(You've Got) That Pornstar Flava (1/7)

[amfiguree]

Master Post | Trailer | Reel One | Reel Two | Reel Three | Bonus Features: Movie Commentary | Gag Reel | Behind The Scenes


AJ's only been working there a year and a half, give or take, so Chris can see why he doesn't get it. He's still at the stage where porn is shiny and exciting. Thing is, Chris has been a TRANS-PORN employee for almost twice that. After the first twenty thousand tapes, even the weird sex is boring.

For entertainment, Chris resorts to giving running commentaries on the sex lives - or lack thereof - of the social rejects that frequent the store, and eventually he becomes so vicious that AJ can barely hold back his snickering when he has to actually serve Chris' victims at the counter. Howie just shakes his head and walks away, and eventually the goal of the game shifts from 'how many different ways are there to say that our customers are sadly deprived?' to 'how many times can I make Howie squirm in two minutes?', but even that can only hold Chris' interest so long.

Still. TRANS-PORN may not be the most stimulating working environment, but Chris has worked at a lot worse for a lot less. Lou Pearlman's an asshole, and a pervert, but he's also a businessman. Chris knows this for a fact. Lou has a hand in about four hundred and fifty-eight thousand businesses, which means he isn't around much, or that he's on the phone with some other business shmuck when he is. And that means, if nothing else, that the man's easy to handle. Chris keeps an eye closed, doesn't comment on the hand on his ass three or four times a shift, and at the end of the month he usually gets a healthy bonus on top of his paycheck, whether or not he deserves it.

Howie, on the other hand, cleverly (and sweetly, always sweetly, the little fucker) slides just out of Lou's reach, plans his schedule so that he sees their boss as little as possible, even if that means he's on the graveyard shift till 6am five nights a week. He takes home a considerable amount less than Chris does, but at least - according to him - he's spared the nightmares. Chris just flips him off and says, "one day I'll file a sexual harassment charge against him and run you out of a job, asshole."

He never actually means it, though. See, for all his bitching and moaning - and Chris is a big believer in both - he actually likes his job. Hell, on a good day he might even go so far as to say he loves it. TRANS-PORN has a loyal, steady customer base, and Chris can tell you the names, addresses, and top three borrowed videos of more than three quarters of them off the top of his head. He can probably even tell you their favorite sandwich meat (ham is the most popular by far), the color of their real hair (if they have any), and how many of them AJ's blown against the door to their pantry (none).

So Chris doesn't have much to complain about, really. This may not be what his momma pictured for him when she told him to "get out there and make it happen," when he first left home, but he's always wanted to be involved in films, and this is an adequate substitute. He makes enough each month to put food on the table, pay all his bills on time, and still have some left over to go for drinks with JC and Joey twice a week. He hasn't had to pay for sex yet, but he's got a healthy rainy day sum tucked away, too, in case of emergencies.

Not that this is the life Chris had planned for himself, of course. In fact, if someone had asked him, three years ago, "Kirkpatrick, where's the one place you ain't never gonna end up?" he would've told them, "Nowhere." Easy. Wouldn't even have had to think about it.

He's always had big dreams, always thought he'd stick to the plan of following no path but his own, but he hasn't been that man for a while now. He's already been at TRANS-PORN two years longer than he'd intended to be. Sure, he's cruising down the fast track to nowhere, but he isn't broke, either, and that counts for something. Most days, he's even convinced he's happy.

Unfortunately, happy doesn't last forever.

One day, a little bed-and-breakfast across the street is torn down, and a new club opens in its place: a joint with flashy neon lights, naked, pole-dancing strippers, and an indecent amount of stocked alcohol.

That's when everything changes.

Comments

[bubbleforest.livejournal.com]

SO NOW IT'S MY TURN, OKAY? And I don't know if I can pull this off as awesomely as you did, even though I LOVE THIS TO PIECES OMG, but I'm going to TRY. Because, like, talk about world-weary characters. YOUR CHRIS, OKAY. He is amazing. I love that he's the old fart who knows the ropes better than anyone (and who lets Lou GROPE HIM, omg Chris ))))): I LOVE that he had dreams, because I so can't see Chris any other way, but they didn't quite happen, so now he's redefining his dreams? I think? Only that comes later! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING I'M DELIRIOUS WITH LOVE, OKAY. I just love that NOTHING can beat him for so long.

AND SWEET HOWIE. SWEET HOWIE, I LOOOOVE HIM. He would so handle Lou that way, and I remember being so impressed with that description of him when you first showed it to me. Because he'd totally not get Lou get near him with a ten foot pole, but he'd be POLITE about it. God, Howard.

AND YOUR AJ IS THE BEST THING EVER, OKAY? BUT I WILL GET TO THAT IN THE NEXT PART.

I LOVE how you're telling this story. Like, those last two lines, setting up the next part, like, oh crap, this does not bode well. :/ You do that throughout the story - what is that called, an all-knowing narrator - and it works SO WELL. OMG NATALIE, I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DOUBTED THIS, YOU CRAZY LADY.

[sly-fuck.livejournal.com]

So I'm working my way through the fic for this (because I missed this...omg I'm so deprived of boys) and seriously? You're above and beyond awesome in my books right now. Oh, Christopher. So. Much. Love.