The Happy Fairy Princess Cafe, 3/3
His dance debut could have been far worse, Sho decided when he made his way over to one of his tables, guarding his Princess as Stormy entered the dining room in a haze of dry ice and flickering lights. He’d spun the wrong way during the second chorus and had fumbled the lyrics a bit in his nervousness, but otherwise he’d gotten through it.
Which was good, since he’d have to perform it four more times that day.
He held his sword out as he’d practiced, waiting for that day’s special performance. In the first Sunday fight against Stormy, the two Princes on duty would chase him all the way back to the changing booth where the young woman from the hostess stand would trigger another dry ice machine. Nino would do a quick change in the booth, emerging in a flash wearing his Prince Kazunari costume: a simple blue sleeveless tunic over a long-sleeved white shirt with tan trousers and brown boots.
Unlike the other Princes, Prince Kazunari was a gentleman rogue character who preferred to defend himself with a dagger sheathed close to his hip. Since Stormy was defeated, the rest of the Sunday performances involved exhibition battles between the Princes set to adventurous music. Nino was probably happy for a break from his cumbersome costume and tail.
Sho watched Prince Masaki and Prince Shigeaki chase Stormy around the room before they headed off for the lower level of the cafe and the changing booths.
“Wait!” Jun shouted, defending a table just across from Sho. “He’s no mere dragon!”
“You may be right!” Prince Ryosuke cried. “There’s something about him…something almost…”
“…human!” Sho said loudly, finishing Ryosuke’s statement and spouting the only line that he’d been asked to rehearse. He looked across the cafe quickly, seeing Jun trying to hide a smirk at his acting ability, such as it was when he only had to say one word.
“Perhaps he’s under a curse!” Prince Shigeaki declared, holding up his shimmering blue sword. “Let me cast a banishment spell!”
The lights in the cafe turned into a blur of color as Prince Shigeaki held his sword aloft. “I cast the evil out!” Prince Shigeaki shouted. “I cast the evil out!”
The dry ice kicked in and in moments Nino emerged, staggering around, human once more. “You’ve freed me!” he cried, stumbling up to the arena. Sho moved away from his table, joining the other Princes. “It’s me, Prince Kazunari! For too long I’ve been under a witch’s spell.” Nino moved to the middle, delivering his lines with gusto. He met Sho’s eyes, offering him a quick wink of encouragement. “Thank you, all of you, Princes and Princesses alike, for extinguishing the darkness in my soul.”
The restaurant erupted into cheers as the full lights came back on, the Princes bowing before returning to their duties. Nino walked back with Sho, tugging on his cape. “I watched the dance from upstairs.” There were monitors in the special effects room recording every performance. “You did really good, Sho-san.”
Sho blushed. “Thanks,” he said as Nino pulled away, heading to sneakily gather up the Stormy the Dragon costume, hiding it in one of the carts used to clear the tables.
Sho had a bit of a close call going through the swinging doors, nearly knocking Prince Taisuke and his tray full of sundaes over, but aside from that the rest of the lunch shift went smoothly. And when it came time to give the second performance of the day, Sho found himself smiling bigger, gesturing larger. He might have missed a move or two, but with the room full of clapping Princesses cheering them on, he found it all too easy to keep going.
When the cafe closed, the last of the lunch Princesses having moved on, the lights in the cafe flickered and Sho was confused.
But then it was Prince Kazunari and Prince Masaki holding the swinging kitchen doors open while triumphant music played. To Sho’s amazement, Ohno-san came through pushing a cart, all of the kitchen staff behind him. Ohno wheeled the cart to the arena floor, and the other Princes tugged on Sho, dragging him forward.
It came as a complete surprise when Sho looked at the cart, finding a cheesecake that had been decorated elegantly with a strawberry glaze…a strawberry glaze drawn in the shape of a red pointed hat. Beneath the cheesecake were a line of several chocolate squares, each of them bearing a single English letter, spelling out “GOOD JOB PRINCE SHO.”
“Congratulations are in order for our Prince from a distant kingdom!” Prince Kento cried, voice carrying throughout the cafe. “For the best debut performance we’ve had!”
“At least since the last debut anyhow,” Nino teased.
He brought his hand to his mouth in shock, hearing the staff’s applause all around him, seeing Ohno smile and clap his hands with a knowing smile. Sho received hugs from Nino and Aiba, but as he looked around the room, seeing happy faces, faces that were proud of him (even though all he’d done was perform the song twice and say ‘human’ once), he noticed that someone was missing.
Once Sho had thanked everyone, Ohno declared that it was time for the Princes and staff members alike to share in the cheesecake. Aiba handed Sho two slices. Initially, he thought that he was meant to bring a slice upstairs to the special effects room for Muro-san, but here the man was, joking around with some of the kitchen folks. So there really was only one person missing.
With everyone gathered around enjoying their sweets, Sho excused himself, taking the two cake plates and forks through the double doors. Even if it was technically a celebration about himself, he had a feeling that Ohno just wanted an excuse to make everyone indulge. Nobody followed after him as he moved through the archway, climbing the stairs.
He found Jun all alone inside the special effects room, sitting on the floor cross-legged watching some footage on one of the monitors. As Sho drew closer, he could see that Jun was rewatching the scene from earlier, Sho’s very first performance with the group of Princes for the Happy Fairy Princess song.
“I brought you some cheesecake,” he interrupted, not wanting to stand like a creep in the doorway for long.
“Congratulations,” Jun said, scooting over a little so Sho could join him on the floor. He accepted the plate with a quick thank you before rewinding the footage.
“Why didn’t you come down for the party?” he asked. “Although I don’t know if I’ve done anything so great to even warrant a party. I totally spun the wrong way, and I think I was a second behind on some of the moves and…”
“You were fine,” Jun said quickly. “Totally fine. It’s the Stormy bit that’s the problem.”
Sho sat and watched, enjoying every indulgent bite of his cheesecake. As Jun watched and rewatched the footage, he explained to Sho what he didn’t like about it. Sho watched Nino disappear into the changing stall with the dragon costume on, but the dry ice wasn’t rising high enough to obscure his movements entirely. When Nino pulled open the curtain to get inside and change clothes, the Prince Kazunari costume hanging from a hook inside the booth was plainly visible to anyone on that one side of the restaurant.
“It ruins the illusion,” Jun complained.
“Well, I mean the script pretty much implies that he’s been cursed and he’ll transform back into a human,” Sho replied. “So the clothes already being there…”
“I don’t like it,” Jun interrupted coldly. “We need a trap door.”
“A trap door?!”
Jun nodded. “The illusion of a trap door, anyway. Nino can crouch down, a hydraulic lift bringing him down through the floor where he can change clothes and then emerge again in a fog of dry ice transformed. It would certainly be more interesting than watching him vanish into a changing booth.”
“That sounds expensive,” Sho pointed out.
“Well, perhaps when I pitch the idea to Ohno-san you can get creative with the math and help me sell it as a worthwhile investment in the cafe’s future.”
Sho grinned, amused by Matsumoto’s concern over such a minor detail. “Accounting is about accuracy, Matsumoto-san. Not creativity.”
He earned himself an eye roll in reply, and he couldn’t help laughing.
Over the last week, he’d learned something vital about Matsumoto Jun. The man was never fully satisfied. Even though he had Sho’s training taking hours out of his day, still he was always making tweaks to the performance side of the cafe experience. Changing a line of dialogue here, adjusting a lighting angle there. Always looking to provide the guests with a more interesting, immersive show.
Following him around the cafe, Sho had also observed Jun in perfect Prince mode. Since there were so many different guests, it might be more logical to have a cache of flirtatious or loving lines to recite depending on the occasion. And yet he’d never heard Jun say the same thing twice. He tailored his performance each and every time for each and every Princess he encountered. His diligence was both impressive and endearing. The guy was the top request in the cafe for a reason.
Jun gestured at the screen with his fork emphatically. “Hydraulic lift, Sho-san. I’m telling you. Wouldn’t just have to be for Stormy. We could do all sorts of things. We could use it to propel a Prince into a big jump, make the start of a battle more dynamic.”
Sho smiled. “Do you ever run out of ideas?”
Jun simply shook his head. “Nope.”
Sho took another bite of his cheesecake, desperately keeping his feelings in check. It was rare that he let a crush consume him so quickly, but then again, not every crush was as attractive or hardworking or just plain interesting as the man beside him.
“I think your real challenge is getting me ready for battle,” Sho pointed out. “Perhaps the hydraulic lift can wait.”
“Alright then,” Jun said, pressing stop on the replay and getting to his feet. He held out a hand, his brown eyes almost sparkling with his ever-present enthusiasm. “When I’m through with you today, you’ll probably be able to take on a real dragon, much less Ninomiya’s scrawny ass in a costume.”
Sho grabbed hold of Jun’s hand, allowing the other man to tug him up. But Jun used a little more strength than necessary, almost like Sho had on his first day pulling open the cafe’s front door. Sho held on to his cake plate with one hand, momentum knocking him right into Jun.
They stood like that for half a dozen breaths, bodies almost pressed up against each other. Sho found himself staring at Jun’s mouth, the sensual curve of it, the tiny moles he had just above and below his lips. Jun still hadn’t let go of his hand, his gentle breaths warm against Sho’s cheek. Ah, what the hell were they doing?
Sho backed away first, his fingers slipping from Jun’s. He cleared his throat, busying himself by taking his fork and shoving a too-large bite of cheesecake in his mouth. “Let’s finish our treats and get moving,” he said around his mouthful of rich cheesecake, feeling foolish.
Jun, shy and hesitant for what felt like the first time, took a step back. The tips of his ears were pink. “Right. Sugar first, battle second.”
-
Stormy entered the cafe with his usual growling, the lights flickering and the music filling the room. As Prince Kento and Prince Taisuke prepared to duel with the dragon, Sho glanced over and saw a potential problem.
The table just behind Sho’s, one of Jun’s tables, had a mother and young daughter sitting to watch the performance. But as soon as the lights had started to flicker, the little girl had started to panic. From a glance, Sho had a feeling the girl wasn’t more than four or five years old. It was mentioned on the website that there would be blinking lights and loud noises during the performances, but it was up to a parent’s discretion whether their child could handle it. Apparently this little one was still a bit too young.
Sho stayed where he was, sword at the ready, as the battle got underway. But he could see Jun slowly moving away from one table and in the direction of his youngest guest. With Jun’s commitment to the performance, the way he moved across the room, sword out, seemed almost as though it was planned.
Nobody seemed to be looking in the direction of the quietly panicking child, and Jun sheathed his sword, smiling at the mother and crouching down beside the daughter. The swordfight against Stormy raged on, but Sho frowned when he saw that nothing Jun was doing seemed to be working. Any moment now, the little girl was liable to scream or cry. And the last thing the performers needed while they were battling with real weapons was that kind of noisy distraction.
Sho made a split-second decision, gently sheathing his sword and resting a hand on his Princess’ shoulder. “Won’t you please excuse me, Your Highness,” he whispered, inclining his head in the direction of the child. “This looks like a two-man operation.”
His own Princess chuckled warmly, and Sho hurried off through the darkened cafe, swords clashing in the background. He could see that Jun’s normal calm had faded, and he was desperately trying to distract the little girl, holding her tiny hand in his. But Sho had a brother several years younger than him. He’d been a teenager when his brother was this age, and Sho had spent plenty of time watching over him. Sometimes a distraction simply wasn’t enough.
Sho swooped in, crouching down on the little girl’s other side. She was adorably dressed in a shimmering pink dress, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. “Hello, Your Highness,” Sho whispered, stroking the little girl’s cheek, drawing her attention away from Jun. “Won’t you come on an adventure with me today?”
When another loud clang of the swords brought impressed gasps from the crowd, the little girl started to cry. Without thinking, without asking Jun, he gave the mother a quick nod and lifted the little girl into his arms, holding her close to him. As her cries grew more noticeable, he gave her a squeeze, moving off with her and away from the table.
“Just hold on to me! We’re going on an adventure!” Sho promised. “Just hold on tight!”
She clung to him, and he hurried off, going through the kitchen doors and into the stairwell. Once he had her on the second floor, he let her sit down on the top step. While the battle raged on in the dining room below, he sat down beside her. She sniffled, her cries having calmed once she was away from the dark and scary fight sequence.
“My name’s Prince Sho,” he said quietly, letting her stay close to his side. “What’s your name?”
“Mari.”
“Hello Princess Mari, I’m so glad you came here today.”
“It was scary,” she mumbled, her small fingers desperately clutching Sho’s sleeve.
“I’m so sorry. Dragons are really scary, aren’t they?”
She nodded.
“But let me tell you a secret, Princess Mari. Soon enough the fight will be over. The dragon will go away.”
“He won’t come back?”
Only if your mother is foolish enough to keep you here past the 2:00 performance, Sho thought, holding in a smile. “No, he won’t come back. So you’ll get to stay at the table with your mom and have some treats. What has Prince Jun brought you today?”
“A brownie with ice cream and sprinkles.”
“Wow, I bet that tastes super yummy.”
She sniffled, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her pretty pink dress. “Yeah, Prince Jun bringed out…he bringed out a whole thing of sprinkles. A big thing. He gave me a spoon and he let me put as many sprinkles as I wanted.”
“Prince Jun is nice, isn’t he?”
“Yes. My mom says he’s sexy.”
Sho coughed, trying not to laugh at the little girl’s blunt comment. Thankfully he didn’t have to come up with a response to that because Jun came through the double doors, looking up the staircase at them.
“Princess Mari,” Jun said, getting down on one knee. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Hi.”
Sho hid a smile behind his hand.
Jun placed his hand against his heart. “Please forgive me for not being able to keep you away from danger. I’m so terribly sorry to have hurt your feelings.”
“It’s okay,” Mari answered, finally detangling herself from Sho. “Prince Sho helped me.”
Jun looked up, meeting Sho’s eyes. He looked overwhelmingly guilty, though Sho wasn’t sure why. “Yes, he knew exactly what to do, didn’t he?”
“Princess Mari was telling me about the sprinkles.”
Jun gallantly walked up the stairs, holding out his hand. “Then we want to make sure she gets to gobble up as many as she wants.”
Mari accepted Jun’s hand and they walked down the stairs together. Sho followed a few moments behind, back into the bustling cafe to check on his tables. One of his Princesses gave a tug on his cape when he walked by.
“You’re good with kids,” she whispered to him, giving him a knowing look. “I bet you’d be even better handling ours someday.”
“All part of the job, Your Highness,” he said with an overexaggerated bow, deciding not to address the second part of her comment.
Once Princess Mari and her apologetic mother left, the rest of the shift went without a hitch. While the staff cleaned up the dining room, Jun pulled him aside, standing with him on the emptied arena floor while the other Princes headed for the lounge.
“I’m sorry, Sho-san.”
Sho was confused. “For what?”
“She was the youngest guest I’ve ever had to deal with. The teen girls, the housewives, the aunties…” Jun shook his head. “I can handle those kind of Princesses, no problem. But I’m not around kids a lot. You totally saved my ass in there today. I…I panicked, I didn’t know what I needed to do.”
Sho waved him off. “If she cried really loudly, Nino or Kento or Taisuke might have been distracted. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Getting her out of there fast just made sense to me. I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds.”
“Overstepped? Sho-san, you prevented outright disaster.” Jun sighed. “All I could think to tell her was that I’d get her another brownie…what an idiot…”
Sho almost couldn’t believe Jun was that down on himself over this. The number one requested Prince. Wasn’t he allowed to make mistakes? “You’re perfect 99.9% percent of the time around here, Jun, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
And almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sho regretted saying them. Or more like he regretted being so overly familiar. He’d known Jun for just over a week and he was already addressing him so informally…
Jun rested a hand on his shoulder, and Sho froze. Jun’s eyes were serious, his smile heartfelt. Apparently he hadn’t found Sho’s use of only his first name to be rude or out of the ordinary.
Jun locked on to him, their eyes meeting. “Thank you. Really.”
“No problem,” he mumbled, feeling Jun squeeze his shoulder before letting go.
“Okay, back to work. Well, back to practice,” Jun said, clapping his hands and dissolving the odd tension in the air. “I’ll go get Nino. Let’s run the sequence again.”
Sho stood there, a bit dumbfounded, wondering how the hell he was going to get through his first battle when all he could think of now was the way Jun had just looked at him.
-
Nino passed Sho the tube of pain relief gel. Prince Sho had gotten through a full week of fights, battling once or twice a day. Though they mostly practiced in slow motion to get all the footwork right, the actual performance had to be quick and daring. A lunge here, a parry there. All with the lights flickering and intense music distracting his senses.
As part of the choreography, Sho leapt in the air as Stormy the Dragon turned, forcing Sho to hop over his swishing tail. Another part required him to swing hard enough to take Stormy’s head off, though Nino expertly ducked right on time. Sho was thirty-five years old, and while he did muscle training and jogged at his usual gym, this kind of workout was just as bad as the dancing, forcing him to use muscles he barely paid attention to before starting at the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe.
He rubbed the gel onto his back, sighing happily at the cool feeling on his skin. He’d bent a bit funny during one of the afternoon song-and-dance performances, and he was still feeling the sting. He didn’t know how Jun and the others had been performing like this six days a week for years now.
But the worst of all might have been the love poems. Although not everyone requested their Prince in advance through the website, Sho’s addition to the cafe had brought out some poetry lovers. Freestyling had never been his specialty, so most of his love poems for now were simply borrowed. One Princess didn’t seem to mind him half-reciting, half-singing Mr. Children lyrics at her. Another had nearly started to cry (happily) because Sho read a love poem that the woman herself had composed for the occasion.
The more personal the “fan service” Sho provided for the Princesses, the more he understood what seemed to motivate all the other Princes. The women who visited the cafe really were more than customers, and seeing them smile made Sho feel good about himself. As much as his old job had contented him, it couldn’t quite compare to this.
He was relaxing on one of the lounge sofas, letting the gel do its magic, when his phone rang with a number he didn’t recognize. His fingers were still slippery, and he barely managed to answer before it went to voicemail.
“Hello, this is Sakurai Sho.”
“Sakurai-san, good afternoon,” a woman greeted him. “This is Sakaguchi Yoko calling.”
Sho’s pulse started to race. Now here was a call he hadn’t expected to receive. Not wanting to disturb the other relaxing Princes, he headed into the empty hallway. “Sakaguchi-san, hello. It’s good to hear from you again.”
A month after he’d lost his job, he’d managed to snag an interview at a top accounting firm, even though he knew they were only looking to hire entry-level talent. After a month of not hearing anything, he’d assumed that he was out of the running.
“It so happens, Sakurai-san, that another position has just opened up that is more in line with your level of experience,” Sakaguchi-san explained. “After your interview with us several weeks back, it was very unfortunate that we could not bring you into a second round. My superiors asked that we keep your file on hand. So if you are still available, we welcome you to participate in the interview process for this new position.”
Sho could barely keep the phone steady in his hand. “Yes. Yes, of course, I’d love to!”
“Excellent! We’ve got a bit of a quick turnaround on this, I’m afraid. I’ve got two slots open right now. I have this Friday at 1:00 PM or 4:00 PM. Will either of those work for you?”
His mouth went dry. On Friday, the cafe had been specially booked from 11:00 AM-3:00 PM for a private event, a bachelorette party. Already Jun had developed a brand new scenario, a champions fight tournament that all the Princes were participating in. 1:00 was right in the middle of the party, and if he took an interview at 4:00, he’d be late coming back for the dinner shift.
Not to mention how tired he’d probably be after the party, needing the break period between shifts to relax and recover.
“Only 1:00 or 4:00 on Friday?” he repeated.
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
Given the firm’s reputation, Sho knew that there was plenty of quality talent out there who would take his interview place in a heartbeat. As good as he was, he probably wasn’t the only person Sakaguchi-san was calling that afternoon.
He had to make a decision now.
He heard footsteps, turning around to see Jun was standing there in his costume, having changed back into it after having a shower. How long had he been standing there?
“You should take the 4:00,” Jun whispered, still towel-drying his dark hair.
Sho’s eyes widened.
“Sakurai-san, are you still there?”
He looked at Jun curiously. “What?” he mouthed. “The party!”
“Take the 4:00,” Jun insisted, expression utterly serious.
“I’m sorry, Sakaguchi-san, I’m just so excited by this news. Please schedule me for this Friday at 4:00 PM.”
“Thank you, Sakurai-san. We look forward to speaking with you again.”
Sho ended the call, lowering his phone and looking at Jun in confusion.
Jun smiled. “Congratulations.”
He shook his head. “But the party…we’re all doing our part and…”
Jun stepped forward, resting a hand on either of Sho’s shoulders, looking at him seriously. “You’re going to the interview. It’s a job you really want, right?”
He had trouble meeting Jun’s eyes. “I have responsibilities here…”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He felt his face growing warm under Jun’s scrutiny. “Yes, it’s one of the largest firms in the country. It would be an amazing next step for my career but they only hire the best people so it’s probably a long shot…”
“So that’s that,” Jun decided for him. “You’re going. You’ll use that Prince Sho charm and win them over. Long shot, my ass.”
Finally he was able to look up, meeting Jun’s warm brown eyes. “I’m sorry…this will inconvenience you. It’ll inconvenience everyone.” Realization struck. “I didn’t even ask Ohno-san for permission to go…”
“Sho. Stop.”
And stop he did as soon as he heard his own name fall so easily from Jun’s lips. Not Sho-san. Not his silly Prince Sho moniker. But Sho.
“Your real kingdom is calling you,” Jun teased, finally letting him go. “So don’t worry about things here. I’ll still make you work, but you’ll get out of here on time. That’s a promise.”
“Thank you,” he mumbled shyly.
“I owe you one anyway,” Jun said breezily, rubbing at his damp hair again as though nothing between them had changed. “After the Princess Mari incident.”
Unable to say anything else to Jun without the likelihood of embarrassment, Sho excused himself, heading downstairs to inform Ohno of his interview.
“Ah, that’s wonderful!” Ohno cheered. “I’m sure you’ll get the job.”
He was only a middling dancer, he could kind of sort of carry a tune. He hadn’t managed to stab anyone yet mid-fight. But why did these people have such faith in him anyway?
“I’ll do my best,” he said.
Ohno wrapped an arm around him, likely getting a handprint of flour on Sho’s t-shirt. “We’re all rooting for you.”
Sho hoped their cheers would make a difference.
-
He turned off the shower, hopping out of the stall in a rush. Jun had kept his promise, making things work out perfectly. Sho had participated in the fighting tournament, just like they’d all rehearsed, but Jun had reordered the sequence. Sho’s fights had come earlier rather than later, and when he was defeated by Prince Kazunari and his quick dagger, he’d been able to slip away during the next fight.
It was 2:45 and the party was winding down as Sho quickly changed into the suit he’d brought from home. It was a bit of a shock now when he got a look at himself in the mirror. It had been about three weeks now where he’d look in the mirror and see a man in a red cape and a dark tunic looking back.
This time, a boring cookie-cutter salaryman was staring back.
He grabbed his briefcase, heading down the stairs with a nervous stomach, his grip tight on the handle. He headed for the kitchen exit, receiving quiet cheers from other members of the kitchen staff, Ohno included, while they boxed up leftovers for the party guests to take home.
Sho was just to the exit when he heard his name. He turned, seeing Jun coming through the double doors, charging forward in his costume, face glistening perfectly with sweat after his scripted tournament victory.
“I’m driving you,” Jun insisted. “No need to wait for a train.”
“I don’t mind taking the train and…”
“Just wait here,” Jun said anyway, holding out his hand. “Just...I’ll come right back.”
True to his word, Jun took off running even as the party was still dying down out in the cafe. Less than a minute later, Jun came thundering down the stairs. He’d thankfully left his sword belt behind, but he was still in costume, jingling his car keys in his hand.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“You’re going to drive me around wearing that?” Sho asked, chuckling. “It’s broad daylight out there, you know. People will think you’re…”
Jun smiled. “Think I’m what? Crazy? They’ll probably be more concerned for you, the guy in the suit being chauffeured around by a guy dressed like me.”
“Don’t be late!” Ohno chided them, tapping his hand on the countertop. “Get the hell out of here already!”
Together they hurried for Jun’s car. Although there was some traffic, Jun was calm. Which had the helpful effect of calming Sho down as well. He felt comfortable sitting beside Jun, far more comfortable than he’d have been on a packed train, stuck with his worries and anxiety about the interview.
These last few weeks, Matsumoto Jun had believed in him. Even though losing his job had not been any fault of his own, Sho had been floundering, anxious, desperate to find a place back in the comfortable world he was used to. And yet somehow he’d ended up at the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe, his familiar accounting programs and spreadsheets replaced by sword fights and dance moves. As jarring a transition as that had been, from the very start Matsumoto Jun had encouraged him. Pushed him.
Their time together had been short, all things considered, but the last three weeks had been some of the most enjoyable of Sho’s life.
It was 3:40 when Jun found a spot to park only a block away from the office building. Sho looked over, still amused by the sight of Jun in all his leather-clad glory. “Thanks for the ride, Your Highness. I’ll do my best to be back in time for the 7:00 performance.”
Jun said nothing, watching him with a soft smile.
“Anyhow,” Sho said, filling the odd silence. “I’d better get moving.”
But before he could reach for the door handle, Jun was in his space. Sho could still smell his sweat, the scent lingering a bit on his costume since he had been in such a rush to drive Sho here. He barely had a second to take a breath before Jun had his hand around the back of his neck, pulling him close.
Jun’s lips were so soft, his mouth was so warm. The taste of him was indescribable. Stunned for a moment, Sho eventually gave in, kissing back, stroking Jun’s cheek with his thumb. But he’d only just accepted the reality that was Jun kissing him (Jun kissing him!) when it ended, Jun pulling away with a nervous expression.
“For luck,” Jun mumbled.
“Okay,” Sho exhaled, his hand dropping into his lap.
“Okay,” Jun repeated.
Sho reached for his briefcase. “O-kay.”
He fumbled with the door handle, getting out of the car, slamming it behind him without another word. He didn’t dare look back, straightening his posture as he started to walk. He heard Jun’s car pull away, and Sho finally managed to breathe again.
A kiss for luck, Sho mused. He walked through the door of his potential employer with a dopey smile on his face and a spring in his step.
-
Everyone gathered around, Sho discovering that celebratory cheesecake was a more common occurrence than he’d anticipated. Ohno led the applause and cheers before slicing in to the rich, whipped cream-topped dessert. Today was Prince Toma’s first day back at work, and it was definitely worth a cheesecake party during the afternoon break.
While the friendly, joking Prince Toma had been cleared by his doctor to wait tables, it would be another week before he was allowed to dance or to fight. Sho’s temporary gig would continue another week, not that he would be hurting for money much longer.
His interview had been on Friday, and he’d sat in a lineup of five people all competing for the same position. And yet by Wednesday, yesterday, Sho had been called back with an official offer of employment. Apparently his story about how he’d overcome an obstacle in a work environment (enduring hours of fight combat training in order to challenge a colleague in a dragon costume) had endeared him all the more to the hiring committee. He was no by-the-book salaryman, or so Sakaguchi-san led him to believe when she’d called with the great news. The Happy Fairy Princess Cafe had helped him, not hindered him, in reaching his goals.
Sho, halfway through his second slice, soon found a meddling Prince Kazunari to his left and a prying Prince Masaki to his right. They crowded him, as they were so fond of doing after he’d given in to their snooping and told them (in the strictest confidence) about recent developments.
“Looks like somebody’s missing,” Prince Masaki noted, giving Sho’s red cape a teasing tug.
“Probably reviewing that disaster of a fight,” Prince Kazunari added, lifting the plate of cheesecake Sho was enjoying out of his hand and replacing it with a fresh slice and a fork. “I bet he’s hungry. Maybe he won’t yell at us as much if he’s got some sugar in him. From the cheesecake or perhaps some extra special sexy sugar from…”
Sho rolled his eyes, interrupting. “Subtle.”
Enduring their playful snickering, Sho took the plate and headed for the swinging doors, leaving Prince Toma’s rowdy welcome back party. He took the stairs up and although the door to the special effects room was wide open, Sho pushed it closed behind him when he saw that Jun was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, reviewing the monitors all by his lonesome.
Jun looked up at the sound of the door closing, sitting there in a state halfway between dressed and not. The usual leather was gone, leaving him in only the soft white cotton shirt he wore underneath. It emphasized how broad his shoulders and chest were all the more, the shirt unbuttoned halfway to his navel, untucked lazily from his slacks. Sho wondered if Jun had anticipated his arrival, undoing a few buttons more than his usual.
Sho set the plate down out of the way, leaving it near the mixing console. He turned back, walking over to Jun and holding out a hand.
Jun stubbornly ignored it, watching through the rest of the performance. Prince Taisuke’s cloak had fallen off halfway through the last fight against Stormy and Nino had tripped on it. He’d accidentally pressed the button inside the paw of his costume, jettisoning Stormy’s tail early and without anyone having touched it. It had been funny in the moment, but Nino could have hurt himself when he slipped. Sho expected everyone to receive a very stern lecture before the dinner shift started.
But Jun was finally satisfied, pressing pause and accepting Sho’s hand to pull him up. They looked at each other for a few moments, breathing in and out, Jun raising an eyebrow suggestively as though daring Sho to make the first move for once.
And so he did, leaning in to capture Jun’s mouth with his own.
“What the hell kind of cheesecake is that?” Jun murmured against his lips, breaking their kiss after the first taste of him.
“Ohno-san said there’s rum in it. And banana.”
Jun shook his head, sighing, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of Sho’s mouth. “The stuff he can’t put on the normal menu. Typical.”
They stood there for a while, kissing. Starting slow, unfocused, but escalating as soon as they found themselves unable to keep their hands to themselves. Sho slipping his hands under Jun’s shirt, fingertips dancing up his spine. Jun’s fingers detaching the golden brooch, letting Sho’s red cape fall to the floor. They’d eventually have to stop, rejoin the party. Nino and Aiba could only delay Muro-san from getting back to work for so long.
The cafe was closed on Mondays, and that coming Monday was going to be Jun and Sho’s first official date. The agenda thus far did not include eating any dessert, although after the last few exciting days, Sho had a feeling that they wouldn’t have any problems filling the time together.
Things would probably change once Sho started his new job, but with a little convincing from Jun (much of it involving his unsurprisingly skillful mouth), Sho was considering a new possibility. He’d work at the new firm from Monday-Friday, but the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe was busiest on weekends. Perhaps there was still a place for Prince Sho on a Saturday lunch shift here, a Sunday dinner shift there. Sho wouldn’t commit to anything just yet, but the thought of fighting Stormy with Jun by his side held quite the appeal.
“Now,” Jun finally said, not moving too far, resting his forehead against Sho’s as they both focused on trying to get their breathing back to normal. “This is probably the third day I’ve asked you.”
Sho smiled, tracing his fingertips up and down Jun’s back. “Yep.”
“When am I going to get to hear your love poetry, huh?” Sho bit his lip, moaning softly when he felt Jun’s hand slide down to cup his ass. “I want to see the special skills you’ve got, Sho-san.”
Monday’s date seemed so far away.
“I don’t know, I’m fairly certain the Happy Fairy Princess Cafe website lists your special skill as push-ups and I’m still waiting for a demonstration. So I’ll show you mine…if you show me yours.”
Jun leaned back, his eyes just as striking as the first time Sho had seen them. “Sounds like a plan, Your Highness.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Sho repeated softly before leaning in for more.
-
I had some specific costumes that inspired me when writing about our wonderful Princes ;)
Prince Masaki / Richard Madden as Prince Kit in Cinderella: HERE.
Prince Kazunari / Flynn Rider in Tangled: HERE.
Prince Jun / Josh Dallas as David (Prince Charming) in Once Upon a Time: HERE.
Prince Sho / Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty: HERE.
