to pass by quickly as he danced, and finally he was done and raced off the stage as fast as he could.
He leant by the side of the offstage wall, counting the notes that were stuffed unceremoniously into the top of his stockings. Five, ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred. He nearly had enough for the week’s rent, and he didn’t have to pay for his water, gas and electric until next month. He knew he could make a bit more if he sold himself - it wouldn’t be hard, and he’d done it before. He’d just have to wait around for a while after in the bar and someone would pick him up. He could look innocent and coy, if he wanted to. He hated doing it though; it was so degrading and humiliating, but there were days when he needed the money for bills or for drugs and he had no choice.
“Do you want to go out for a drink?” Charlie asked as he stepped back into the dressing room. Gerard weighed up the options in his mind - he could get ahead on his utilities and next week’s rent by selling his body, or he could go for a drink with Charlie.
“Yeah,” Gerard sighed, his body more relaxed now due to the pills from earlier. Later he’d take some sleeping pills and drift off to sleep, not having any time for regret or remorse, just a pure, drugged, emotionless sleep.
He gazed at the clock and noted that he only had enough ten minutes until he had to be on stage, dancing and watching other men leer at him. He stood up and asked another man working at the club to tighten his black corset, leaning down to slip on a matching pair of heels. He finally dusted some shimmer on his face before pacing around the dressing room, his heels click-clacking on the bare, concrete floor.
“Jitters again?” Charlie asked from the corner. Charlie was about twenty five, five years older than Gerard, and was the longest current serving member of the club, having joined six years ago. Gerard was twenty and had been working there around a year.
Charlie opened his hand to reveal a few small pills in his hand, offering them to Gerard wordlessly. Gerard smiled warmly and took them, swallowing them dry and shaking his head.
“Don’t know what I’d do without you, Charlie,” Gerard sighed, running his fingers through his hair and shivering. Charlie winked at him, his blond hair flopping graciously over his face.
“Don’t worry about it, Babe,” Charlie smiled, going over to help someone else with their costume. Gerard exhaled slowly before stepping forward to loiter behind the curtains, fiddling with the ribbons of his corset and his hair. As soon as the man before him stepped off, he walked out, the lights familiarly blinding and the faces of the crowd as menacing as always.
*
His parents had never been keen on the fact that he was gay. They never said it openly, but after he came out, things were never the same between them. They talked to him less, grew that little bit more distant, refocussed themselves on his brother, Mikey. Gerard has always dreamed of going to art school, but as soon as he met Adam, who went to a neighbouring Catholic school, he knew he was the one. Adam was cool and funny and hot and so out of Gerard’s league. When Adam decided, a year after his first year at community college, that he wanted to run away to California, Gerard, who was still infatuated with him, said yes immediately.
When Adam left him, he’d been too proud to go to his parents. He’d left them and his brother without a word, and he didn’t want to look weak now. It would have been humiliating to come home four months later with his tail between his legs. He never intended for it to tend up like this.
*
Gerard ran his hands through his hair as he swayed his hips to the beat of the music. He tipped his head back and turned around, unlacing his corset slowly, running his hands up and down his stockinged legs. Men leered at him everywhere, shoving wads into the tips of his stockings. Time seemed to pass by quickly as he danced, and finally he was done and raced off the stage as fast as he could.
He leant by the side of the offstage wall, counting the notes that were stuffed unceremoniously into the top of his stockings. Five, ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred. He nearly had enough for the week’s rent, and he didn’t have to pay for his water, gas and electric until next month. He knew he could make a bit more if he sold himself - it wouldn’t be hard, and he’d done it before. He’d just have to wait around for a while after in the bar and someone would pick him up. He could look innocent and coy, if he wanted to. He hated doing it though; it was so degrading and humiliating, but there were days when he needed the money for bills or for drugs and he had no choice.
“Do you want to go out for a drink?” Charlie asked as he stepped back into the dressing room. Gerard weighed up the options in his mind - he could get ahead on his utilities and next week’s rent by selling his body, or he could go for a drink with Charlie.
“Yeah,” Gerard sighed, his body more relaxed now due to the pills from earlier. Later he’d take some sleeping pills and drift off to sleep, not having any time for regret or remorse, just a pure, drugged, emotionless sleep.
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