So, my second fanfic, my first non-oneshot...that's about all there is to it, really. Any and all mistakes are due to the fact that I typed this really late, as opposed to sleeping. Enjoy!
I don't own Hetalia. If I did, this would be cannon, not fanfiction.
Chapter 1
It had been Felicks' idea to start with. He had been walking down one of the busy, bustling streets of the small town he lived in, complaining to his friends, Toris and Feliciano, about how boring and dull a place it was. Feliciano, who had spent the first five or six years of his life living in Italy with his brother, had somehow ended up mentioning the cafés and quaint restaurants that had been on every street corner in town. "They're all over the place, not just in Italy, but in all of Europe," he said, spreading his arms wide as he spoke. He always talked with his hands, no matter where he was. "They would set some of the tables outside, and me and Lovino used to walk along and listen to their conversations. Ve, there was always something interesting going on." Felicks' eyes sparkled with interest.
"That," he announced, "is, like, totally what this place needs! Somewhere where people can just hang out and have coffee and, like, desserts with cute sounding names and stuff. Right, Toris?" he continued, elbowing his quiet friend in the side. The brunette nodded, smiling at his friend's simple-mindedness. They continued down the street, Felicks going on about how fabulous it would be. And that would have been that, if they hadn't passed by a vacant building with a 'For Rent' sign in the window. Felicks turned excitedly to his two friends. "Omigosh, we should, like, totally rent this place and paint it pink and open up a café! That'd be totally fantastic, right? And then it wouldn't be so boring around here!" Feliciano smiled and nodded and the two began chattering away once again, making plans. Toris, who had almost immediately spotted the major flaw in their plan, spoke up.
"Not to rain on your parade or anything, Felicks, but do you really have enough money to open a business? I know it all seems like fun to you, but it would be a lot of work and…" he trailed off as he realized his friend was no longer listening. He seemed to be wondering about something, but then a huge grin spread on his face, and he began to speak again.
"Okay, so maybe I don't have the money," he said, still smiling widely, "but I know someone who does!" His happy, carefree expression changed to a pleading pout in less than two seconds. Toris groaned and mentally kicked himself for bringing the subject up.
"Forget it. It was your idea, so you have to be the one to come up with the money for it." He tried to look away from Felicks. Up at the sky, down at his shoes, anywhere but those begging eyes. If he even glanced him, he knew he would give in…but it couldn't last. "Fine," he said, sighing resignedly. "You find out how much it would be to rent the place and fix it up, and if it's reasonable, I'll help you pay for it." Felicks' face lit up, and he flung his arms around Toris in a huge hug. 'What have I gotten myself into?' thought Toris.
That had been a few months ago. Now, as he looked around the place, Toris had to admit that Felicks had really worked hard to make his plan work. Under normal circumstances he would have given up halfway through or, even more likely, come to Toris begging for help. But once they had the building secured he'd taken matters into his own hands; at least, all matters that didn't involve dealing with money or physical labor, which probably was for the best. Felicks had loved decorating the place, or at least designing everything. The actual moving of the furniture had been done by Toris and Feliciano, while their blonde friend had done what he'd called "directing". The only thing he had truly helped with was the exterior, painting the walls a pale baby pink shade and arranging flowers in the window boxes. It looked nice, it really did.
It had been unanimously decided that Feliciano would be one of the chefs, but other people needed to be hired as well; one person couldn't do all the baking for the entire place, and of course there were waiters and waitresses to find. Even though the building itself was put together nicely and nearly completed, they still had a long way to go before they would be ready to open up for business. That was why Toris was there, he was waiting for Felicks to arrive so they could discuss advertising and the like, but Felicks, being who he was, was running late and hadn't gotten there yet. Toris had been waiting for almost twenty minutes, and he was starting to get worried. 'Maybe I should call and make sure everything is okay…' he thought nervously, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. He replaced it quickly, however, when his friend waltzed through the door balancing what looked to be a heavy box on one hand and practically dragging a tan girl by the arm with the other.
Setting the box down on a nearby table and releasing the girl's wrist, Felicks sighed loudly (and a bit over-dramatically). "Liet," he said, using his favorite nickname for Toris, "You will, like, never guess what's in that box. I, like, didn't think it would be that heavy! It's-" He was stopped mid-rant by a perplexed, annoyed, and tired look from Toris, who was glancing past Felicks' shoulder at the girl who was standing uncomfortably in silence.
"Who exactly is this?" he asked Felicks, trying to shoot annoyed glares at his friend while smiling in a reassuring, amiable way at the girl. Felicks blinked in surprise, as if he'd totally and completely forgotten that he'd dragged someone into the café with him.
"Oh, this is Michelle! When I got here she was standing outside and I, like, asked her what she wanted, and she said she would like very much to work here, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, and so I brought her inside to see you about it, and-"
"I'm sure Miss Michelle can speak for herself, Felicks." Turning to the partially kidnapped girl, he said nervously, "I'm sorry for Felicks' rudeness. I can assure you, it won't happen again." Actually, he was also a bit shocked at the way his friend had acted. The blonde was usually shy with people he didn't know.
Michelle smiled back at Toris with gratitude. She was dressed simply, in a blue dress with her brunette hair swept off her pretty, tan face into two pigtails tied with large red ribbons. When she spoke, she surprised Toris with a trace of something that sounded like a French accent. "Oh, no," she laughed, "Please don't apologize. Felicks was only trying to help, I'm sure. Actually, you two are the nicest people I've come across here." They must have looked confused, because she continued "I moved here two weeks ago from an island, and I guess I haven't really gotten used to how different things are. That is why I need the job, you see. So I can begin to save up for a house bigger than the closet of an apartment that I'm living in currently." There was a hint of malice mixed into the determination she radiated.
Toris and Felicks glanced at each other conspiratorially. Of course, if she wanted the job that badly…but if she was saving up to buy a house…with only a job in a café she'd need to work until she was eighty before she had enough. Neither of them wanted to crush her enthusiasm, so Toris looked back at Michelle and said, "You know you won't be making much money with a job like this." She smiled at him sweetly.
"I know that; I'm not looking for a permanent job right now, I only need a way to earn my bread until I find something else." Toris nodded. This plan made much more sense.
"In that case, you can start working as soon as we open, probably sooner if you'd rather. We've still got a bit of planning and things to go over, but while all that's being finished you're certainly welcome here."
"Yeah, and it'll be, like, totally great to have an extra person to help out while we get ready," agreed Felicks happily.
The three of them chattered happily for awhile, discussing the café, the town, and the island home that Michelle had left behind. After a time, though, Toris remembered the box Felicks had carried in. When questioned, Felicks responded, "Oh, I completely forgot about that!" Jumping up from the chair he had slumped into, he began opening the box, chatting away as he did so. "You know my friend Lizzie, right? Tall, brown hair, musician?" Toris nodded, peering over his friend's shoulder in curiosity. He'd met Elizaveta on several occasions. "Well, she, like, met this guy at one of those convention thingies she went to, and they stayed in touch afterward. Now they're, like, really good friends, and she mentioned our café to him, and he, like, said we could have these." With a flourish, he pulled out a frilly, short-skirted black dress, with puffy sleeves and white lacy trim. There was an equally frilly apron to go along with it. Holding it against his frame, he practically squealed, "Isn't it, like, totally the most adorable thing you've ever seen?" Michelle pulled another fluffy maid dress out of the box, regarding it thoughtfully.
"Isn't it a bit impractical to have all these? I mean, didn't you say I was the only waitress you'd hired so far?" she asked, still looking through everything in the box. There certainly were a lot of the costumes, all different colors and designs, but all equally cutesy and lacey.
"Of course, that, like, wouldn't make any sense at all," said Felicks. "But we've got two waitresses, not just you," he continued happily. Toris was confused at this. They hadn't hired anyone yet. They only had one waitress, he was sure of it. Unless Felicks had given someone a job and forgotten to tell him…but that wasn't likely, since Felicks tended to tell him everything, including all that which he didn't particularly want to know, and he rarely stopped talking except to take a breath when it was just the two of them around. Surely, if Felicks had done anything it would have come up, wouldn't it?
"Oh, really?" asked Michelle, looking surprised. "From what you said before, I thought I was the only person you'd hired."
Now it was Felicks' turn to look confused. "But we didn't hire anyone else," he said, putting the dress he was holding back in the box.
Toris spoke up. "Who other than Michelle do we have to be a waitress?" he asked suspiciously, suspecting the answer already. Felicks now grinned mischievously.
"Isn't it, like, totally obvious?" he asked, looking pleased with himself. "Me, of course!"
Hope you liked it! Like I said, it'll have quite a few chapters, and tons of pairings, some of which I still need to figure out... So, review and tell me what you think!
~Lettuce
