Chapter Text
“You’re early.” I sigh. “Say the word and I’ll go home.” Kurogiri chuckles lowly. “Oh Tomura, your services are always appreciated.” I roll my eyes, hitting the clock in button. “You asked me to come in at four, it’s three thirty, what’d you want.” I take out my headphones from my bag before setting it on one of the chairs in the office. “I have a new dancer.” I put my hand over my mouth, letting out a yawn. “So?” I question. “So, I would like for you to show her around.”
Are you serious?
“You called me in an hour early because of a new hire? I should have stayed in bed.” I scratch my neck, just over my collar bones. “She’s young. And it’s her first time with a job like this so-”
“How old is young?”
“Twenty-one.”
Same as me, how fun. “So it might take a bit for to feel comfortable on stage. She might start as a server,” he explains. “Oh. It would seem like she had the same idea as you.” He points out a blonde haired girl coming inside. She has a backpack that she keeps close to her chest. Twenty-one my ass. I give her nineteen at best. Kurogiri raises his hand, signaling for her to come over. Her golden yellow eyes instantly zone in on him and she makes her way to us. I take a deep to mentally prepare myself. “This is Himiko Toga. Ms. Toga this is Tomura. He’ll be showing you around for your first day.” I nod and fake a smile. “This is the main floor. The end.” Kurogiri shots me a side eye but she giggles. “Sorry. That was funny.” I point towards her. “She appreciates my humor.”
“You have no humor.” Dabi pulls down a glass and grabs a bottle of gin. “You’re here early. What’d he bribe you with?” Tomura doesn’t answer. He was getting over an extra hour of pay. But he didn’t know how long this so-called tour would take, so he’d be missing out on tips. Damn. “You new?” Dabi asks. She briefly looks him up and down. Dabi had a very eye-catching appearance. All the sleeves and neck tattoos were in purple ink and he had multiple black and silver piercings in his face. He was…jaw dropping. She nods without a word.
“Tomura, perhaps you should start with the dressing rooms,” Kurogiri suggested. “Uh-huh.” Dabi closes the top of his liquor bottle. “Wait, Tomura.” Hearing my name out of his mouth makes me tense. “Huh?” He holds his glass towards his mouth. “You good?” He props the edge of his palm against the counter behind the bar. The blue LED lights from underneath the bar illuminated the purple ink embedded into his skin. He looked like one of the models you’d see on alt magazines. “Fine. Just on my period.” His face drops and his lowers his glass away from his lips. “Oh, that wasn’t-” I roll my eyes. “I don’t care.” And I guide Toga away from the bar area.
I led her to the back to get to the dress room, avoiding the forming crowd. “Did you actually come in early just for me?” she asks, barely loud enough for me to hear. I know I’m not the best when it comes to projecting my voice so I don’t comment, knowing I don’t have room to talk. “Kurogiri is always fucking with my hours.” She jogs up to my side and gives me a panicked look. “Your hours aren’t consistent?” She holds her bag tighter and I instantly recognize that face. That’s a “I might need a second job just to survive” face. “Uh, well I’ve known him for a while so…yours will be fine. If anything you’ll get more hours than your expecting. Are you a stage dancer or a front row?” I ask, even though Kurogiri mentioned her being on stage. Her eyes snap back up to me. “Oh, uh-um stage.” she answers. “Regardless, starting as a server, most your pay will be tips.” She nods.
I use my key to unlock the dressing room. “Um.” She steps inside and looking around the spacious room. “Mhm?” She fidgets with the hair in front of her face. “So…so how far do I have to go? I get paid more if I let them touch me, right?” she questions. “It’s up to you. As far as Kurogiri goes, he only cares if you show up on time. A lot of the other dancers have set prices. Like…a hundred to touch waist and above…two hundred for below.” Her eyes go wide. “I can charge a hundred dollars?” I shrug. “You can charge as much as you want. Some go up to a thousand, most of them won’t expect less than five to go into a room.” I see her entire face light up. “Most clients are old rich, high class assholes. It’s your job to drain their pockets.”
She finally lets go of her bag and I show her the lockers. Each dancer has their own for them to store personal items, outfits, and tips. I also show her the showers and rest spots for when you get tired of dancing too long. A lot of the women also have open stocks of deodorant, shaving cream, razors, tampons, and pads, as well as unused packages of underwear. Most of the women can’t afford to go out and by hygiene products themselves; rather they don’t have the money or the time. “This is all Kurogiri?” she asks, taking off her hot pink jean jacket. “Magne actually. She’s one of the body guards here, this was all her idea.” She nods. “That’s sweet.”
I open the closet in the back. “Some dancers bring their own outfits but most bring them for the class to share.” She instantly grabs a sparkly red mini dress. It has a cut out around the breast, showing the cleavage and ends barely mid thigh. “Too flashy?” she asks, holding the outfit over her figure. “No such thing.” I point her towards the changing room which she happily skips towards, seeming a lot more comfortable. Money will do that.
I was surprised she decided so easily. I lean against the lockers and pull out my phone. A few more messages from Hana, but I skim past those. Instead I go to the one from Izuku. Mom is mad at you. I sigh, begrudgingly typing a response. The hell did I do?
You know.
She’ll be fine after a few nights of a full dinner.
You say that now.
She’ll be fine. Do you have a ride home from school?
Aren’t you at work? But yes, Kacchan drove me to Todoroki’s house. Mom knows.
“What’d you think?” Toga hops out of the dressing room showing off her outfit. The dress clung to her figure in a way that made me uncomfortable. But she seemed happy and quite obsessed with the shiny features of the clothing. “Really nice. Should we get to make up or do you want a tour of the stage first?” She brings her hand to her face. “You think I need make-up?” she mutters.
I knew that was a topic I should not touch.
“Of course not. It’s just common here but if you don’t want to you don’t have to.” Her fingers slowly move along her bottom lip. I could see her analyzation of her own appearance. But it’s almost as if she snaps out of it. “Um…no! I’m okay!” She smiles, folding her hands in front of her. I let out a sigh of relief. So far, she was the most easiest new hire I’ve had to deal with.
“The stage can be a bit intimidating but you’ll get used to it quickly.” I lead her down the back hall and towards the stairs leading to the stage. Her eyes go wide seeing the vibrate purple lights reflecting off the black metal material of the stage. It works similarly to the bar area. The bars are split into four sections, against each wall of the club. Each section has two bartenders, and their zones are divided by lights. So me and Dabi share a bar; he owns the blue zone, I own the red zone. The stage is similar. Three dancers at a time that all do their own dance in their own section under the same light for the watchers below. The front row dancers give personal dancers for the highest bidder or whoever has caught their attention the most.
“I have to go…up there?” she asks hesitantly. “No, you focus on crowd work.” I catch a glimpse of Slice walking dow the steps leading to the front of the stage. “Watch.” She walks like a model through the crowd. She throws her blood red hair over her shoulder, drawing more attention to her shining aura. A man grabs at her waist and pull her onto him. Without missing a beat she smiles and adjusts her seating position to where her back was against his chest. She drops all her weight on his crotch. He leans his head back in pleasure and his hands slip of her frame. And she graceful stand up and walks in a different direction. Toga giggles seeing his surprised face watching her leaving him. She grabs her hand along the shoulders of another man but she doesn’t give him a second glance. She then finds a butch women that catches her eyes. She grabs the women’s shoulders and sits on her lap, earring her a hold onto her hips.
“That’s crowd work?” I nod. “Is there anything else I can do to…work up to that?” I scan the crowd once again. “Oh yeah. That’s only a form of it.” I guide her around the crowd, walking on the outside to shield her from the eyes of everyone else. “I thought you weren’t coming in tonight,” Kaina teases, whipping down the circular table. “Very funny. Need a server?” Her attention snaps up towards me. Her eyes instantly fall to Toga. “Oh. Server, huh?” I roll my eyes. “Didn’t your 5-12 call out?” She looks Toga up and down. “Yeah, Mustard bailed. I could use a worker.” I turn to Toga. “Work your way up from here. Sound good?” She smiles and nods.
I glance at the glass digital clock. Almost five, I need to get to the bar. Before I turn away I look back at the blonde. “What’s your name?” She looks at me confused. “Uh, Him-” I hold my finger to her mouth instantly cutting her off. “Never tell anyone your name. Understand?” She nods slowly. “Good. Welcome to hell.”
I drag my feet up the stairs of my apartment. I know I should go to sleep, but I was craving coffee. Maybe I should have stopped with Tamaki on the way home to get a drink. He’s the only place open this early in the morning. I yawn putting my key in the lock. “You know I give you money for you, right?” Fuck. I suppress a sigh as I turn the key to my door, locking my apartment. “A full fridge isn’t worth twenty dollars so either your mother taught you well or-”
“I stole it, you caught me.”
Inko crosses her arms, her hospital bag resting over her shoulder. “Tomura.” He almost wasn’t used to hearing that name outside of the club. “It’s nothing. Really. Plus it was Izuku’s idea.”
“NO IT WASN’T!”
Inko looks down hearing her son’s outburst. “Why is he awake,” I deadpan. “Teenagers,” she responds. “I worry about you, you know. That you’re not taking care of yourself. And-”
“You’re not my mom.”
The sharp words fall out of my mouth before I could stop them. It was true, but it didn’t need to be said. “Yes, I’m aware. I’m also aware you don’t have anyone else looking after you.” I debated if I should remind her I’m a grown ass man that can look after myself. “And that’s your business why?”
“Because I’ve made it my business.”
Against my better judgment, I smile slightly. “Eat before you head out.” I say before entering my living quarters.