Chapter Text
Fuck I needed this job. I REALLY needed this job and they finally called me back. My shift starts tonight and I am currently 30 minutes early because I need them to know that I NEED this job. I was surprised there was even an open position considering it's pretty exclusive. Then again, it's always packed so I can understand needing some extra hands. When my previous workplace closed down I was terrified that I'd end up homeless. My rent wasn't cheap and I had no other way to pay it.
Now, I'm standing outside the double doors under the awning while I wait for someone to let me in. I'm so anxious I can barely stand it. God, I hope I don't screw this up. I hear the double doors swing open behind me as a very troubled young...man (?) poked his head out.
"Uh, hi! Are you the new girl?" he said, slightly out of breath.
"Yea! That's me!" I replied, straightening my posture.
"Come on in!" He waved me towards him as he stepped back inside.
As I walk through the doors I'm met with rich velvet carpet and high ceilings. Chic, low-lighted fixtures are hanging down from them. There's a sleek black desk to the right of the main entrance, currently unoccupied. A black door stands behind it. The young (Man? Manimal?) turns around at the edge of the desk to face me.
"It's nice to meet you..." I trial off, holding my hand out.
He reached forward to shake my hand awkwardly. "Max, I'm Max. I'm uh, gonna be training you, kind of."
"Kind of?" I asked, laughing a little.
He reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Well, you'll mainly shadow me for a bit but then you'll be on your own. But you can ask any of the staff any questions, we're all pretty understanding."
"Cool." I replied. "Do I get a keycard or something? To get in?"
"Oh yeah!" He pulled a sleek black card with a silver mouse outline on it from his pocket and handed it over to me. "This'll get you in and out of pretty much every door in the club, so don't lose it."
"Thanks." I say, sliding it into my skirt pocket. "So, how long have you worked here?"
"Oh man, uh, like a year? Almost two?" He answers, leaning his elbow on the desk.
"Wow. Long time."
"Yeah, I'm working to pay my college tuition off." He laughs awkwardly.
Everything about Max so far seems...awkward. Not in a weird way though, in a genuine and sweet kind of way.
"Is it helping?" I ask.
Max shifts slightly. "Huh?"
"The pay here, is it putting even a little dent in your tuition?" I prod, hoping I'll find out exactly what the salary is.
I know, I know, it's shoddy as shit to take a job and not know what the pay is but everyone that's reccomended this place just says that it's worth it.
"Oh, yeah totally! My tuition is over half-way paid off already."
..........
...............
What?
"What?" I ask out loud. "How much are they paying you?"
"Oh, I forget, Mickey doesn't disclose pay until after your first shift. Uh, right now, I make about $600 a week? And that's not counting tips, we share those." He says, leaning back against the desk as he relaxes.
I can feel my eyes bugging forward. $600???? A week??? How does that? What does? What?
"Unless you work the Villains Section, then you get paid double."
....double?
"But, most people only work it one shift and then they don't go back. Waiting on the villains is....rough."
Depending on what he means by rough, I would absolutely risk it if it meant I'd bring in just over $1000 a week. Are you kidding me?
"But we won't put you through that on your first day! Don't worry!" He laughs.
No! That's exactly what I want! I NEED THIS MONEY!
"I mean, I've worked in some pretty shoddy places, I'm used to rough." I say casually, hoping to get a shot at the section.
"Look, if you could somehow last a shift in their section and not want to quit after, you'd be a badass. You'd be an outright miracle worker if you could actually make them happy. They complain about EVERYTHING!"
Okay, so they're picky. Nothing I haven't handled before. I could do this. I could totally do this. It would help if I knew more about said Villains, though. Maybe if I get their names and descriptions, I might be able to figure out who they are?
"Well then, give me the run down! A debriefing of sorts. Who likes what, and all that."
Max looks at me with a mix of confused and afraid on his face. "Are you sure? Look, when I tell you they're rough, I mean it. Those guys are NOT easy to please, ever. I don't wanna throw you to the lions den on your first day. I mean, I'd hate to see something bad happen to someone like you..."
.....hold up. rewind.
"Someone...like me?" I ask, leaning against the desk next to him.
"Yeah, you know....someone..." he whispers as he fidgets with his hands before looking back up at me. "....pretty."
Oh.
Oh.
Wow.
Haven't even been here 10 minutes and I'm already getting hit on. And by my co-worker! I gotta admit though, Max is cute. And sweet. In like a puppy dog kind of way. The compliment is fluttering nicely in my brain.
"Um....Thank you-"
"MAXIE!!!" a.....goofy sounding voice bellows from down the hall near the seating floor.
Another animal-like person comes sprinting towards us. He looks like Max, but older.
"Oh jesus christ no..." Max whispers as he closes his eyes.
The older gentleman skids to a stop in front of us, catching his breath.
"Maxie, Mickey needs you to bring the new waitress to talk with him before we open the house!" He says, panting.
Max lets out a deep sigh and gestures his hand toward the man. "This is my father...he works here too."
"OH! It's so nice to meet you, A-HYUCK!" he says, shooting forward to shake my hand excitedly.
I feel Max's hand press into my back as he steps between us. "Okay dad, I gotta get her to Mickey before the house opens, so we gotta run!"
"Alrighty! I'll be here at the door! You kiddos have fun!" He almost shouts as Max pushes me along with him.
I can see Max lift a hand to rub over his face as we walk. "Ughhhh.....I'm sorry."
"About what?" I laugh.
"My dad, he can be.....a lot." He sighs.
"No, I thought he was very nice." I say, smiling.
We walk past a couple of other employees cleaning tables and setting up chairs. They seem to ignore us as we pass, too focused on what they were doing. We pass through a door to the left of the rather huge movie screen. Behind the movie screen wall is a little open area. One side leads to the kitchen, the other side looks to be headed toward to main reception area and the middle is a long hallway.
"Alright, so through the at the end of the hallway is Mickey's office, we just go through there and we'll get you set up for your first shift!" Max says, his hand now resting on my hip instead of my back.
"Um, Max? Your hand..."
He jumps back from me, panicked. "OH MY GOD! I'm so sorry!"
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Mickey was super nice, and it really didn't take much for me to convince him into letting me take a crack at the villains section. Max was super worried about it but after explaining to Mickey my previous waitressing experience, he said yes. Now, I'm standing in the employee locker room looking at myself in the mirror 10 minutes before opening. I knew this place was swanky, so I decided to keep a classy sexy air about me. Low black heels, sheer black tights, a short black skirt with deep pockets, and a boat neck white t-shirt tucked in. Cleavage, but tasteful. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and after stressing over everything, I finally decided to head out onto the floor. I fall in line next to the other staff members that are lined up behind the screen. A few moments pass and suddenly the building is filled with voices. The main hostess, Daisy, comes back and assigns everyone their sections.
"Alrighty, and last we have our new girl! Let's see what you got!" She says smiling, before looking down at her clipboard. "Oh. Oh my. I may have this wrong let me check with Mickey!"
"Oh, no! I asked for the villain section if that's what it says!" I hurry out, stopping her from leaving.
She turns back to look at me, worried. "Are you sure, hon?"
I shake my head. "Yes, I'm sure."
"Okay....good luck. And if you need ANYTHING, you tell me." She quickly hands me a tray and gestures to the door. I take off.
Entering the main floor, I notice how different the building feels now. Walking through it before hours made it feel so empty but now it was like the building was alive. It felt like a totally different place. I try not to get distracted as I head towards the ramp that leads to the upper floor. Mickey recently added some changes and decided to separate the villains by giving them their own second floor section that overlooked the main floor. It gave them privacy, which they liked, and kept them from starting fights with old rivals. I can tell that Mickey believed in the whole 'there's goodness in everyone' thing because he was really pushy about bringing out the happiness in them. What Mickey was doing wrong however, was trying to make them happy his way. To please people like this, you have to make them happy their way. As I make it up the ramp and step through the threshold of the villain section, I can instantly feel a change in the atmosphere. Downstairs, the club felt light, happy and upbeat. Here, it feels seedier, darker, heavier and a bit more....adult. I know exactly how to work this. I scan the room and try to figure out where to start as I slow my steps. My decision, however, is made for me when I feel a swirl of black smoke wrap around my waist and pull me to the left. I gasp, and hold onto my tray as I'm tugged toward a looming, dark figure reclined in a booth. Wild blue flames cover his head and his gold eyes watch me intensely as I'm yanked one last time in his direction. The smoke forms into a solid arm, his arm. It locks around my waist and pulls me up against his chest. My knees hit the edge of the booth and I'm almost sitting on his leg.
"Well, well, what do we have here, huh?" He murmurs, laughing under his breath. "I have seen just about every single lousy mortal that works in this place but I have never seen you. So, where'd you come from, babe?"
He finishes his sentence while dragging his finger under my chin, forcing me to look up into his eyes. I know what he's doing. Testing the waters, trying to figure out if I'm another scared new recruit that will cut tail and run. No way. I pause before answering, making sure to meet his stare head on.
"I'm new. This is my first shift. You must be Lord Hades." I murmur back.
His eyes widen a bit at the use of his title. I got the run down on him during my debrief with Max. A hot-headed tyrant with a major God-complex (pun intended). With an ego like his, sucking up just enough would make him melt easily. Suck up too much though, and he'll get irritated. I gotta be careful about this.
"Ohhhh, finally!" He shouts, throwing his head back as the flames on his head shoot upwards. "You know how many entitled mortals down here have the nerve to just call me Hades, as if I'm some sniveling human like them? OH! It is good to hear someone other than my stupid minions use it," He pulls me tighter, his face now inches away. "and I gotta say babe, I really like the way it sounds when you say it."
As he ends his sentence, I catch his eyes cast a quick glance down my shirt. See? Tasteful cleavage works every time. I hold myself steady, and as much as I hate to admit it....he's got some charm. In a sleazy new yorker kind of way, but still.
I reach up and rest a hand on his chest as I speak. "Well, tell me what I can get you, and you'll get to hear me say it more often."
His chest heaves as he breathes in deep and lets out a deep, low chuckle. "Oh I got a long list of things you can get me...."
"Drink wise, hot stuff." I say, pushing myself back up to my feet. As his arm falls away from my waist I quickly lean back down and whisper in his ear, "The rest costs extra."
I snap back up and lean out of the way as his flames burn bright red and explode a few inches from his body.
As he cools back down he focuses back on me. "Oh I like you, babe, I really do. How bout this, you get me a martini. My regular, the kitchen knows what it is, but I'll tip you good if you can convince the goody two-shoes mouse to put some real hard liquor in it, capeesh?"
I jot down his order and slide my notepad back into my pocket. "I think I can manage that."
"Yeah, then when you get back with it, you can tell me exactly what that, aha, other stuff is..." He says chuckling as his sharp teeth come out to bite his lip.
I cast a smirk his way and turn from the table. I make sure to add an extra sway in my hips because hey, like I've said before - I need this fucking money. Besides, I kinda like the attention. It's...been a while for me to say the least. As I near the ramp, something stops me. It shoots out quick and grabs the pocket on my skirt. I snap my head around and see a hand....a big hand. I trail my eyes up to an equally big arm that's connected to a man. He's got a black jacket and a black pirate's hat resting on his head.
"Ah, so sorry to trouble ya m' dear, I was hopin' to get ya tah see about a drink fer me." A heavy Irish accent says.
"Of course, what can get I for you, mister....?" I say, leaning my hip against the table as I face him.
He lifts his head and the first thing my eyes settle on is the one mechanical one he has. His right eyes appears to be a golden sphere. It spins, and rotates in the socket. His other eye is a deep brown.
"Silver. John Silver."