Title: House of Jones/Chapter 1: The Elite
Category: Axis Powers Hetalia
Rating: M
Genre: Romance/Drama
Character/Pairing: USUK, others to be decided
Word Count: 3797
Warnings: Cross-dressing, theme I guess?
Okay first I need to clear something up. I never intended for this story to come off as a D/s type of story. I mean I can see now how people might think that but well…I wouldn’t write that. xD I mean I have nothing against it and did actually read a couple like that, but this was just never intended as one. It might end up not even having explicit smut so it couldn’t be one of those. x’D So just want to clear that up. Although because of the nature of this story America will be more dominant I guess? It might have similar elements but it won’t be close to that type of story I think. This story was actually inspired by the doujin Apple & Cinnamon which I recommend taking a look at if you feel so inclined!
A/N: At the bottom for this chapter. xD
Summary: Maid!AU Arthur is a high end maid looking for a new patron. What he finds instead is an obnoxious and infuriatingly handsome idiot who is hot one minute and cold the next. Arthur doesn't care until he begins to fall for him. What's a maid to do?
Chapter 2,
Chapter 3,
Chapter 4 -----------
The society was a secret. Of course it was, these things always are. It made Arthur roll his eyes at the triviality of it all, still he kept his position; he wasn't highly ranked for nothing after all. He had sorted through the list leisurely before and now it was time for him to be sorted through. The attendants walked by him one by one looking from him to the others, he kept his expression neutral. This was the middle step. He knew this process well enough already. There were two new faces but no one else had been upgraded to this level yet, it was the highest one after all. Arthur didn't pay them any mind. He already knew who would select him.
The process of selecting a maid had always been the same except the higher you went up the more ludicrous and elaborate the ceremony became. Still in the end it was all for the money. Well for him anyway, he was the anomaly. Generally a maid would go to work in a household and offer services to said person while they still wanted too. They were of course free to leave and be sorted into a new house whenever they wanted upon re-evaluation of skills. This was Arthur's first time being in the elite group, but he just found it even more pretentious. What the rich did really was ridiculous as was his salary, but he wasn't going to complain about that.
The thing was that Arthur for all his quips actually enjoyed the lifestyle. It was safe and very accommodating to him. He was in charge and he set what he was comfortable doing and not doing from the start. It was standard procedure. A maid would flip through their sorted group and find those he or she wouldn't mind working for and then those in turn would choose who they wanted. If there was more than one match it was up to the maid to choose. A maid also clearly listed the things they were willing to do both sexually and domestically which tended to differ which each different person. Arthur felt he was quite reasonable in his demands. He had never allowed a fully sexual relationship, but felt that was just how he personally was. He had done almost everything else though.
His last owner had not wanted to let him go after all. It had been kind of a sticky situation for him, but not entirely bad. It was nice to be wanted that badly. Still Francis had been a bit too insistent he go further than what he wanted with him which had grown tiresome. He had wanted more than small kisses, but Arthur hadn't. This was the reason he was going through the process again. He supposed he had gathered a sort of reputation by now. Most maids went to around three owners at the most before they found their right fit, but Arthur seemed to just switch around never staying for too long with one patron. It seemed to suit him though so he didn't pay it much attention. In the end he felt that he was more of a free agent anyway not needing that so called 'perfect fit' other maids were so keen to throw around. This way he got to see so much more variety not to mention more of the world as the houses their patrons owned tended to differ in countries.
Arthur continued to stand taking in the fact that this group took their time a lot more than previous ones. He imagined because of the hefty price that was to be paid. Arthur found he really couldn't have imagined this world existed if he hadn't been in it. It was all so discreetly run, like a government organization would be. Still he wasn't going to say anything against it. After all who didn't enjoy luxury and being admired? It was wonderful. He had even grown attached to the maid uniforms, so elegant and costing far too much for a housekeeper. Not to mention that each one was different from the others. His was chosen modestly as he felt it was only proper. It had the black one piece that felt deliciously soft against his skin reaching to his knees as it fanned out. Wearing it had taken some getting used to, but he did like the freedom he felt from it. There was a white apron with ruffles sitting atop it tying at his back. The top part of which was tight and intricate in design leading to a bow around his neck. He wore black stockings that went up to his thighs so his skin was not exposed and on occasion he wore small gloves. There was an intricate hair piece that was firmly in place at the moment, he was particularly fond of it. The uniforms were the only clue to this world that Arthur could see, but then again the rich were arrogant enough to ignore this. He noticed the same man kept circling him and Arthur imagined he liked what he saw; it was too bad that Arthur hadn't picked him.
"Alright time is up. Please return to your quarters and the process shall continue. Maids, one more room please. These guests have asked that you keep in mind the rule about not speaking until asked to by one of them." Arthur looked confused for the first time. Another room? There had always been just one. Nonetheless he was moved along now that all the attendants were out of this room. He stopped the head lady as he was almost led out.
"Excuse me, I apologize, but I'm new in this group and I'm a bit confused, if I could get the guidelines I would greatly appreciate it." One of the rules had always been that when a maid asked for the guidelines of each event, place, room or person they be given without question.
"Oh yes of course, I'm sorry I must have forgotten to send it with the other, I do apologize and welcome to the elite." She handed him the papers and smiled. Arthur immediately flipped through it. He didn't have long to learn the new terms and to see if he accepted them. The document was standard enough but it incorporated some new rules, ones which he found easy to follow and some which confused him. For the moment he skipped over them. At the end there was a passage.
The Elite,
We welcome you whom have proven to be excellent in all skills and excel in a particular field. In the elite we ask only that you maintain a decorum fitting the setting.
Arthur gagged in an unnoticeable way as he continued. Yep just more languor as he expected. Still at the end there appeared something that was new to him.
This group is known as such because there are fewer attendants meaning there are more servers for each gentleman or lady. Please become accustomed to this quickly as you are expected to work well and not compete. Competition is looked down upon in this area. You are at the top there is no need for it. Thank-you and we hope to have many encounters with you.
Cordially Yours As Always
K. H.
Arthur folded up the paper noticing the initials on this one were different. Every document was signed in initials for the purpose of secrecy but Arthur was familiar with many of the people who worked to keep this place going and had attempted to decode it. This initial however was completely new. He quickly handed it back to the head lady as he entered and took his place. He couldn't help feeling a bit excited, but he held it in with perfect ease. He hadn't dealt with this before. In this area it was the attendants who looked first, it made sense he supposed, but it made him a bit uncomfortable to not know the details of the attendants entering the room. Not to mention the strange message about not speaking, Arthur had never spoken at a choosing while standing, that was what the interview was about. Still he wasn't going to seem a fool on his first go, he felt as the first man passed. He noticed he was quite handsome.
Arthur was surprised to find that only five entered the room. It was extraordinary to him, there were usually around 20. They all passed him silently looking up and down. There was one woman and she stared at him before smiling slightly. She passed quickly. That was when he saw him. Across the room and whispering something in the ear of one of the new maids making her flush before moving on. He was wearing a suit that was completely white, it was blinding really, considering the other men wore black suits.
He was the most handsome man that Arthur had ever seen and it made his stomach feel uncomfortable. He attempted to suppress the blush he felt coming on. This was new. That was when the man turned to him. His eyebrow quirked and he skipped over the remainder of the maids to make his way to Arthur. Arthur for the first time, since his actual first time at one of these events, felt nervous. He hated it. It wasn't what he was known for and especially since for the first time he wanted to impress one of the attendants.
"You have beautiful eyes." His voice was oddly soft as he said the words with an easy smile. Arthur felt completely gone at the sight of it. He could tell that he smiled a lot and that each one was as breath taking as the last. He opened his mouth only in the slightest before remembering himself and closed it. This act seemed to please him. "You may respond."
He wanted to say likewise, because truly Arthur fumbled in front of those blue eyes. Instead however he said "Is that what you said to her, sir?" Arthur couldn't stop himself from making the snipe, for this man may be gorgeous, but Arthur wasn't a fool. Nonetheless he hoped it wouldn't cost him the chance to be chosen by him. Arthur had decided he wanted this man to pick him. He had never been attracted this clearly to one of them before and wanted to see if this changed anything. The man simply chuckled slightly amused. Arthur couldn't help his blush anymore.
"No actually I said that Francis said hi, if you knew the man you'd understand I assure you."
"Oh I know him." Arthur wondered if his tone might have been a tad inappropriate in forms of respect. He found he didn't care too much.
"Is that so," a smile, "well I'm afraid I've taken a lot of your time already umm"
"Arthur, sir."
"Arthur. My name is Alfred. Au revoir." He started walking away but Arthur couldn't help himself again.
"I don't like French. It's not my taste." Alfred turned around at his comment a questioning look on his face. Arthur flushed thinking about how his comment could have been taken; he hadn't meant it that way. It was just that Francis had spoken the language to the point where he began to hate it. Coming from Alfred however it took on a new tone, but that was beside the point. Alfred walked back to him and took out something from his pocket. It looked like a credit card. He handed it to Arthur.
"Not mine either." was all he said before walking away. Arthur held the card like it was precious even though he didn't know what it was for. It could have been any number of things. He cursed himself for not looking at the form properly, but he had been running on a time crunch. For the rest of the event Arthur didn't speak. He noticed that not a lot of conversations were started for that matter. He was dying to get into the catalogue room to see what the hell the card meant. Soon the attendants took their leave and the maids were made to relax.
After they were gone Arthur took another look at the card to see it better. It was white and he noticed the letters were like a credit card too. They spelled out Alfred's name and had a number underneath. On the back was a white strip. Arthur walked out of the room heading towards his temporary quarters while he deliberated and received his matches. Before he reached his however he was stopped by a girl with long curly brown hair.
"You got a card!" Arthur was startled by her scream and hoped others wouldn't notice.
"Yes I did." She obviously knew what it meant and he thought maybe he could ask her.
"Let me see," she took the card, "Oh wow Alfred's! I'd die for one from him. It's odd because I heard he wasn't taking in any more maids. Mmh so lucky."
"Yeah, so exactly what does it mean?"
"You don't know?" She looked at him shocked as he felt a bit stupid.
"Not quite, didn't get the guidelines in time."
"Ah I see, well no worries. I thought you were new anyway." Arthur wasn't sure how to take that so he only smiled slightly waiting for her to continue. "It means he wants to get to know you better. This level is difficult to reach and those five at the moment have priority for one reason or another. Meaning you don't get an interview here unless they want one, which is what the card is for." The girl smiled wickedly at him before continuing. "Well it's supposed to be for that, but mostly they just use it to test drive if you know what I mean." The girl wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner that Arthur did not like in the slightest. What the hell? Did this Alfred expect to have sex with him this early? At all! Arthur corrected himself hastily, even though he still blushed red. "Hee you're cute I can see why you made it here, but no worries I hear that Alfred is gentle and sweet with his lovers." This statement only caused Arthur's blush to deepen.
"That's not exactly what I-" he was about to say had in mind, but was cut off by the eager girl.
"Oh not that he can't do rough either" She touched a finger to her chin pondering, ignoring the continuingly bright red Englishman before her and charging on, "I heard that too, heh actually I think you'd match him well." Arthur didn't like the way she was sizing him up and decided that this conversation really needed to end.
"Umm yeah, well t-thanks for that, uh information, I appreciate it, but I have to go now."
"Hey wait you never told me your name." The girl caught his arm before he could escape.
"It's Arthur." He responded hoping to get away quickly so that his blush could dissipate.
"I'm Elizabeta, here you can contact me at this number if you need any help with Alfred." The gleam in her eyes was back and Arthur took the card so he could be released. At that she did and he walked into his temporary quarters closing the door firmly behind him and sighing. He took the folders lying on the mahogany desk and sat in the chair.
This was the part where interviews were set up but Arthur kept glancing at the white card he had placed on the desk. It seemed to mock him with its vagueness. What the hell was he supposed to do with this? It wasn't like he didn't find him attractive, he'd have to be blind, but he wasn't just going to jump into bed with him either. He wasn't that type. It clearly said so in his file. That sort of thing was reserved for when he began work, if at all. What was that stupid American saying? Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free? He frowned at the crass words, but they got there point across he supposed even as the stupid blush returned. He began tapping his foot against the floor as he sorted through the other files. Four others had selected him and had inquired about an interview. He flipped through them and found that they all seemed nice enough. None of them would expect anything of that sort at the interview. They might even be pleasant; Arthur could take a liking to them. He began chewing on his bottom lip.
It was then that he heard a tap on the door and almost jumped. His time was not over yet so he was rightfully startled. Even so he stood up and walked towards the door wondering what it could be. He opened the door to find the head lady there.
"Yes?"
"I believe you received a card?" Arthur nodded. "May I verify it?" Yeah because Arthur had enough time to forge a card for someone he had never met before. These rules really were ridiculous. Nevertheless he quickly handed the card over after picking it off the desk. She merely ran it through a scanner and handed it back to him. Her expression never changing and followed swiftly by a folder. "This is for you, please inform us of your choice soon, Mr. Jones prefers not to wait." She smiled before walking away leaving Arthur to close the door. He quickly opened the file noting how it too was white and had a formal looking crest on top of it. Inside was a picture of Alfred dressed in a black suit this time with an American flag tie neatly in place even though the collar seemed loose. He wore an easy smile and Arthur found himself a bit dazed at it, but quickly shook it off. He had to be practical about this after all. He continued on with the file.
There wasn't a lot of information as he expected. Most of the file had similar questions with an odd one thrown in here and there. Arthur found himself blushing as he read the 'sexual preferences' area.
'I'm not one for disclosing that sort of information, I think it's a bit crass to be honest and think it should be private.' Arthur found that he liked that response even though he was curious as to exactly what he liked. He read the 'about me' section next.
'There isn't much to tell, I'm a CEO of a well known multinational corporation. I love comic books, computer games and vanilla ice cream. I'm a romantic at heart and have a love for nature and animals. I own 3 golden retrievers who you will find are incredibly awesome. Oh yeah and I'm a hero!'
Arthur wasn't quite sure what to make of the last sentence but everything else seemed fine. He continued on making sure to read everything there was. Then he moved on to the reviews.
Maid: Maria
Position: Head of House
I've been with Alfred for 5 years now. He was my first and only patron. I know him to be kind and gentle. He is a passionate man but in an inspiring way. Always a smile on his face. The most important thing of note is his kindness. He can be stubborn and a bit naïve but he would never intentionally do something that could hurt anyone, outside of business that is. He likes to play the Hero and we let him, and to be honest he sort of manages it. He will always make you laugh and is always willing to listen to what you have to say in terms of contract. He treats his maids with dignity and respect and expects the same in return.
The review went on and on and Arthur began to wonder if there was something more going on here, but he continued on to the next one before he let that thought go further.
Maid: Matthew
Position: Kitchen and General Duties Maid
I am a platonic maid of Mr. Jones for 7 years now. He was kind enough to offer me a home and take me in. It might sound strange but he is practically like a brother to me, we even look eerily alike. You will not find a kinder master than him. He takes good care of his household and I in particular as I tend to go unnoticed a lot of the time. He likes to volunteer for a lot of things which keep him busy, but he makes sure that all of our needs are met.
Arthur continued to read and found that he liked Matthew's review quite a lot. It said a lot of his character and that he wasn't just some horn dog or something. However he quickly found that the next entry made him blush again.
Maid: Audrey
Position: General Maid
I'm going to tell you what you all really want to know. While I won't disclose this fully on paper, Mr. Jones would not approve, there is no need for you to worry if you are seeking 'satisfaction' as it is. Mr. Jones has never left me unsatisfied though I will admit he is conservative when it comes to the amount of times he is in the 'mood'-
Arthur closed the file abruptly his face flushing. He really didn't need to know this. He found it odd because it's not like he had never read explicit things before. This was part of the lifestyle after all even if he had never really participated in that aspect all that much. Francis' file was practically made up of explicit content, but for some reason his had never made him flush deeply before. Maybe it was the innuendo rather than the flat out statements. He decided to skip over the rest of the comments and move to the rest of the file. He found that everything was in order and set his file down on the table with the others.
He began fiddling with the end of his skirt as he thought on his choices the card lying on top of the folder now. He reached over and grabbed it with his other hand running his fingers over the name. As he was doing this he realized that he had already made his choice, he really was just too stubborn. It didn't matter no one would be able to make him do anything he didn't want and he could always back out at any time, that hadn't changed. He bit his lip as he stood making his way to the door the card firmly in hand.
--------
I swore my first USUK was not going to be a maid AU and what happens? Well yeah I fail. So liked it? Yes? No? Maybe so? I know this is kind of an odd chapter for an even odder premise but I've been working on it for a while now. As for side pairs in this I have no idea if there will be any or which they would be. I am partial to Franada, Spamano, GerIta, and PrusAus though.
Maria = Mexico
Audrey = Belgium
I fail at names I apologize. Updates? Well I tend to suck at sticking to schedules and considering the fact that I have a billion Hetalia ideas in my head I'll have to see, although reviews are a great motivator. xD Oh and while this is marked as M it might not have smut, it's marked that for theme and language. I want to do it, but don't know if I'll get the guts to actually post it so I guess we'll see.
Chapter 2: Interview