forum With the lights out, it's less dangerous || OxO || Open

Started September 05, 2021 by @Skylark

tune

If you told Damien a year ago he would be working at a gay club, he wouldn't have believed you.
Now, out of the closet, out of his family's house, and out of money, he finds himself as one of the favorite performers at Emerald City, the most popular gay club in town. It certainly pays the bills, and he actually likes performing, plus he's made some decent friends, but he has yet to have a half-decent relationship. All of the club goers and his private clients only see his dancer's body and made-up face, not really caring to look past that. He's been wearing masks his entire life, will Damien ever find anyone he can stand face-to-face with?
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By nature of the setting and character arc of this story, it will likely get pretty mature, and therefore hop over to DMs. If you're interested, let me know and I'll post a character template and additional info!

Name:

Age:

Physical Appearance:

Clothing:

Personality:

Family:

Skills:

Other:

Name: Damien Faust

Age: 22

Physical Appearance: 5’10; pale; stormy grey eyes with long dark lashes; curly black hair that goes just past his ears;

Clothing: (casual) usually wears dark cool tones; always wearing black chuck taylors; (work) typically very little; either black, white, or shades of purple; tight materials that leave little to the imagination

Personality: Trust Issues; loyal to a fault to a select few; always humming; snarky but can be sweet to those he genuinely cares about

Family: parents (disowned him), younger sister, older cousin

Skills: dancing, singing, taekwondo

Occupation: entertainer and waiter at The Emerald City

Name: Urian (Yuri) Stoller

Age: 21

Physical Appearance: 6'2, moderate brown skin, although he hasn't gone out in a while so it's more of a olive tone, a sharp nose, sharp jawline covered in stubble, his hazel green eyes have bags under them, his lips are plump and pinkish, and he has freckles sprayed from ear to ear down to his nose and up to his brow. He has long curly black hair that doesn't go past his neck but is still decently long. Though he generally looks like the bookish type, he is surprisingly muscular, with thick arms and thighs as well as big hands.

Clothing: He ALWAYS wears his glasses, which are big and square, with a copper-golden color. He tends to wear baggy clothes, usually long sleeve shirts or sweaters and caquis, though sometimes he wears the occasional cargo pants. He loves wearing greens, yellows and maroons.

Personality: Bookish but a social butterfly, witty. He shows friendship through action, and is very fun to hang out with, he always seeks new experiences. Extremely loyal, and loves taking care of people. Trusts people very quickly, like a puppy. He's a little on edge though, having just come out of the closet as gay.

Family: Single father an older sister and younger twin brothers ( Knows a lot of extended family as well)

Skills: Skilled with caring (volunteered at a hospital and an orphanage once), Psychoanalysis, Literary analysis, not great at math, but surprisingly good at singing

Other: He's a college student and an aspiring author, he had to get scholarships because his dad couldn't pay for his college even though he works three jobs. His older sister helps him out a lot too.

The club was pretty crowded that night, people gathered on the dance floor and around the stages and at the bar. Busy nights were good for Damien, they meant better tips and, frankly, more fun. The Emerald City club, being the most popular gay club in the city, drew quite a few people. It was a pretty great place to work, too. All of Damien's coworkers were fun and he was happy to say he could call most of them friends. The bouncers were all very protective of the waiters and performers, making sure that none of them were harassed while on the job, which Damien greatly appreciated.
Tonight, like every Friday night, he was set to perform. Damien was one of the most popular dancers at the club, known by his stage name "Jasper." Unlike other nights, however, he oddly did not have any private dances scheduled after his show, which meant a much needed break, but also less pay. Eh, he'd probably make up for it in tips with how busy it was.
When the lights on and around his stage began to dim, he put on a smile and strode out, ready to perform.

The crowded club smelled sweet, like booze and men's cologne, and Urian felt extremely out of place. His friends from college had asked him to come to the gay club with them after school, after his coming out last week, they thought it would be an appropriate "induction" of sorts. He obviously didn't turn them down, he was always up for a new exciting experience, but he was still extremely nervous, being new to the whole gay scene. What if one of the performers flirted with him or made a move? He wouldn't know how to react. But as always, Uri played it off, making himself seem more confident in front of his friends.
He definitely was going to stay in the background though, try and fit into the crowd. As best he could fit in in a sweater and overalls. He regretted his wardrobe choices, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from grabbing a drink. " Ally, Eric" he called to his best friends, Ally, who had already began to flirt it up with another woman, payed him no mind, as Eric replied "Yeah?" " I'm headed to the bar" Uri responded, Eric headed over with him " I'll go too" Ally simply gave a thumbs up, not turning her head as to interrupt the conversation. They began pushing through the huge crowd when the lights began to dim, Uri turned and looked over all the heads toward the stage and stared in awe as a beautiful man stepped out onto it.

Damien surveyed the crowd, smiling and giving small waves. He saw a number of regulars in crowd, plus a few new faces. This was going to be a fun night, it always was when new club goers reacted to his dances. He liked the positive attention, craved it in a way.
The opening notes of his song came on and Damien grinned. If his hips shook a little harder and his back curved a little further tonight, no one had to know. As he dropped to the ground, ass popping out, he looked over his shoulder at the crowd. Seeing so many eyes on him gave him a thrill. Soon, his dance was over, and he was strutting off stage, hips swaying as he made his way to his dressing room.

Having gotten his drink, he gazed as the performer left the stage " Which one was that?" he asked the barkeep, his mouth agape. " That was Jasper" The bartender looked at Uri " Newbies usually have that reaction" Urian not only admired Jasper's good looks, he admired the sheer talent he showed during that performance. "Holy shit" Eric mumbled " That guy was prettier than any guy I've ever seen, maybe even every girl too!" All Uri could do was nod in agreement. He was an English major and even he was left with no words in his mouth. The psychology major side of him though, wanted to know more about him, what was his story? who was he before this? Who IS he REALLY? Once Uri asked himself these questions about a person, he always, no matter what, would get to the answer. "So" he asked the barkeep " Is there any way I could meet with him privately?"

The bartender raised a brow and grinned. "Liked him that much, did you? Well, you can book dancers in the private rooms, just talk to the hostess over by the far stage," they said, pointing towards the indicated stage. "I'm pretty sure he's got openings tonight, but he's not cheap."

Back in the dressing room, Damien was chatting with a couple of the other dancers before their performances. Other than his own routine, it was a free night for him, so he'd probably go wait tables if no one booked him. If he was being honest, he was rather disappointed. He had been feeling really good that night, on a sort of performance high, and didn't want to let that go to go serve drinks.

Urian blushed furiously as he approached the far stage, he knew he wasn't booking Jasper for anything rated, but he wasn't really sure if he was allowed to ask for a "Psychological analysis" session with one of the performers at the club. Either way, he had money. Probably too much. "Hey," he wasn't sure how to do this " Can I book uhhh… Jasper for tonight?" He whispered. He wasn't usually the shy type, but he wasn't the type to book a performer at a club either, so first time for everything. He prodded in his pocket waiting for her to say the price. Or maybe he was fully booked, that was ok too, or maybe he was overthinking this, maybe he shouldn't have done this at all. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you" said the hostess " Shit" he mumbled, lips stumbling " Uh, yeah" he repeated louder " One booking for um, Jasper"

"First time, huh? Good choice with him," the hostess smirked, unlocking her tablet and turning it towards him. "I just need you to answer a couple questions, then you can go back. You pay here afterwards."
On the tablet were a few questions, simple things like name and birthday, then how many people would be attending and his acknowledgment of the club rules. Said rules included no touching the dancers, no forcing them to stay longer than the allotted time, and no recording of any kind, amongst other things.
Once he had filled the information out, she directed him down a short hall to the third room on the left, the Spring Room.

As he headed down the hall he thought to himself on the questions. What if he wants to leave immediately? he thought Oh God, I hope I don't make him uncomfortable. He went through what he was going to say in his head, he wasn't going to be weird, he wasn't going to come off scarily and he was going to try to be as open and honest as possible. He took a deep breath as he turned the corner into the door. When the performer walked in, he composed his thoughts, and in a bright tone he said "Hi"

When he got the message that he had been booked for the night, Damien checked over his makeup and outfit in the mirror, then headed down the hall to the Spring Room. Stepping into the room, he was not expecting to see a… nerdy college student. When the actually rather attractive guy greeted him so cheerily, it took Damien a moment to gather himself. "Hello there," he answered with a slightly confused smile, moving closer. He had been hired for a private dance, even if the client was different from the usual.

"So, this might be different than the usual but I have a proposition to make" Uri said, his eyes moving everywhere that the dancer was not, never looking him in the eyes " Um, ok, so, I saw your performance on stage and, I was thinking" his tongue tripped over itself " Well, first let me introduce myself, I'm Urian, I'm a Psychology and English major" he said it as if he was giving a speech of some sort, his throat tight and dry, still keeping his eyes off of the performer " For my final Psych project I'm supposed to analyze a person that I find interesting" finally he mustered up the courage to look at Jasper " I was wondering… if you could maybe be my subject?"

Damien paused, gaping at the other man. Well, this was certainly different. He had been propositioned a number of times, but was usually an offer of a much different sort than this. Now, he was completely thrown for a loop.
"I–you–what?" he barely managed to say. "I… was not expecting that. Why exactly do you find me interesting enough to study and why should I allow you to do so?"

"Well, to start, I think nobody boring could perform like you did out there" he thought to himself, his brain shifting from kiddish nerd to psychological researcher in the blink of an eye " And maybe your performance skills have been affected by or have caused psychological impacts in you. The way you performed was almost a call for attention." He caught himself "No offense. Sorry about that, bluntness is part of psychological study" he laughed, rubbing the nape of his neck " Don't worry, we don't have to get into anything too personal, I'll just be licking your brain most of the time. So… whaddaya say?"

Damien considered him for a moment, taking in his rather accurate observations. "Well, I am not opposed," he began, going to sit in one of the green cushioned chairs, throwing his legs over the arm. "But I would rather have a full understanding before agreeing to anything. This sort of study usually requires a form of consent, yes? And the approval of your professor. Give me more information, and I will likely agree to it."