neon lights pt. 1 | b.h & reader
18+ minors dni. - next chapter
contents: adult themes, friends to lovers
LAS VEGAS - 1989
Billy didn't realize it had happened until it did, two months of being in Vegas without a dime to his name, living in his Camaro and driving up and down the strip until any opportunity came along. He'd left Hawkin's after finishing courses at the trade school, a promise he'd made to his father but once he was certified for a handful of manual labor jobs and Neil insisted Billy join him at his job, he couldn't hang. He bit the bullet, dealt with the fight and told him he was going home. If only Neil could see him now, homeless with a bit of gambling habit before he'd even made it to California.
The constant party of this town had drawn him in, burning through his wallet and his ambitions. To be totally fair, he didn't even have a plan for what he'd do once he eventually got to San Diego. Finding his mom was about the only thing he really wanted to do but he didn't even know where to start. So he figured, this place was fun enough. He could stick around as long as this town would let him. He'd need a job though. And wouldn't you know it, the strip club seemed like the perfect place of employment.
Billy walks into the Rosy Cheeks on a Tuesday afternoon, asking for the manager and he's introduced to the house mother, which in his luck. She flirtatiously guides him to a booth after offering him a complimentary cocktail, which he takes graciously. "We don't actually hire male dancers," she says to him, an eyebrow raised.
"Oh, thank god, because I'm here for the bartending position," Billy teases, giving her his best fuck me eyes. He really needed this job so what he does to get it doesn't bother him too much, he'd been doing this for years now. Summer's spent working at the Hawkin's Community Pool were practice for moments like this, using the way older women treated him to get what he needed. It caught up to him when he was alone with his thoughts, so he made it quite the mission to never be alone.
"Have you ever bartended before?" she asks.
Billy smirks, "No but I'm a quick learner."
"We'll see about that," she says, "You start this Thursday."
When he's on his first training shift, you're walking in fifteen minutes late to your shift, not letting it bother you when you see the place is empty. You sigh out loud, heading to the dressing room, "I don't know why I bother showing up to this shift." The girls in the room laugh, applying their makeup in preparation for the rush you all hope is coming. You light up a smoke after changing into the set you'd picked out for your first stage dance, slipping your robe on over it but not yet ready to put the platform shoes.
"Ladies!" you hear the house mother Didi call as she struts into the dressing room, a man trailing behind her with an unruly mullet. He looks as if he hasn't had a haircut in months. "I want you all to meet the new bartender," she motions to him. "Billy, ladies."
"Hi Billy," the room rings and he waves adorably back.
"Hello, Ladies," he purrs and Didi pats his bottom as she's ushering him out of the room. Ah, there it is. During your time of the exotic dancing circuit, you had never seen a male bartender. It didn't seem to be good for business, at least at the places you've worked. You cannot help it when your eyes follow his ass as he walks away, his jeans were incredibly tight and he kind of bounced when he walked. Goddamnit, he's hot. You cannot mess around with a coworker again, though. The last time you'd hooked up with a bouncer didn't go so well.
Billy's remarkably well at his job, he keeps track of how much he's served the girls and he gets along with the regulars. Didi points out he can double as security which he does for you. He's leaving from his shift and you're leaving from yours so it made sense to walk out together anyways.
"Jesus Christ, that's a beautiful car," you spew, looking at the gorgeous midnight blue Camaro parked next to your beat up Volkswagen rabbit, which at one point had been your dream car. Unfortunately, you weren't the best driver and you struggled to keep up with regular oil changes or engine services.
"Thanks," Billy muttered, leaning against it as he lights up a cigarette. You peer inside and see the blanket and pillow thrown in the backseat.
"Are you living in it?" you ask, eyes widening.
Billy scoffs, "When I can't find somewhere else to sleep."
"Oh, Billy... Have you been looking for an apartment?" you ask, snatching the pack of Marlboro's from his shirt pocket to light one up for yourself.
"Sometimes I can get lucky and there's some vacancy at the 66 Motel," he shrugs.
"Well... my roommate actually just moved out three weeks ago. I've been looking for someone to take over the space," you say, "if you wanted, you could move in?"
"I couldn't," he tries, "I don't want to impose." but he does follow you home and crashes on your couch for a week until you insist he buys a mattress and takes over the empty room.
Slowly but surely, the room becomes Billy's and it makes you sad that he didn't have anything besides a suitcase full of clothes and his car. When you ask why, he admits he had a lot more things but he pawned them to pay for nights at the casinos.
"Ah, not a local then?" you'd asked, while the two of you watched TV and partook in a couple of drinks after a particularly boring dayshift.
"No, I'd never even been to Vegas before six months ago. I'm from San Diego, lived in Indiana for a few years and decided I wanted to go back home, got kinda trapped here," he explains.
You had been born and raised in this place, never knowing of anywhere else in the world. "The best of 'em get stuck here," you say in an effort to cheer him up, his story being a sad one. You don't ask him much else about his upbringing, learning that it could be a touchy subject and if people wanted to tell their backstory, they would. Billy never talked about his life before the short six months he'd been here. You didn't mind, he was always respectful and gave you space. Billy never comments about girls at work but he'd brought home a string of your coworkers, along with strangers. You two had a good thing worked out and after a while, Billy became your closest friend.
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a/n: hi!! just something i threw together this weekend, I'll still be focusing on Wicked Sensation but sometimes i just get an idea and if i dont write it that instant, i wont at all. hope you enjoy!!!
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Speck Lore:
Just some basic info I threw together about five minutes ago based on my little theories I discussed with my friend about him the other night at like 4 am.
-Callsign is actually Speck. Came from when he first left operating and everyone called him Spec-Ops but it was too long so it eventually just shortened to Speck
-He's about 38-40 years old (This is not an age gap fic, maybe next time)
-Speck is…A liar to say the least. He rarely ever tells the truth and it's the due to past issues from his career in the military
-He was not a Marine like he told Price, that's just what he tells anyone who asks
-Speck went through BUD/S which stands for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training
-He was in fact a Navy Seal Tier One Operator
-He did way more than two deployments overseas and was in countless black ops missions for his country
-There was an incident (will be discussed in the fic later on) that caused him to retire early which is why he is where he is now
-Speck is now contracted to a private company that sends him, basically, where no one else wants to go. The only reason he was in the UK at the time is because he had heat on his ass and needed to lay low for a while. No one is going to search for a southerner in fuckin Birmingham, UK
-Man has a lot of family trauma, and boy do I mean a lot
-He wasn't always out as gay, has been married before, and has two kids he never sees anymore. His ex-wife didn't want him around them after they were divorced and used all his time on deployments to gain full custody of their kids
-Mans is also a gay man from Georgia, I don't know if any of yall have ever been a gay man from Georgia but when you are, and especially from a small town, your family doesn't exactly appreciate the fact their son is gay, at least not usually. God forbid they ever find out you aren't the top in the relationship, man is just out here tryna survive
-Makes hella money now and never sees any of it cause child support a bitch, also alimony
-Anyone who looks at Speck ever: Whatchu doin out here wit all that ass?? Double cheeked up on a Thursday afternoon.
-Is a dog handler
-Has a Dutch Shepherd
-Always covered in dog hair
-Dog's name is Cerberus
-Thalassophobia - My man hates open water and the ocean
-Gets severely seasick every time he's on a boat. Every. Time. Without fail.
-Avid people watcher, knows too much about everybody and sees more than he should
-Only sees his kids on facebook and knows nothing about them anymore
-Incredibly aloof
-Doesn't understand emotions because he has cut them off and suppressed them so long
-Fluent in about 10 languages, Arabic, Pashto, Farsi, Spanish, English, Hebrew, Swahili, Zulu, Yoruba, and Oromo but knows the basics of some Niger-Congo dialects as well
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