「もう良いかい？」

[mystiklsushi]

Who: Kiku and Willem
When: Saturday, 8th between the lunch and evening crowds
Where: The Royal Cafe
What: Willem receives a wake-up call.

Comments

[oranje_windmill]

The first thing the Dutchman saw as he walked through the door was a pair of pale, shapely legs in white stockings, and really that brightened his day considerably.

His gaze followed the legs up till they disappeared under a fluffy black skirt, and then on up as she stood with her back to him. She had the build of a dancer, slender and petite, and it filled out the maid's uniform quite nicely. All in all very lovely to look at.

Which was all he was going to do because getting involved with the employees of one of his best friends was a Very Bad Idea. Not in the least because Kiku would not be pleased in the slightest.

Walking up behind her, he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Is Kiku around?"

[mystiklsushi]

Kiku jumped at the unexpected contact, effectively upending a tiny salt shaker and sending the little service bell tinkling to the floor. Clutching his chest, he turned and let relief flood over his features as recognition started to sink in.

"Willem...! You startled me."

[oranje_windmill]

Even without the voice to identify the maid clothed person with, he would have known that face anywhere. And the revelation that the woman he'd just been admiring was actually his best friend brought his brain crashing to a halt.

He just stared for a moment, trying to get it to accept that fact and restart itself.

[mystiklsushi]

Relief changed to mild confusion, then supreme embarrassment as he realized that his friend was staring at his outfit in a very shocked sort of way. Playing his mind back across the times Willem had been to the cafe, he had not once been in the uniform.

And he couldn't recall mentioning in more than an offhanded way that he did sometimes stand in as a maid.

"A-ah..a-a-a-ah..."

Remembering the bell and the salt, he dived back to the task of straightening the table in order to give his brain another few seconds to form words.

"T-the maids won't be back in for another hour or so, so...I h-had to stand in between their shifts just in case s-someone came in..."

[oranje_windmill]

It was the sound of Kiku sounding supremely embarrassed and trying to explain that finally kicked his brain back into gear. It was a normal thing, something he was far more used to then the idea that Kiku's legs looked good in stockings.

And he was going to shut down that train of though before his brain imploded in on itself again.

"No no, it's fine," he hastened to reassure the other man. "I just...."

Was checking you out. Thought you were a woman with a really nice body. Would have flirted with you in another setting.

"didn't recognize you at first."

[mystiklsushi]

"I'm sorry about that...I should have mentioned before that this is occasionally necessary." Everything was righted on the table, the salt cleaned up and things back in order. Even his stuttering seemed to have stopped, if his apologizing hadn't. Willem still looked mildly haunted, though...

And it was at that point that Kiku could not remember having made plans to see his friend today. "I am...nearly as surprised to see you as you were me, I will admit. Is everything alright?" Something in the back of Kiku's mind hinted that Willem might still be feeling poorly. He hoped that was not the reason for the surprise visit.

[oranje_windmill]

Willem wanted to laugh at the question, but luckily the more rational parts of him realized that was more of a hysterical reaction, and stopped it before he could give voice to it.

Instead, he took a deep breath. He let it out again, and when he spoke his voice sounded a lot calmer to his own ears.

"I was just in the neighborhood and decided to stop by while you weren't busy."

And apparently while you're dressed in stockings and probably a petticoat, his brain added. He told it where to shove that particular thought.

[mystiklsushi]

In the neighborhood usually meant that Willem was either very bored or he was lonely. Not that he had ever voiced either of these things, but Kiku knew him well enough by now to have figured that one out. His neighborhood was a fair distance from anyplace the blonde needed to be, after all.

"In that case, please take a seat. Can I get anything for you?"

Kiku did not realize that he used the same tone and manner, clutching a serving tray to his chest with a little tilt to his head, as he would on regular customers to the cafe. It was all just second nature to do this while taking an order.

[oranje_windmill]

Willem found himself staring again, caught between how strange it was to see Kiku treating him like an actual customer and how the man looked so.....there was no other word for it but charming, standing there smiling at him like that.

Luckily, at least one of those reactions was safe to say out loud.

"You have no idea how strange it is to have you taking my order like this."

[mystiklsushi]

"Ah..sorry, is it strange? I just did it without thinking." He dropped the tray arm, trying to find a more natural way to stand. And naturally, with his full focus on trying to be natural, it only made him look awkward and flustered, which in turn actually flustered him a bit.

He took a moment to sit down across from Willem to calm down, and that was all it seemed to take. A moment of breathing and sitting at eye level. "Sorry...d-did you decide on something you'd like?"

[oranje_windmill]

Again, the return to somewhat normalcy made it easier to ignore how Kiku looked in that uniform. He gave the other man a soft smile across the table.

"If that's how you greet all your customers no wonder business is good."

He shrugged.

"And there's nothing specific I want, so why don't you surprise me."

And then he winced slightly as the irony of the statement smacked him across the head.

[mystiklsushi]

Kiku chuckled at what he mistakenly thought was a series of jokes.

"I think I will make this surprise a bit less dramatic than your first one today." With another smile, he disappeared behind the curtain leading to the kitchen, petticoats bouncing ruffles and lace along the way.

[oranje_windmill]

Willem pointedly did not watch those apron clad hips walk away. Nor the legs in their white stockings.

At least not for too long.

After the other man had left, Willem took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had to get his thoughts under control. This was Kiku. True, Kiku in a dress and stockings, but still the same Kiku he'd always known.

And no reason for him to act like a horny teenager.

[mystiklsushi]

Kiku had been nearly ready to bring Willem a glass of water while he waited on the rest of the meal to heat up. Treading carefully over the floor he had mopped just prior to the door opening, he turned to reach for the curtain that separated the two rooms.

Unfortunately, there was more condensation on the tray than he had guessed. The glass of water slid across the serving tray with the momentum of the turn, shattering against the floor and adding a spray of ice water to the already slick surface. He couldn't help the little cry of surprise and dismay that escaped.

[oranje_windmill]

Willem's head jerked up at the shattering of glass, but it was the cry that got him moving.

He hurried across the room and ripped back the curtain. Unfortunately, Kiku was directly on the other side. Unable to stop his own momentum, Willem went straight into the Japanese man.

The slick floor did the rest of the work, sending them crashing to the floor.

[mystiklsushi]

The next moment was a blur. Out of nowhere, a wall crashed into him, sending him sprawling.

And it took a moment to register what the wall was.

And were it still was.

Color rushed to his face as he looked up, eyes locked on Willem's. The Dutchman's arms made a cage around him, and he felt more than saw the thigh brushing between his own.

And even though his heart was beating at three hundred times normal speed, he felt for some reason...that he didn't mind this very much.