Tea & Lace (2/14)
Author: ryosukekoibito
Pairing: Ariyama, with some side Hikabu and Takanoo, and more pairings to come
Rating: PG
Genre: Fluff, Slice of Life
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Summary: Yamada is a college student desperate for a job when he gets hired at Tea & Lace, a quaint little maid cafe. This is the story of how his coworkers, and their trials and tribulations help him come to realize that the love of his life may in fact have been sharing an apartment with him from the beginning.
Previous Chapters: 1
Yamada's first day of work rolled around, and he arrived fifteen minutes early, slipping in through a side door marked 'employee entrance'. The door led to a little locker room, the lockers large and spacious, presumably made to hold the poufy skirts that the maids wore without wrinkling them. He looked around for any other human life, and eventually he found the office, knocking on the door. There was a yell of
"Come in!" He twisted the knob, peeking his head in the room. Yabu was standing inside, and when he saw Yamada he grinned, waving him over.
"Hello Yabu-san. How are you?" Yamada asked, joining Yabu in the room.
"I'm just peachy. I finished your uniform just last night! I was just getting all of the pieces together for you, here." He grabbed a bundle of black fabric and lace from one of the nearby tables and handed them to Yamada.
"Did you shave everything?" Yamada nodded awkwardly. His now bare legs and underarms still felt strange.
"Good. Now I'm going to go find Hikaru, and you change. When I come back we'll see just how well that fits." Yabu slipped out and Yamada unfolded the bundle. It was multiple pieces, and he sighed, slipping off his shirt and jeans, picking up the first thing from the top of the stack. It was nude colored, and looked like....oh god. It was a bra, complete with fake breasts, and he stood there, examining it for a minute, disbelieving. He took a deep breath, and sighed, slipping the straps over his shoulders, and reaching behind himself to clasp it. How did women do this? His fingers fumbled with the little hooks on the back, arms bent at an awkward angle, and for over five minutes he struggled before finally slipping the hooks into their correct little metal loops. Ugh...that was tedious.
He just ducked for the rest of the outfit, picking up the white cap sleeved button down shirt. It had a cute little collar, and it was just very...girly. He slipped it on, and picked another item from the table. The petticoat was white, and poufy, covered in lace. He thanked the gods he had worn briefs, and he slipped it onto his hips, buttoning it up and tucking his shirt in. Next he slipped on a black piece. It had straps that went over his shoulders, crisscrossing in the back, it went across his chest, and it fell in a skirt over his petticoat, letting the frills just barely peek out under the edge. The rest of the pieces were small. An apron, a little, cute white thing that tied around his waist, a bow that slipped under his collar similar to those school girls wore, white knee socks, and a lacy headband.
Once he had the ensemble on his eyes swept the room for a mirror, instead landing on a pair of black mary janes. He picked them up, checking the bottom for the size. They seemed to be for him. He slipped them on, and sure enough, they fit. He crossed his legs, feeling naked in the short skirt. After a moment Yabu returned, and he cooed when he saw Yamada.
"Oh, look at you! You're perfect! And those glasses are a great touch. We don't have a maid with glasses yet. It looks like it fits you well..spin for me." Yamada did, holding his arms out as he twirled.
"Everything looks like it’s going to work out fine, thank goodness. You're all ready to start! Let me introduce you to your coworkers. Come this way." Yabu led Yamada back to the little locker room, where three girls in maid uniforms matching his own were all standing in a cluster, talking in hushed tones. Behind them was a mirror, and Yamada caught a glimpse of himself. Oh god. He was...adorable. The other maids all turned, and Yamada was stunned for a moment. They were a group of some of the prettiest girls he had ever seen. They stood there for a moment, examining him and nodding their approval. Yabu announced
"Everyone, this is Yamada. Yamada's maid name will be Maid Ryo-chan!" Yamada waved at the girls. They smiled, Inoo waving back.
"I'm Yuri-chan!" Yuri was small, even littler than Yamada, with short dark hair and bangs. She was the definition of cute, with wide, beautiful eyes and an angelic smile. Then, Inoo said
"I'm Keiko-chan, but we already know each other, don't we Yama-chan?" Yamada grinned, nodding. Inoo looked great in her maid uniform, the short skirt accentuating her long, slender legs. The last maid to go was the one that had led him to the back office before, when he had come for his interview. She was just as tall as Inoo, if not a little taller, but she had feathery golden brown hair, and she had these smoldering eyes that made him freeze. Then, she broke into a grin, and suddenly she was innocent, and beautiful, and it totally threw Yamada for a loop. She announced
"I'm Yu-chan." and she looped an arm around Inoo's waist, almost protectively. Yamada gave them all a slight bow, and Yabu seemed content with the introductions, saying
"Yuri, could you show Yamada around for the day, let her follow you and see how it's done?" The little maid nodded, grinning up at Yabu, and Hikaru walked in, a mixing bowl in hand, and he said
"Can we open up?" Which prompted everyone to heard to the front of the store. Hikaru had trays of cakes waiting to be placed in the little glass counter, and pitchers of various drinks were waiting at the ready. Yabu skittered to the front door, unlocking it, before slipping back into the back, and for a few minutes it was just the four of them. Maid Yuri took to standing by the door, just inside, and Yamada followed her lead, standing on her left. As they waited, she filled him in.
"Being a maid is a lot like being a waitress anywhere else, except for some little things. We always say 'irasshaimase' when someone enters, and 'have a wonderful day' when they leave. All of the customers are referred to as 'master', and if someone wants to take their picture with you, you let them. Aside from that I think everything is about the same. You'll see. Just follow my lead." As she was finishing up two men in their mid twenties pulled open the door, and immediately the other three all called
"Irasshaimase!" Yamada mentally whacked himself for being slow on the uptake, and he bowed to the customers as Yuri said
"If you'll please come right this way, masters." The two men blushed, and followed as she and Yamada led them to a little table. They took their seats, and Yuri smiled, saying
"I'm Yuri-chan, and this cutie is Ryo-chan!" She slipped her arm through Yamada's, linking them at the elbow, and Yamada smiled, trying to be cute. "We're here for our masters!" Yuri continued, as Yu-chan came over, placing small menus in front of the men. "Anything you need, just let us know! We'll give you a minute to think, and then we'll be back, okay?" The men nodded, and with a last cute grin Yuri dragged Yamada away, behind the counter.
"See, Ryo-chan? It's not very difficult." She whispered, unlinking their arms. Yamada watched as Inoo seated a middle aged business man, smiling and flirting with him, before bringing him a coffee and muffin.
"Let's go check in with our masters, okay?" Yuri said, and Yamada nodded, following her back over to the table, where the two guys were sitting, watching as she said
"Masters, have you decided what you would like today?" She took the men's order, and with a smile said,
"Ryo-chan will keep our masters company while I get these things, okay? Please hold on for one moment!" And stranded Yamada there with the two guys. Nervously, Yamada pushed up his glasses, and smiled.
"Hello masters, I'm lucky I get to serve such handsome men." Was that what he was supposed to say? He had no idea what to do. But then they smiled, and one said
"Well, we're lucky we got such cute maids, aren't we, Ken?" The other one, Ken, nodded and Yamada internally breathed a sigh of relief. He balled his hands up into little fists, putting them up in front of his face to hide his blush, the way those girls in cutesy animes did, and said
"You masters are so nice!" Thankfully, as he was saying that Yuri-chan returned with their order, and with some smiles and a "Please enjoy your sweets, masters!" they were able to tend to a new man that had just walked in the door. And so the day went on. It wasn't a hard job, Yamada was catching on fast, and the other maids were all very sweet to him. The customers were mostly men, usually college age or a bit older. They would flirt, laugh, and blush easily at the maids’ compliments, almost all of them promising to come back again soon. The feminine mannerisms would take a while, but soon Yamada was sure he would be good at this; it wasn't very hard to please the customers. Despite the strange situation, he recognized that it was a good job.
Finally, around five in the evening they officially closed shop. Yabu thanked them for their hard work, and preparations began. Yu-chan flipped the sign on the door from welcome to closed, Yamada and Inoo got to work wiping down the little tables and sweeping up the floor. Yabu and Hikaru were washing and drying dishes, and Yuri-chan was taking the leftovers they had, sorting them out and putting them in little to go boxes. One by one they all went back to the little locker room, Yamada last to go back, snagging the little box with Ryo-chan written on it in cutesy handwriting from the counter and disappearing through the doorway into the back, down the left hall and to the right, where all of the other maids-were changing! He caught a glimpse of Yuri pulling her shirt down over her hips and let out a little squeak of surprise, covering his eyes and turning his back. None of the others seemed to notice him, all of them chattering and laughing as they changed, and slowly a realization dawned on him...their voices were different...too low to be girls.
They all sounded nearly the same, yet even Inoo's high falsetto tone was gone. Slowly he turned to look at them all. Yuri was topless, lean and muscled and....flat chested, standing in a pair of jeans, bucking what could only be a man’s belt, her cutesy voice gone, lower tones falling from those pink lips. She was talking with Yu-chan, who was standing there in a pair of jeans that she had obviously just pulled on. She had her bra still on, with its fake cups exactly like the one Yamada was wearing, and as he watched she reached into her hair, pulling out clips, and to his surprise large amounts of her hair came away, and she clipped them to her uniform leaving her hair only slightly longer than his, and she ran her fingers through it, complaining about the extensions. Inoo stepped over, massaging Yu-chan's scalp with her dainty fingers, and kissed her on the cheek, before unhooking the bra for her and hanging it up in the locker labeled Takaki. Takaki, why did that name sound familiar? Still, that was not the most pressing question on his mind.
"Are...are you all...men?" He asked. They all turned to look at him, amused at his question.
"Kei, I thought you said you knew Ryo-chan already?" Yu-chan said, slipping on a tank top over her-his? -bare chest. Inoo grinned.
"I do. From school. At school I'm still a girl, remember?" Hold on wait-Inoo was a boy too?! He was very confused. Yuri smiled, pulling a T-shirt over his head, and said
"To answer your question Yamada; yes we're all men. My real name is Chinen Yuri. He-" Chinen pointed to Yu-chan "is Takaki Yuya, Inoo's boyfriend," Takaki leaned in, pressing a kiss to Inoo's lips, "and he-" Chinen pointed to Inoo, who too had just pulled long, curly extensions out of his hair, leaving it shorter than Yamada had ever seen it. "is Inoo Kei. We're all guys, pretending to be women and working as maids." Yamada opened his mouth to protest-Inoo was a girl every day! She-he? had been, for months! Chinen plowed on, and said, as if having read his thoughts
"Yes, Inoo pretends to be a girl at school, and yes, we know you're a guy too, so really, you have nothing to be concerned about. Is there anything else?" Yamada just stared, stunned for a moment, as Inoo pulled off his petticoat and hung it up in his locker, slipping into baggy jeans and a T-shirt, his blatantly male figure obvious now, his voice lower, no longer annoyingly high. It all made sense, but his brain was still rejecting the information. Finally, he managed
"Do I have a locker?"
"Yeah, over here, by Inoo's." Chinen gestured, and sure enough, his name was already written on the tag of one of the doors. He thanked Chinen and quickly undressed, changing into his own clothes slowly, still going over the facts, trying to absorb all of the information.
"Yamada, will you be okay going home?" Inoo asked, and Yamada looked up to see all of them standing by the door, bags packed, and strangely enough, motorcycle helmets under each of their arms. We're they some sort of skirt wearing biker gang?
"I'll be fine, thanks Inoo...-kun." He stumbled over Inoo's name, but they all just nodded, and left. Oh man, would he have some stories to tell Daiki when he got home.
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