Ansgar winced as he set aside the strawberry stem. "Everything?" the drummer spoke the words slowly.
"You don't understand. He wasn't allowed, or couldn't go, to school. My brother barely knows how to write." Worldly as Mikkel was, he wasn't book smart the way someone who had any schooling could be. Ansgar briefly wondered if that is why he got along so well with Vars, someone else who struggled with writing and reading? That thought went by the wayside.
"Torden has been teaching him to read and write for awhile now." Ansgar thought that was good because the older Dane had the patience of a saint which wasn't ruffled by Mikkel's childish frustration. "When you talk to him about things it is all memory. I don't think he's read much past kids books."
It might have been a serious discussion but he started to laugh anyway. In part, he could hear his brother having some bratty, sassy comeback to that comment.
"He can count money. Stripping taught him to do that years ago." Which was an honest answer. "He's worked since he was 13 in a job that is all about luring people in and convincing them to give you money. He could probably convince them to give you their clothes too if you wanted."
The Soerens had long ago gotten over the idea of Mikkel being in an adult industry too young. He was safe enough and street smart. It was a situation of do what you had to in order to survive and sometimes it was questionable but still necessary.
He glanced back toward the master bedroom. Both Mikkel and Dee must have been sound asleep. Everything was so quiet.
Thirteen year olds should be learning to count money from their allowances. Or maybe by being class treasurer. Something like that. Never mind the fact that they shouldn't be taking their clothes off for the pleasure of strangers.
Jay thought for a moment, and then boldly declared, "If he wants a job working the merch table on commission, I'll hire him."
"He took our sister's ID, and mine, to get an audition. He was safer at the club with all the other girls and the bouncers watching out for him than he ever was at home." Ansgar realized it wasn't easy for a person from a more normal life to understand. Sigurd still blew up over things from their past and that might never change.
"I'm sure he would work your table." Ansgar knew his brother liked to work, at least when he was good at it. He shrugged. "My brother enjoys what he does. He likes living as a girl and dancing. He deserves to do what makes him happy. He deserves to be happy after what's happened."
Ansgar was staunch about that part of Mikkel's life. The moment stripping didn't make his brother happy, he would be the first one to get him out. But now, he saw him happy and Fredrik and Sigurd seemed to enjoy his work too. Those were the things that mattered more than what the job was.
He wasn't kidding when he called Mikkel the best salesperson he'd ever met. He'd be a fool not to offer him a job.
Plus, if Mikkel had a job with Kuro, he'd not only be making money without having to strip for it, he'd also be on the road with Ansgar. The drummer would know that his brother was safe, because they'd be together, looking out for each other.
"It sounds like you want it to be my brother's table." Ansgar smiled and laughed a little more. It wouldn't stop his brother from guesting at strip clubs along the way but it would keep some of his nights busy.
All he could do is shake his head. "You know, my brother won the award for best legs in LA this past summer?" The girl mythos was deep around his brother and it had amused him and Rekker to no end hearing that his brother beat all the women. It had come with a bit of prize money too which Rekker had helped the Dane invest. It was sweet to Ansgar that there were those treating Mikkel like their kid.
“I want Kuro to be as successful as we possibly can. Selling merch is an important part of that.” Jay justified his choice. Besides, they all saw what he did the first night. Rex and Johan didn’t pick up their shirts before the show, and almost didn’t get one in their size once they finally got back to the booth!
“Best legs? I wasn’t aware that was an award you could win.”
(Suffice it to say, this wasn’t really Jay’s scene. The clubs he and Dee frequented weren’t of the stripping variety.)
"You should get him a pair of hot pants with our logo on the ass." Ansgar laughed but he was also certain that his brother would wear them in a heartbeat.
"I didn't either." Ansgar shook his head. "Hexed and Blixt did a show together and I heard Rekker almost started a fight with the crowd talking about it."
"My brother has been since he was 11 or 12." Ansgar knew that Mikkel would put anyone in them if he could get away with it. It was probably his brother's favorite outfit. The tinier, sometimes, the better.
Ansgar was feeling his mood improve and grinned while reaching for another strawberry. "I'm sure you encourage him the same way Sigurd does with my brother."
"If you mean unapologetically? Then, yes." Jay grabbed another one as well, dipping it in the chocolate. "I mean, he does look damn good in them. Who am I to say no?"
"I'm not entirely sure I want to know what ours would be..." Jay admitted with a shrug. So that was what he meant by teasing. "What does he call Sigurd?"
"A lot of things he wouldn't call others." Ansgar knew Mikkel was always giving out nicknames. "Grouchy old man, dirty daddy, some other things. Sigurd doesn't help calling him a brat all the time."
Compared to Jay's selection of nicknames for Dee - Siren. Little Blackbird. Jay was far too much of an old-school romantic gentleman to adopt anything risque, even though Dee honestly was the kinky one in the bedroom.
"I might have a good twelve years on Dee, but he'd better not try out anything like Dirty Daddy on me. I can't see Dee finding that amusing at all." He shook his head.
True, he didn't really understand the full context, but he knew how Dee viewed power dynamics that came anywhere close to a parent over a child. Especially as his independence became more and more compromised by his condition. You want to get shut down? Seriously, say you only want what's best for him. It won't end well.
Ansgar shrugged. "I don't know the whole thing in the kink but my understanding is that the older male is the caregiver who gets frustrated or grouchy and the younger is bratty or obstinate. I think it determines the caregiver as the top and the brat as the bottom."
He could see where his brother would see similarities but it seemed like it wasn't a good idea. "My brother doesn't always know what he's saying. He was socially isolated for years."
When everyone else was in school learning how to socialize and what was right and wrong to say or do, his brother was locked in a house. It caused a lot of problems already, even between Mikkel and Sigurd.
It was all the more reason to pass along the message now, before anyone could put their foot in their mouth or say anything they'd later regret.
Once Mikkel got to know the pair better, he'd probably realize their dynamic didn't match that stereotype whatsoever. Jay might be a caregiver most of the time, but he wasn't calling the shots. Dee was the dominant one. He was the one who needed to feel a sense of control.
It was complicated. Dee could be complicated sometimes.
"I don't want them to get off on the wrong foot. Especially when, you're right, they could be very good for each other." Jay replied thoughtfully. "I'm sure there are topics that he'd rather avoid too."
They were both complicated and traumatized people. It would be hard for awhile maybe.
"The main one for my brother is not yelling. He'll run. Not just to the other room or something but run off." Ansgar sighed. "Raised, upset voices still mean a beating is coming to him and the instinct to run and hide is like an injured animal."
He'd run so many times, even on Sigurd. "I don't even know if he understands anything the way the rest of us do."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oprorsk_sode) wrote2021-11-04 12:54 am
no subject
"You don't understand. He wasn't allowed, or couldn't go, to school. My brother barely knows how to write." Worldly as Mikkel was, he wasn't book smart the way someone who had any schooling could be. Ansgar briefly wondered if that is why he got along so well with Vars, someone else who struggled with writing and reading? That thought went by the wayside.
"Torden has been teaching him to read and write for awhile now." Ansgar thought that was good because the older Dane had the patience of a saint which wasn't ruffled by Mikkel's childish frustration. "When you talk to him about things it is all memory. I don't think he's read much past kids books."
no subject
That was not the answer Jay was expecting.
"...You're telling me the best salesperson I've ever met in my life is just now learning how to read and write?"
no subject
"He can count money. Stripping taught him to do that years ago." Which was an honest answer. "He's worked since he was 13 in a job that is all about luring people in and convincing them to give you money. He could probably convince them to give you their clothes too if you wanted."
The Soerens had long ago gotten over the idea of Mikkel being in an adult industry too young. He was safe enough and street smart. It was a situation of do what you had to in order to survive and sometimes it was questionable but still necessary.
no subject
He glanced back toward the master bedroom. Both Mikkel and Dee must have been sound asleep. Everything was so quiet.
Thirteen year olds should be learning to count money from their allowances. Or maybe by being class treasurer. Something like that. Never mind the fact that they shouldn't be taking their clothes off for the pleasure of strangers.
Jay thought for a moment, and then boldly declared, "If he wants a job working the merch table on commission, I'll hire him."
no subject
"I'm sure he would work your table." Ansgar knew his brother liked to work, at least when he was good at it. He shrugged. "My brother enjoys what he does. He likes living as a girl and dancing. He deserves to do what makes him happy. He deserves to be happy after what's happened."
Ansgar was staunch about that part of Mikkel's life. The moment stripping didn't make his brother happy, he would be the first one to get him out. But now, he saw him happy and Fredrik and Sigurd seemed to enjoy his work too. Those were the things that mattered more than what the job was.
no subject
He wasn't kidding when he called Mikkel the best salesperson he'd ever met. He'd be a fool not to offer him a job.
Plus, if Mikkel had a job with Kuro, he'd not only be making money without having to strip for it, he'd also be on the road with Ansgar. The drummer would know that his brother was safe, because they'd be together, looking out for each other.
no subject
All he could do is shake his head. "You know, my brother won the award for best legs in LA this past summer?" The girl mythos was deep around his brother and it had amused him and Rekker to no end hearing that his brother beat all the women. It had come with a bit of prize money too which Rekker had helped the Dane invest. It was sweet to Ansgar that there were those treating Mikkel like their kid.
no subject
“Best legs? I wasn’t aware that was an award you could win.”
(Suffice it to say, this wasn’t really Jay’s scene. The clubs he and Dee frequented weren’t of the stripping variety.)
no subject
"I didn't either." Ansgar shook his head. "Hexed and Blixt did a show together and I heard Rekker almost started a fight with the crowd talking about it."
no subject
no subject
no subject
“Like Dee and his skinny jeans. He lives in those.”
no subject
no subject
no subject
The teasing some of the older men got from the younger ones was cute, in his opinion anyway.
no subject
Of course, he'd swear up and down that his fiance looked good in literally anything.
no subject
no subject
Yeah, he has no idea what you're talking about.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
"I might have a good twelve years on Dee, but he'd better not try out anything like Dirty Daddy on me. I can't see Dee finding that amusing at all." He shook his head.
True, he didn't really understand the full context, but he knew how Dee viewed power dynamics that came anywhere close to a parent over a child. Especially as his independence became more and more compromised by his condition. You want to get shut down? Seriously, say you only want what's best for him. It won't end well.
no subject
He could see where his brother would see similarities but it seemed like it wasn't a good idea. "My brother doesn't always know what he's saying. He was socially isolated for years."
When everyone else was in school learning how to socialize and what was right and wrong to say or do, his brother was locked in a house. It caused a lot of problems already, even between Mikkel and Sigurd.
no subject
Once Mikkel got to know the pair better, he'd probably realize their dynamic didn't match that stereotype whatsoever. Jay might be a caregiver most of the time, but he wasn't calling the shots. Dee was the dominant one. He was the one who needed to feel a sense of control.
It was complicated. Dee could be complicated sometimes.
"I don't want them to get off on the wrong foot. Especially when, you're right, they could be very good for each other." Jay replied thoughtfully. "I'm sure there are topics that he'd rather avoid too."
no subject
"The main one for my brother is not yelling. He'll run. Not just to the other room or something but run off." Ansgar sighed. "Raised, upset voices still mean a beating is coming to him and the instinct to run and hide is like an injured animal."
He'd run so many times, even on Sigurd. "I don't even know if he understands anything the way the rest of us do."
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)