blood in the club >> venus&mars

[Deleted]

"Aye, V."

"Yeah, what's up?" She says, words slurred with a hiccup of a laugh thrown in there. 

"Dude outside's lookin' for you, gaves me this," Gavin says, sliding a polaroid into her hands and waiting a second before making his way back outside. Venus had been having a good night, one she's lived through so many times before. Alcohol, alcohol, alcohol; bottom shelf, baby. Give it cheap and drink it hard, she was 16 and practically immortal. Invincible, she of her timeless vices. Nothing could stop her, Venus thought, until she looked at the photo. 

Mars, fuck. 

This wasn't how she wanted to see him - or rather, be seen by him. Be seen at all, at that. Mars was her brother from another lifetime, from a different, broken home. Before she was a Gaultier, before she became herself. It was a strange duality, how confident she felt with strangers, and how insecure she felt with people she knew. Knew, he bleached his hair and grew his beard, and it looks ridiculous, and it's him. 

Her big brother. She bumps her way through the club with a fallen face, something in her gut telling her to delay it even more. Instead she found herself outside in the damp, smoky air. And she found him, with his stupid hair. 

"Box dye?" C'mon, bro, we're better than that. 

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table by: z o e

[MATTIO]

M A R S G A U L T I E R

It's cold out today, all things summertime considered. The off-again on-again rain keeps the temperature outside on its toes. Mars keeps his hands snug in his pockets, flipping the pack of cigarettes over and over while he waits. He didn't dare to go inside. He's grown more thoughtful about Venus and her situation. It's not his space– he knows that well enough. A puff of smoke plumes from either side of his lips, still thinking of what exactly to say.

I'm sorry would probably be a good place to start. He owes her that much at a minimum.

The door opens, and a familiar girl passes through it. The sound of parties, celebrations, and joy sources from within the walls, but for Mars, the only thing keeping his smile up is his sister. Venus. He plucks the cigarette from his lips as she inspects him, up and down.

Before he can even get a word in, she gets the first. "Box dye?" Unimpressed in her tone, Mars leans against the post board, embarrassed. He thought it looked alright, but her color, not natural either, is perfect.

He'll take that lash of the tongue. Mars would take a million if it meant a chance at an apology.

"It's been a minute. I missed you." He moves in for a hug, arms open, but stops just inches from her. If she'll have him. He'll leave that up to her.

ELEGANT

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He still smokes, she thinks to herself so loudly. There's a nostalgia that comes with the disgust - she remembers her first cigarette, three years ago on the apartment balcony. It was a night that they were both up for, far too late for no good reason. Venus had caught him, fifteen at the time, smoking outside alone. At first she annoyed him as little siblings do, joking that she would wake their parents up if he didn't pass a cigarette her way. And he was annoyed, in a non-joking way as older siblings often are, but he did it anyways. He tossed her a lighter too, which she struggled to light the cigarette on her own. Instead, Mars lit it for her before taking his seat again. They'd smoke in silence with a few coughs from Venus here and there, she could tell something was wrong with him but didn't know how to ask. 

She sees that boy through his eyes and wonders if he'll still cough up a cigarette for free. 

What? How else does family make amends? 

"It's been a minute," he says, and she mentally agrees. "I missed you," he says, and she mentally disagrees. 

Somehow, it's only in this moment that she misses him. Now that he's right before her, here again, it hits her all at once, but she wouldn't say she's missed him. There was never room nor time, the Gaultiers found her quick and filled the void her old family left. Mars included. When she left, she thought it was for good - prepared for it so, cut strings with golden scissors. Only now does she question if she'll regret it, or if she'll regret meeting him outside altogether. 

"Aw, how soft," she says, not ready to share any of how she feels. It's an ever filling bottle she intends to swallow, and she can't risk losing her buzz now. If one single tear falls, she's leaving, mark her words on that. "Bet you're the only one who did," Venus's words laced with bitterness - he missed me. That was something she dreamed of hearing when she let herself think of her past, that someone still cared about her. And here he is, and she's being a bitch about it. Why wouldn't she? 

"Can I bum?" She asks, right hand prematurely outstretched to accept a cigarette. 

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table by: z o e

[MATTIO]

M A R S G A U L T I E R

"Aw, how soft." That's always been Mars's M.O. His softness, both a blessing and a curse. There is honesty, and there is silence. He's honest at this moment as months passed without his sister in the room down the hall, being loud and having meaningless disagreements with their parents. Mars never believed it would come to blows the way it did that afternoon after dinner. All the fighting and the screaming, to which he sat through, crushing his salad with a fork. He was supposed to be the middle man, the big brother that can see both sides and bridge the gap. One thing, then another, and she was out the door before he even knew what to say.

"Bet you're the only one who did." He was and still is. Mom and Dad don't mention Venus. They lived their life as if Mars was the only child. That's what triggered him to step away from his parents today. Mars can't forget, and wouldn't dare try. They couldn't handle that, so he left.

Like they were little kids at the swings, Venus extends her hand towards him, asking for a cigarette of her own. "Oh– yeah! Of course." Some things don't change. He pulls the pack from his side and hands her one. He holds the lighter out for her too, whether she wants him to light it or take it herself.

The questions start pouring out as soon as he sees smoke. "Have you been okay? Nobody's been giving you a tough time? You're safe?" All questions over a year too late. He should have come sooner. He had a guess that this might be where she goes first chance, but spaces like these are well beyond his comfort zone. The music and celebrations bounce off of the club's brick walls. Mars is no partier. Crowds are nowhere near intimate enough for his preferences. "I just want to be sure."

ELEGANT

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First, she takes the cigarette, holding it between her front teeth. Then, she takes the lighter, snatching it from her brother. Lastly, she takes a deep breath, one that tickles a cough from her and proves the death stick works.

Venus pockets it casually, the lighter, stuffing it in the back of her jean mini skirt before her coughs came up as a distraction. She loved anything that was a gift, or free for that matter, a net gain is never a problem, right? Sometimes, though, if you just act like you’re not doing anything out of place, people will just ignore what’s happening. She wants it to be her lighter, so it’s her lighter, so she’s putting her lighter in her pocket, and suddenly there’s nothing to feel guilty about. “Thanks, bro,” she says, raising the cigarette before taking another puff. Ahh, classic nicotine. Menthol at that, the minty twang unexpected. For as long as she knew him, Venus knew Mars to smoke nothing but reds.

Figures. She may not know him anymore after all.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” she says, flickering an eye roll before flicking the ashes off her cigarette. “I don’t get hurt around here, this whole block belongs to me,” the princess of Haus of Gaultier tells Mars. She feigns annoyance, but in a way she doesn’t care to admit, she’s happy he cares. Venus had spent so long convincing herself he wouldn’t or didn’t or won’t care that it’s reassuring he finally does. Maybe he did all along; maybe he didn’t. How concerned he sounds though, it brings her back to when she first entered the night life. The scene is intimidating, and downtown can be dangerous in itself, and being a trans woman on top of it all - she had gotten so used to it, she almost forgot to be scared. And with all of that, Venus dances and drinks anyways, and found a home in the mix of where she never thought she would find a place to belong.

Mars comes back around, and Venus wonders what he wants from her. Perhaps that’s what has her so skeptical, that he, like everybody else, just wants something. Why else would he be here? Here, at Bella Noches, unless he just wanted something. “I’m not going home, Mars,” she says, “if that’s why you’re here, you can leave the cigarettes behind and leave now.”

written on my Nokia S34

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table by: z o e

[MATTIO]

M A R S G A U L T I E R

Frozen solid in place, Mars listens to Venus act and talk with the confidence that he'd always sensed she had but could never express back home. His lighter becomes hers in an instant, swallowed up in the back of her skirt. "Thanks, bro." He's always bro or dude to her. It's a connection they had since they were little. They were more than just siblings back then, they were friends. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't get hurt around here, this whole block belongs to me." The Gaultier place… belongs to her? As hard as it feels to believe, he does anyway. Mars takes a look around the space, each person walking in and out of the building living up to a built aesthetic and culture.

If this is where she's happy and at her best, Mars isn't going to question it. With a hesitant smile on his face, all he can do is brace for what she's about to say. How he's going to get pushed back out again because he showed up too late or didn't wait long enough. "I'm not going home, Mars," he nods, expecting nothing less. "If that's why you're here, you can leave the cigarettes behind and leave now."

"Leave the cigarettes behind? No." He chuckles, sliding the pack into the back of his jeans. "I'm not here to ask you to come home. Mom and Dad… they're still not really happy about everything." Mars turns his head again, inspecting the Bella Noches club and bar in all its glory. This place belongs to Venus, it's her new home. "We got into an argument, about you, and so I left and wanted to talk to you. Hang out and catch up, if that's okay." For however long Venus has been gone from home, having this moment to make amends is necessary. Even if Mars doesn't say all the right things, he means to. It's not an everyday experience to lose a sibling and then walk up to their doorstep looking for redemption.

"Are you, like, working? In here? Can I go in?"

ELEGANT

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Yeah, no way in hell was he ever going to leave the whole carton behind. 

Venus laughs lightly alongside him over it, because in this world cigarettes are as important as condoms. What is she without her vices? There's a sparkle there she isn't ready to give up, no matter how bad for her it is, so she takes another drag as Mars brings up what she dreads most: their parents. Mom and Dad, he says, and there's a cringe that runs down her spine.

She is not her mother, Ainara is. 

He is not her father, Haziel is. 

Yet, despite that all, Mars is still her brother. That's the only reason she listens as he tells her of it all, no matter how much she wants to tone it all out. So that's why he's here - to hang, to talk... about what? About that? About family? Family can't be just two people, and she's got her own family now regardless, without him. There's a silence that's filled only by the sound of her sucking in the smoke of her f**. It's prolonged enough for it to be noticably awkward, Mars looking to her as if waiting for a response that'll never come. 

What more is there to say? Sorry for causing more problems? Even in her absence, all she can do is fuck him over time and time again. 

Whatever. 

"Are you, like, working?" He says, and it's instantaneous how she perks up. Finally, something worth talking about. She nods once, nonchalantly, as if she hadn't dreamed of this pipe dream somehow coming true. Venus would never admit it, but sometimes when she performs on that stage, she'll look out to the crowd with a piqued hope that she'll find his familiar face out there. Now, the thought of actually lipsyncing in front of him seems so ... vulnerable, she can hardly stand the thought. 

Still, this is her paradise, if there's anything Mars should know of her this would be it. 

"In here?" Another nod, "can I come in?" Ehhhhh-

"Uh, duh," she says like she hasn't been dying to share this with him. Venus takes a desperately short yet intense hit on her cigarette before tossing it into the gutter of the street. "Just, y'know, beware the drunk twinks? They get," fiendish might be the polite word, "freaky." She gives Mars a one over before turning towards Bella Noches, wondering if he'd even like it. 

Oh well, maybe it'll scare him off and she can go back to pretending her entire bloodline doesn't exist. 

"Family pass, by the way," she says, nodding her head to the bouncer who gives Mars the same up and down she had a second before. It's like, code, or something. She takes her brother by the hand as they slip through the veil and into that of Bella Noches.

It's an assault on the senses, every direction is a different stimulus. First comes the smell of sweat, perfume and that ever familiar cigarette smoke. It's palpable enough to taste, and the music is loud enough to feel up your feet through to your gut. You overhear patrons from all angles, an argument here, a couple flirting there, a trio of drag queens speaking in hush hush in the corner. The longer your eyes adjust, the more there is to observe. What must be a hundred bodies fill the room, from the entrance to the staircase and up to what must be the second floor. 

And somewhere amidst it all winds up to be one pair of siblings: Venus & Mars. 

Once they're too deep for Mars to leave easily, she releases her grip and turns to face him. Arms outstretched as if revealing it all herself, she has to lean in just to have her voice be audible. "So this is it. Want a drink? Voucher on me, dude!" 

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table by: z o e