Chapter Text
“Two days?” The words slithered out from between the feline woman’s large red lips. The look of sheer indifference blaring from her half-closed eyes was enough to perturb Aaron.
“Ye-Yes, Ma’am. It’ll be ready for you to move in all your essentials,” the villager remarked trying to keep his confidence up.
Monique, like Tiffany, was about seven years older than the rest of the island's inhabitants. The actress rolled her eyes toward her assistant—Felicity kept up a cheerful expression to prevent her boss’s mood from deteriorating.
“Alright then, Felicity, schedule with the moving company to have everything in my condo transferred to this island,” her eyes shot over to Aaron, “If it's not ready in two days, you’re footing the bill of having to ship everything back, understand?”
“Yeah. Yeah I understand,” Aaron remarked.
“ This woman is going to eat Carmen alive ,” Aaron thought about the eventual negotiations she’d have to be subjected to.
The doors to the King Angler were unlocked and Lolly stepped out, she cleared her throat before greeting the group. “Good morning, Miss Monique, Miss Felicity, let me escort you to your table.” Dressed well in her blue and black uniform, the trio of cats went inside with Aaron hanging several paces back—he was trying to find Zucker. He peeked over into the kitchen through the serving window, his squid friend was running around the kitchen checking on all his ingredients.
“Psst— Takoyaki ,” Aaron harshly whispered.
Zucker stopped dead in his tracks, “ Double-A ? Get in here man, I need some help. The stove’s burners aren’t lighting up, I think the pilot light is out. The freezers aren’t keeping their temperature—something’s probably wrong with the wiring.” Zucker’s eyes had turned into spirals as he continued talking.
Aaron slid back into the kitchen as Lolly sat down her two guests. Lolly felt wildly different energies from the two girls in front of her. Monique on the one hand had an aura around her that made it feel like you were under two times the planet’s gravity from the way she carried herself to the way she looked at you, it made you feel small; Felicity, on the other hand, was the epitome of politeness and a genuinely sweet soul. How these two met each other and decided to work together was beyond Lolly’s comprehension.
“Alright, I’ll have the fettuccine alfredo with salmon roe, and the unagi nigiri sushi,” Monique said, “And some of this Ginjo-shu sake stuff.”
“ Oooo , I wanna get the Ebi fry and the crab bisque. Oh! Oh, and some black tea, please.”
Lolly jotted down the orders and dashed into the kitchen.
“Alright, Zuckie look alive! Four entrees altogether…” Her words trailed off as she saw Aaron fiddling with the underside of the stove. Zucker was pacing back and forth.
“Oh God, this is how it starts! If we can’t make their food in time, then they’ll get angry. Then they’ll complain. Then they write a damning review on the internet about us. We’ll be ruined!” Zucker’s words became more manic.
Lolly wrapped her arms around Zucker’s neck and kissed the top of his head—she stood about seven inches taller than her boyfriend. “Relax. Breathe. I just took their orders, we only have two people in the dining room, and you have an extra pair of hands here to help you.” She swayed back and forth, “Think of this as a trial run for opening day,” she said gently.
“—Turn on the burner this time!” Aaron called from underneath the stove.
Zucker grabbed one of the four knobs and twisted it, it clicked several times before the burner sprung to life. The stove was back in action. The takoyaki squid jumped for joy as he scrambled across the kitchen, “Alright my Mellow-Neko, what’s on today’s menu?”
Lolly read off the order and Zucker fetched every ingredient and article of cookware they needed. Aaron rarely got to see Zucker in action, but it was like a switch flipped in his head whenever coking was involved and he turned into a savant—with terrifying knife skills. As Zucker started planning out what to cook first and in which order to prep the ingredients, Lolly started steeping some black tea.
Aaron couldn’t help but imagine if this level of chaos happened whenever the two cooked at home. He wanted to stay and observe, but Lolly quickly slipped him a sheet of paper with last-minute fixes the restaurant needed, along with also needing to install the sign that was finally finished by Timmy and Tommy.
A few minutes later, Lolly came out from the kitchen with a little cart. She presented Monique with the bottle of sake in a small ice bucket; she poured her initial drink into a small ceramic cup. She left an empty ceramic cup just in case Felicity wanted some, before handing her a piping hot cup of tea.
“If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to call out for me,” Lolly said before returning to the kitchen. Once behind the door, she threw on an apron. “Alright, what do you need me to do?”
Zucker instructed as he stirred the alfredo sauce, “Alright, I have this going and the crab bisque started. The fryer is going to take some time to get up to temp. I need you to start some rice for the unagi nigiri, once I start frying up the shrimp for the Ebi fry, drop some fettuccine noodles. Got it?”
“You got it,” Lolly said with a little salute.
The couple started working their way through the four entrees. Every ten minutes or so Lolly would rush back to Monique and Felicity just to check in on them and update them on the status of their meals. The two chefs would reach over and around each other for spices and prepped ingredients. It was almost like an elaborate dance once they needed to start plating the entrees. While Zucker had the more refined palette and cooking skills, Lolly had a better eye for aesthetics. The blue-and-black tabby cat garnished the dishes with finely chopped scallions and freshly grated lemon zest.
Lolly quickly but steadily brought wheeled the entrees out to the two felines. Their noses and tails twitched long before the plates touched the table. Felicity immediately started taking pictures to post on her and Monique’s social media pages. Lolly bowed, topped off Felicity’s tea, and retreated to help Zucker clean up the kitchen.
“Well, it looks decent,” Monique remarked as she picked at the alfredo pasta. “What was the name of that three-star restaurant we went to last summer?”
“The Diver’s Soul! That place was amazing. It’s been ages since we’ve gone out for seafood.” Felicity said as she continued angling for the best picture she could take, “But this food looks amazing too.”
After blowing on the food, they each ate a forkful of their finely crafted meals. Their tails shot straight up and their jaws dropped. The guise of dignified manners disappeared as the two women scarfed down their meals. Felicity was practically in her tears as she salivated over the fried shrimp. Monique let out several satiated moans as she savored the nigiri—sweet, salty, and slightly buttery too.
“I don’t know what heaven is supposed to feel like, but this feels just about right,” Monique remarked as she twirled the fettuccine around her fork.
“ Ahhh ,” Felicity took another spoonful of her crab bisque, “I could get used to this.”
Monique scooped up the salmon roe left on her plate; she couldn’t keep herself from purring as her mouth was bathed in the salty-umami flavor from the little pearls popping between her teeth. “Agreed,” she said softly.
The two felines scarfed down their meals in record time, enough so that Lolly was surprised when she returned to the table.
“Oh, I was going to see if you wanted any more drinks, but would you two be ready for the bill?”
Monique quickly wrote a check to Lolly, the blue and grey striped cat’s eyes almost popped out of her head.
“This is quality food, I’ll be coming by a lot. Don’t disappoint me,” Monique remarked.
Lolly stared at the check, Monique was easily paying twice as much as the meal was worth. Lolly scampered back to show Zucker.
Felicity wiped her lips clean with a napkin, “When was the last time we ate like that? Was it at the premiere for Midnight Waltz?”
Monique let out a small laugh. Her cheeks were flushed and the corners of her mouth twitched—forcing her to smile. Without a meal to draw out her sake shots, Monique was starting to work her way through the bottle. Even if it was partially alcohol-fueled, this seemed to be one of Monique’s rare happy moods, and Felicity was loving it. Every once and a while, Monique would stretch out her legs and accidentally rub up against Felicity—the poor assistant’s fur would stand on end. Monique was also generous enough to share her sake with Felicity.
“That movie made me feel like a princess with those big dance numbers,” Monique stated as she brushed her hand past her hair.
“Your-your hair looks good, Monique. That stylist really pulled out all the stops,” Felicity said slowly inching her hand towards Monique’s.
“Pfft…she’s one of the few people I really miss. Maybe since this place has amazing seafood, we could probably find a halfway decent stylist here too,” Monique said as she took another shot of sake.
“Oh, and before I forget.”
Felicity’s ears perked up.
“Let’s stay in good graces with this chef, maybe we can get him to cater for this little film project,” the feline actress suggested.
“That’d be amazing—”
“—So be a dear and give the chef a big ol’ hug and kiss, for me.”
Felicity’s eyes shrank and her tail went limp, but she still stood up from the dining table.
“But-but, we’re going to be living here soon, these might be our neighbors. I don’t want them to get the wrong impression…”
“We’re here until the end of winter. We’ll be long done with filming, and all of these people will be distant memories,” Monique pushed aside Felicity’s concerns. “Now…” The actress smacked Felicity’s ass, “Get to it.”
Felicity let out a yelp and her tail stood completely straight. She was mortified to step behind the double doors, but she gulped and stumbled forward. The red-headed cat peeked into the kitchen to see Lolly putting up the last of the pots and pans.
“ Uh-Uh-Uhm ,” she mumbled, “E-excuse me.”
Lolly looked over in confusion, “Oh! Did you need anything else?”
“ Mimimi ,” Felicity mumbled as sweat started to form on her brow.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Lolly asked.
Felicity took a long deep breath before speaking, “Would it be possible for me to thank the chef personally?”
“Aw, that’s sweet of you, well follow me,” Lolly escorted Felicity through the kitchen, “Since Zuckie and I are the only employees, we both do the cooking.”
Felicity’s cheeks turned red. “Oh gosh, this’ll be my first time with a girl,” she mumbled to herself.
Zucker was in the office talking to Tom Nook via his phone. “So can I cash the check or not? Transaction fee? Well, how much…okay…alright…that’s fine I guess. Thanks anyway, Nook.” He let out a sigh and lightly slammed his head on the desk.
“Is everything alright, Zuckie?” Lolly asked.
“Nook wants a twenty percent transaction fee for cashing checks on the island,” Zuckie muttered, “He said if we didn’t like it, we could cash it on the mainland instead.”
“ Ugh , that man’s been an ass to us the whole time we’ve been working on this restaurant,” Lolly replied crossing her arms. She sighed and then lightly tapped on Zucker’s head, “Let’s worry about this later, Zuckie, one of our customers wants to thank us.”
“Oh! Well-uh-you’re welcome, I guess. I wasn’t expecting to get thanked,” Zucker remarked.
“Well-well you should, both of you, the food was wonderful,” Felicity said. She slightly bounced up and down with her fists clenched. She didn’t know how to broach this subject with such honest-looking people—suddenly an idea hit her. “I-I can reimburse you guys for that twenty percent if you want, but it wouldn’t be in money…if that’s alright.”
“What did you have in mind?” Zucker asked.
“Well—” Her cheeks turned a shade of red matched only by her hair, “—what if…I…”
Felicity scampered over to Lolly and whispered into her ear so she didn’t have to say it aloud.
“Eh?! You wanted to do what?!” Lolly almost stumbled back in surprise.
The yellow cat repeated her offer and stood sheepishly with her hands behind her back. Lolly slowly turned to her boyfriend, who was giving her a quizzical look. She bent over and whispered into his ear.
“She…uh…wants to give both of us oral sex.”
The squid’s eyebrows shot up, “Excuse me—what?”
They just looked at each other for a few moments before speaking.
“Are you okay with this?” They said in unison.
“Only if you’re okay with it,” They said in unison again.
They were both surprised. Both by how open they were to this, and by how quickly they were to essentially agree.
“...so…we’re doing this?” Zucker asked.
“Yeah,” Lolly said almost in disbelief, “Yeah…let’s give it a try."