Setting
- 73 posts here • Page 2 of 3 • 1, 2, 3
Her red hair shined like a red apple in the sun. She stepped over puddles and glanced up at Haru's old home. "I think you will like Miss Kelbs. She is super sweet and easy going. She has no husband or kids...she expects you to try your best and understands people have bad days, but you should always find the good in it." Ava smiled and poked his arm. She wouldn't bring up the escort thing even though her curiosity was getting the best of her. They passed the grocery shop and then a clothing shop. Her eyes darted between the shop and Haru. "Get in the damn store."
In contrast to Ava, Haruka's hair didn't necessarily shine but instead displayed a warm chestnut color. "Sounds a little like someone else I used to know." He noticed the clothing store when he walked by, but paid it no attention until Avaron suddenly ordered him to enter. "Uh, okay," he shrugged and turned towards the front door.
"Why are we going in?"
She eyed a few shorts and a couple non-flashy shirts and grabbed them, not trying them on she kept walking around.
A few trips to the changing room and several minutes later, he had everything he needed. Granted, he had to go to the women's clothes section for some of his shirts and pants due to his figure, but everything he picked was either somewhat masculine or suitably unisex.
He eventually ran back into Ava, at which point he briefly showed each of the items he picked out.
"Does all of this work?"
"Don't I know you...oh right you ar-." She was interrupted.
"No, you don't." Ava said, her voice harsh. She paid the lady and grabbed Haru's hand. "Let's go. We have to get to work."
"So, will I have to wear one of those maid outfits, or do they have separate uniforms for guys?" Haruka would likely accept whatever they ask him to wear, but knowing ahead of time was usually a good idea.
His question about him wearing a maid's outfit made her laugh out loud. She turned to him, "No silly, unless you want to!" She couldn't stop laughing. Once she calmed down, the sign said to walk. Tugging on his hand again she her way to the cafe. "Guys were server suits. Look kind of like a little butler...with ears." She said as they enter the cafe from the back. Some staff looked at her and the boy before looking at their hands. She let go nonchalantly and faced him. "Are you ready?" She asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."
He began to work on unbuttoning his pants, but stopped. The teenager leaned against the wall, slowly sinking to the floor and holding his head in his hands.
"It's all the same," Yukimura murmured to himself, looking down at the bland mosaic tile under him. Changing in bathrooms to meet new employers and customers. Being given clothing to wear. Having a job that relied on his looks, his ability to please others, and his modifications. At the thought of such, he grabbed onto the end of his tail and brought it in front of his face. A chill ran up his spine with even the lightest of touches along the semi-prehensile limb; the nerves used in the implant were almost too sensitive for their own good.
"So this is what I've become again. I thought I could get away." No matter how far he ran, how often he cut his hair, or who he met, nothing was going to change.
First I'll work and get tips for my looks. Soon, the boss'll make me wear tighter clothes to bring in more customers. Before I realize it, I'll be working out back for 'massages' again, being a rent boy. Then it'll become every day, no more working in the cafe itself. If I don't do a good enough job I'll get 'the room' again, and master will be upset, and when master is upset, I get the medicine..
Haruka found his head in his hands, curled in the fetal position against the wall. Tears streamed down his wrists, past the assortment of scars along his arms, each one seemingly from a different source from the irregularities in the marks. For the first time in a long time, the boy wept. For several minutes, he let himself go, no facade to put up, nobody to hide from.
"I don't wanna go back, I don't wanna go back, I don't wanna go back," he repeated endlessly, barely forcing the words out past his sobs. After a few dozen repetitions, his babbling became unintelligible, until he gave up and returned to trying to breathe.
"N-no. I won't," Haruka sniffed and wiped his face. "If this is who I am, so be it. If they want to take me back, then let them fucking try."
Yukimura looked to the pair of fresh clothes, and changed into them. He no longer felt dirty and exposed, possibly out of sheer indignance. "They already took so much of my life, I won't surrender the rest of it."
Once dressed, he wiped his somewhat-red eyes with the beanie. He emerged, his old clothes folded in a neat pile in his arms, with the hat gently laid on top. His ears were standing up at attention, and his tail trailing behind him instead of being tucked in his pants.
"Alright, I'm ready."
"I just, uh, had some issues to deal with. I'll be okay, I promise. Now, let's meet this lady."
"Oh my, look how adorable he is. And those ears, come in come in! What is your name, son?" She spoke softly. Her brown eyes shinning as she took him in, forgetting Ava was even in the room.
"Haruka Yukimura, ma'am. I'm applying for a job here, came in for the application about a week ago," he plopped the neatly organized stack of papers on her desk, turning the pile to face her.
"And yes, Ava is letting me stay with her, partly because she already works here."
"If you need anything ask Ava...if someone is messing with you get Ava. See Ava might look sweet and inncocent, but she can kick some booty. She did so just last week because some man tried to lay a hand on one of our workers. We take our employee's safety seriously. I know what you were in the past, but I won't judge you buy it. We all have some darkness in our past." With that she clapped her hands and started typing slowly in her computer. "Shoo shoo, people are dying to look at you two beauties."
Ava, once more grabbed the boy's hand and dragged him down the hall to the closet room where their uniforms are. "Find your size, you can change in the same bathroom. Put your regular clothes in the same locker and meet me by the cash register. I will show you the ropes okay?" She asked, staring at him.
"Thank you ma'am, I guess you could see why I may have been a little hesitant for the job. Bad memories and all that," what Avaron may not have known was that Haruka had walked by the cafe almost every day for a little over a month, but only actually went in for the application in the past week.
In a whirlwind of being pulled around, Yukimura found himself eventually in the uniform closet. "Alright, let me do that."
It took a surprising level of searching to find the right set of clothes, his thin torso and slightly wider hips made sizing tricky. But, luckily enough, there were enough pieces that fit him, and he carried the set back to the bathroom.
He returned to Ava in his new uniform: the whole outfit fit him comfortably, but his pants were notably form-fitting, the garment hugging his legs and hips in a stark contrast to the somewhat looser and more comfortable dress shirt and vest.
"So, how do I look?"
A couple of girls came in and she tugged his sleeve gently. "Take those two. The right side of the cafe is yours. So seat them where they want." With that she rubbed his ear softly before running off and doing her job. She laughed and smiled while taking orders.
"Welcome to Chez-chat, mes dames," the boy's ears flicked visibly and he waved them into the cafe. He led them to one of the tables towards the front of the store, laying down two menus at either place. Both girls blushed slightly as he turned to them, which he only responded to with a wolfish grin.
"May I get you ladies anything to drink?"
His borderline-flirty interaction with the girls left them giggling and enamored, and before long they were ordering drinks, appetizers, meals and even desserts. It didn't help their case that, whenever he walked away from the table, his gait would suddenly pick up extra sway and flair.
They eventually finished as much as they could of their food, though the portions did not suffer nearly as much damage as their wallets did. Though, when he finally took the bill (alongside their more than generous tip), he waltzed back behind the counter to wait for the next customer, calling to the girls with a "Come back soon~!" and a wink.
This mans name was Marcus, and that was synonymous with trouble. He glanced around the streets looking for something to do, a bit of mischief to get into.
"And don't fucking call me selfish, goddammit. I know exactly why you brought me in. I could hear you."
He pulled open the locker and took his clothing.
"You weren't in it for charity!"
He slammed the locker shut and stormed off to the bathroom. Should Avaron try to follow him, she would only find his dress clothes neatly folded on the toilet, and not a sign of the feline boy.
At the countertop sat Haruka, hunched over a glass tumbler and a short bottle in a paper bag. A small sliver of amber liquid remained in the glass, but almost half of the bottle was empty when the catboy removed it from the bag and took a swig from it directly.
He didn't bother turning towards her unless she approached.
- 73 posts here • Page 2 of 3 • 1, 2, 3