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You’ve always had a hard time adjusting to this job.
The very prospect of it was embarrassing. The uniform- which you always found to be very cute - had long since become a nuisance to put on, given all the negative attention it garnered. The voices and the script you had to stick to- they were just too shameless at times. Even after you learned how to keep yourself from grimacing every time you had to say “ Master ~ ” , it still didn’t prevent you from cringing internally, wondering if this is really the best-paying job in the area that doesn’t require any prior experience. And worst of all, there was the chance of someone seeing you here.
Someone who you would recognize. Someone who would recognize you .
You know that many of your friends wouldn’t be interested in this type of thing. You even know a few people who are deeply frustrated with the concept of Maid Cafes because of all the horror stories floating around about how the girls are usually treated. But you’re mostly worried about the few who were shameless enough to admit that they’ve been wanting to go to Maid Cafe for a while. You were mostly worried that they would finally work up the courage and would somehow end up at your store, on a day that you were working, during one of your shifts, with you as their server. Because with the amount of luck you’ve had in life, you knew it was all too possible. You knew it was all too likely to happen. In fact, in your mind, it was always a matter of when and who, rather than just what if. But honestly?
If you knew these two were going to be the ones to catch you right in the ac t…
“I - I- I…. uh …”
…y ou would have never even touched the job application.
At the current moment , you’re struggling to find your words as your eyes dart back and forth between the two brothers who were sitting in your section. In the back of your mind, you can sense some part of you- the one who desperately needs the full paycheck this month and not a dollar less- screaming at yourself to get back on track and at least say your opening line. But the second you walked up and realized that the two cute boys you were sort of hoping would be sitting in your section were the Okumura twins, your brain began to short-circuit. Judging by the way Rin had yet to stop staring at you or close his mouth, it looked like his brain had likely short-circuited too . Just your luck.
“I...uh…” You open your mouth and try speaking again. But your words still refuse to come out as your eye two brothers sit in front of you. On one side of the table, there’s Yukio- one of your teachers. He’s dressed in his exorcist overcoat with his glasses pushed all the way up the bridge of his nose. From where he’s currently sitting, you can’t see much of his expression other than the straight line his lips have been set in and light pink blush dusting his cheeks. It doesn’t help that his glasses have managed to catch the glare from this angle, making it impossible to read the look in his eyes.
Though if you were him, seeing a girl you currently teach do something as embarrassing as dress up in a costume and call other people “ Master~ ” and “ Madam~ ” for cash would have you feeling all sorts of conflicted feelings.
That said, you suppose he’s currently in the same boat as you are right now. Because it’s one thing for you to be working here- you at least have the excuse of pay being really good . But it’s an entirely different thing for him to be caught here, seemingly willingly going to a Maid Cafe and sitting down for a meal. The straight-edge, tight-laced Yukio you know and love would have never been caught here.
Though you can’t say the complete same about his brothe r…
On the other side of the table, sits Rin- your friend and classmate and Yukio’s equally good-looking older brother- with a menu gripped tight in his hands. You notice right away that he’s also still in his school uniform, likely having just come from cram school lessons with Yukio. However as always, his tie is loosened and his uniform seems sloppily put together in a way that presents to people an attitude of not simply not caring about appearance, authority, and blending in with society. Though, you know him well enough to know that he’s probably the biggest softie and sweetheart you’ll ever meet. Meaning that you always found it unlikely to see him in one of these places, but not impossible. But at least you know you can count on him to be one of your more endearing guests, rather than worst behaved. Hopefully, anyways
Either way, that’s why you’re slow to snap at him for staring at you for so long. You know what feels like to be ogled at. You also know what it’s like to walk up to a customer who you know that you’ll have to have thrown out of the establishment before they’ve reached the end of their ninety minutes.
But for some reason, you have a funny feeling that his wide-eyed, open-mouth stare has a lot more to do with the fact that he’s suddenly seeing you here at the job you were so tight-lipped about and less to do with how flattering this dress is around your chest. Call it a hunch, but his eyes being trained on your face and not anywhere lower gives you a lot of coincidence in the boy. Well , that , and you swear you can hear his tail starting to thwump repeatedly against his back like a little overexcited puppy, happy to see his friends. If you weren’t stuck in this painfully embarrassing situation you would have been over the moon at the cute display coming from the guy with usually the toughest exterior.
But you are. You’re stuck here.
“ . ..so this is why you’ve had to switch to the remedial lessons … ”
In your own, personal, maid-cafe-themed hell.
The question that Yukio suddenly voices after you stammer off into the awkward silence (that the three of you were basking in for far too long of a time) is the very thing that manages to break you out of your stupor after what feels like hours of stuttering in front of them. You’re thankful for the question because, without him, you could only imagine how long it would take for you and Rin to get ahold of yourselves. However, it doesn’t exactly mean that you’re happy to see him. You’re not exactly happy to see his brother either. At least not at the moment.
“ O h, um…yeah, ” You answer lamely. At this point, you don’t see any purpose in trying to recover and play up your assigned maid persona. “ ...my shift is usually right after school so I can’t be in class with all the others. Yeah…”
You trail off quietly, facing starting burning with embarrassment. Luckily, Yukio seems to accept your answer quite easily and makes no moves to push you into any more questions. Though, you suppose it helps that he’s currently seeing in front of his table with a notepad and a maid dress that’s a little on the shorter side.
“I see…” The younger of the two brothers answers, his eyes still hidden by the glasses' glare. You still find it impossible to read exactly what he’s thinking at the moment, but you’ve found that his blush has only seemed to have darkened over time. A clear indicator of…something. Embarrassment? Shame? Attraction? You don’t want to know and you honestly don’t even want to think about it. All you know now is that even the very tips of his ears are red, despite his mostly passive expression. Instinctively, you find yourself shifting nervously in front of them, opting to tug down the skirt of your dress in a last-ditch effort to save some of what little dignity you have left. Though the action was futile. It was meaningless.
Because that sudden movement managed to knock Rin out of his own stupor. And just like that, you had another mess on your hands.
“S ince when did you-? ” Instantly, Rin’s voice raises to a high-pitched shout as he points to you- a bright red blush covering his own cheeks. Honestly, you know you should have expected this type of over-the-top reaction from him. But could you blame a girl for being caught off guard? “ And you just-?! And that dress- !”
Before Rin is able to finish what you could only imagine to be a rather tactless comment, his brother reaches over the table and grabs at his collar. A hissed call of the older’s name and an order for him to knock it off is likely very thinly with a threat that Yukio hardly even needs to include. But Rin is still busy gaping at you, blushing hard and pointing even harder as he struggles to voice his thoughts coherently.
At this point, you’re really starting to feel the pressure of being caught in a rock. And there’s little more to do than sigh and think about what you’re going to have to say on the inevitable incident report you’ll have to fill out based on all the ruckus going on between the two brothers (who had gone from beating around the bush about your maid dress to outright insulting each other and claiming entitlement to be the first to d o…s omething you can’t even be bothered to listen to right now, honestly).
Sure, you’ve always had a hard time adjusting to this job. You were constantly put in embarrassing positions and made to say and do embarrassing things while dealing with some form of harassment from a guest on nearly every shift. But you knew about this when you walked in and filled out the paperwork. Just like how you ultimately knew that eventually, someone you knew was going to find out what your job was. But, as much as you love them…
“ I t’s not like you can even do anything! You’re her teacher ! ”
“A nd you’re on death row! Who would want that? !”
…d id it have to be the Okumura Brothers?