Chapter Text
Francis strutted into the street, pulling the other members of the Bad Touch Trio - aka his best friends - behind him.
"I 'ave found a treasure!" he exclaimed, still taking long strides down the road. Antonio huffed a little as he kept up, Gilbert rolling his eyes as he kept pace easily.
"It's another strip place, isn't it?" he said, not exactly sounding bored but not too excited either.
"Oui! It is a new one!" the blonde replied excitedly, halting out the front of a shady looking building. The front was surprisingly not as flashy as the usual places, with a discreet title of 'International Love'.
Antonio continued smiling as they entered the building, greeted by pumping music run by a cute tanned girl at a turntable in a blue dress, who waved to them cheerily as they passed by and melted into the crowd - for such a new place, it was jammed with people. The room was dim, and at the back was a stage with a cat walk, where about five male figures were performing, wearing (very tight) brightly coloured corsets and booty shorts.
An Asian man winked cheekily at Antonio before spinning away, a short blonde clumsily blew at kiss at the audience, a dark Indian shimmered his hips and a brunette smirked at the crowd, hazel eyes glinting.
But the middle of it all was the obvious star. Similar looking to the smirking brunette - they were probably brothers (actually, all the men looked at least distantly related; it was their slightly thicker than normal eyebrows that gave them away) - but evergreen eyes sparked excitement in the hearts of the spectators as the muscled man seemed to look at each of them individually, waggling his thick eyebrows suggestively -- and something else.
"I wanna see your peacock~" blared out over the speakers, and almost immediately the crowd cheered, Bad Touch Trio included, swept up in the atmosphere and pushed to the front of the catwalk, almost close enough to touch the dancers as they swept by.
"What did I tell you?!" the Frenchman yelled, smiling charmingly at the Indian, who gracefully nodded as he went by.
"Okay, okay. You were right." Gilbert grinned, reaching out for the blonde, who managed to evade his pale hand with a squeak.
The Spaniard shrugged, "I didn't argue~ but this is nice~" he agreed, watching the double-ahoged man in center stage with a lazy smile and receiving a grin in return.
The new three would definitely be coming back here, two children agreed, watching from a high monkey walk and exchanging high fives. The nine-year-old boy gave his eleven-year-old niece a thumbs up before running quietly along the walk to the room where a man lay on the couch, beginning to recover consciousness after another night of getting smashed and passing out in the street.
"Hey, jerk Arthur! We just got another three regular customers!" the boy exclaimed, hands on hips proudly, as if he had dragged them in himself.
Arthur peered up at his little brother through massive eyebrows, the same brows his sons and daughters had all (well, almost all) inherited from him.
"Wonderful, Peter. Now let me sleep off this hangover." he groaned, turning over and pulling a pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the Katy Perry remix filtering through the walls.
Undeterred, Peter climbed on top of his much older brother, bouncing up and down a little.
"Kylie says we need tucker money. You know, lunch? For school? Although its really really late now, and I don't think we should go, or we'll get into trouble. By the way, you're going to have to tell Kylie's, Ashleigh's and my teachers why we haven't been at school for the last week." he paused thoughtfully, just long enough for Arthur to roll over again and glare up at him. "Of course, they'll be really worried for Ash, because he's almost finishing school now."
"Well why don't you three go to school, you stupid child?" was the snapped reply, accompanied by a green-eyed glare. The Englishman wasn't the best in the morning, especially with a banging headache. Instead of cowering like a normal child probably would have, Peter rolled his eyes and climbed off of Arthur.
"I'm taking the money from your wallet~ And I'm taking Ashleigh, so your number of workers is going down to four. Of course, with Bruce down there, I don't think anyone will mind, but still, five is--
"Get out!"
Whistling unconcernedly, Peter swiped Arthur's entire wallet and left the room, meeting Kylie outside.
"Ah, you got the cash! Great!" she exclaimed happily, sticking the brown wallet in her schoolbag and putting a blue hat on Peter. "Is Ash coming too?"
"You bet!" was the uplifting answer, a grin appearing on the younger child's face. "As everyone's uncle, my word is law!"
And with that, the two raced down the walk, quickly reaching the ladder and climbing to the backstage area, where the two security guards they employed - a Dane and a Swede, both friendly, strong and blonde - nodded to them, ruffling hair and pinching cheeks fondly. Gathering up a discarded school uniform - a blazer here, a pair of trousers there, and on that chair a tie - Kylie straightened and smoothed the articles of clothing the best she could, although they were still rather rumpled when she was through, and no way as neat as her own barely creased dress and blazer. Peter, on the other hand, dashed to side stage, where only the individuals on stage could see him.
"Oi, Ash! Ashleigh!" he called, waving a little. Seeing he was wanted, the brunette made his way off of the stage, receiving a playful smack on the butt from the Asian on the way.
"What is it? Did Bruce's koala start chewing up cables again?" he asked worriedly, running a hand through his light brown hair, a slightly more golden brown than Kylie's darker locks. "Savage little beast."
"Nah. Get changed. We're going to school." Kylie answered, handing her brother his uniform and crossing her arms as she glared pointedly at his corset.
A delighted laugh bubbled out of Ashleigh, and a broad smile replaced his usual smirk. "Really?"
Peter nodded the affirmative, adjusting his hat. Needing no more information, Ashleigh hurriedly unlaced his corset, shrugging an already-buttoned shirt on instead. It took him no time at all to put on his uniform and carefully place his other outfit on an old couch before scooping up a worn satchel.
Any normal teenager (despite his appearance of early twenties, Ashleigh Kirkland was only seventeen) would have been irritated at the prospect of school, however when you spend your freetime working at your father's strip club as a stripper, making money so he could go out and drink, school was Ashleigh's favourite place in the world. It was the same with his siblings and Peter - anywhere was better than here, and what was even better was that school led somewhere. When Ashleigh finished school, he was going to become a teacher. Kaelin - his blonde Maori half-brother (actually they were all half-siblings, aside from Kylie and Bruce, who had the same mother) - was training to be a pastry chef; Kaoru - the cheeky Asian lad - was studying to be a pilot for a commercial airline; Ravi was going to be a forensic accountant once he had finished his degree, and Bruce - well, no-one really knew what the Australian man wanted to do. As the oldest, he was the responsible one, and therefore wordlessly shouldered the responsibility of their house. When his siblings needed to go study in 'work hours', Bruce would cover for them for as long as they needed. It was just what happened.
Waving a cheery goodbye to their bouncers, the three exited out of the backdoor of the club, running down the surprisingly clean alley that ran behind the building Arthur had bought for practically nothing. It was only a short sprint to the school gates and then up to the main buildings, each turning into their own section of the campus, to be greeted by their own friends, and to tell them the same lies that they always did.
No-one could ever know their real lives. The truth would find them separated and put Arthur away for negligence. This was one instance when the truth would imprison, rather than set free. No, the only thing that could set the Kirklands free was education.