Rating: T

Warnings: OOCness, grammatical errors(?), yaoi

Disclaimer: Whims of Anime does not own Beyblade or the song Maid Factor. Beyblade belongs to Takao Aoki, etc., and the song Maid Factor is owned by Kagamine Len and Rin, etc. Please support the official release.

Beta: None

Dedication: To Rapid P. Saiko, who is celebrating her birthday!

Anime: Hey guys! Taking a break from the darkness of MIAB, I decided to write this happy and cute MaRe fic.

Night: This is dedicated to the wonderful Rapid P. Saiko - writer of Borderline, A Dangerous Affair, Twisted and other great Beyblade fics - who is celebrating her birthday today.

Anime: So, here's your happy yaoi fic guys!

~~~Maid Factor~~~

Maid Factor!

Ray was an ordinary high schooler that had finally decided to think about love. Lee and the others had been telling him for ages to find a love interest so he would be more relaxed, an advice he had ignored since middle school.

Now, however, he had finally noticed someone in the romantic way.

Max Tate was a mysterious boy who came from America two months ago, transferring into his class. With his bright blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes, he garnered the attention of both males and females alike, including Ray. After a while, though, the females stopped going to Max. When Ray asked Mariah –his childhood friend – why the girls weren't approaching the blonde, she said it was because he had told them he was gay.

Even after the girls stopped approaching Max, the male was never seen taking any of the boys seriously. In fact, the boys that asked Max out warned others to stay away from him, looking creeped out.

This, of course, did not deter Ray.

He had been courting Max secretly, not having the guts to outright tell Max he liked him and wanted to ask him out. As such, he wrote the blonde letters, gave him flowers and other small gifts, which he seemed to appreciate. Once, he saw him holding the teddy bear he had gotten him close to his chest, a smile on his face.

Today, however, was the day he was to approach Max and tell him how he felt.

Well, he hadn't wanted to. He wanted to continue this tactic until he found the opportune moment but Mariah and Kevin had had enough of him being a "lovesick cat" (not a puppy because Ray looked more like a cat) and had written Max a letter that said that he would confess his feelings.

Little brats.

Currently, Ray was watching Max from a distance, trying to calm his nerves. The blonde was leaning on the fence outside of the school, humming a song that Ray had never heard before. He looked happy, holding a bag in his hands that looked nothing like his school bag.

I should leave. . .

Ray shook his head. No, he was going to go through with this! He was going to confess to Max! If he was rejected, it was fine. If he was accepted, even better! He took a deep breath and looked at Max once more.

For as long as he had seen the blonde, he hadn't seen him smile much. Sure, there were a couple of smiles here and there but Ray wanted to see a genuine one. A smile where he could tell that Max was extremely happy and giddy over something. For Max to smile, he'd do anything.

Ray felt his heart was pounding but he ignored as he walked closer to Max, who turned to look at him with his brilliant eyes. For a moment, Ray wanted to run back because he felt that he wasn't good enough for Max. Who could ever be good enough for this blonde male?

"Are you the one who wrote those letters?" Max asked, leaning on the balls of his feet with the question dancing in his eyes.

Ray nodded and Max brightened. He had yet to smile, however, but Ray could see that he was close to doing so. Max walked closer to him, as if inspecting him, "I recognize you! You're the smartest guy in the class and you hang out with that green haired kid!"

"His name is Kevin." Ray muttered, scratching the back of his head. He didn't understand why he was so nervous. Max hadn't even done anything to make him nervous. Still, his heart wouldn't stop racing.

"Ray Kon, isn't it?" Max leaned on the fence once more, "This is the first time I've ever talked to you and you say you love me. Weird, huh?"

"How is that weird?" Ray questioned.

Max shrugged, "Well, it sounds like you fell in love with the idea of me. Do you really know me enough to say that you love me?" Ray paused, staring at how downcast he looked. Poor Max. He had been approached by several boys and girls that had only wanted to be with him for his looks and not his personality.

"I may not know you as much as I should but I want to know you." Ray answered, fiddling with his clothes. He looked Max straight in the eye, "I won't tell you that it was love at first sight; I think you might have heard that plenty of times. I will tell you this: I want you to be happy and I think I could make you happy. For you to smile, I'd be willing to do anything."

Max actually looked surprised at that before he looked pensive, "Really? You'd be willing to do anything?"

Ray nodded and, looking back, he realized that he should've been wary of the way Max's eyes had glinted at his admission. Then again, he had been too busy thinking that he'd have a chance with Max to care.

"Then put on this maid outfit for me."

That's when the world seemed to come to a standstill. Ray stared at Max, face blank of any emotions. Max looked like he wanted to poke him, wondering what had triggered Ray to freeze.

"Huh?!"

Max tilted his head, looking confused. Ray coughed, before running a hand through his hair, "Hold on, I'm not quite sure I understood what you said. Are you asking me to put on a maid outfit?" When Max nodded at him, Ray covered his face with his hand, "Are you joking?"

Max pouted, "A joke? This is no joke. It's my one and only request and I want you to fulfill it. Go on, right now!" Now, Ray could see how Max's eyes had lit up and how he was fiddling with the black bag that Ray somehow knew contained the maid outfit he was asking Ray to wear.

Ray took a step back, feeling himself sweat a little in embarrassment, "You always seemed so cool and laid-back but it seems your fangs have been unleashed."

Max grinned, "Stop acting like you don't hear and answer me. Try to satisfy my dried-up heart with your maid outfit!" Max looked up at the sky with a dreamy look in his eyes, holding the bag close to his chest. Ray was quiet, staring at the person he had fallen in love with dread. He had not signed up for this when he had planned on asking Max out. He turned around and took small steps away from Max.

Behind him, Max had snapped out of his daze and was now staring at his retreating back with a frown, "Sorry, but are you just not into guys? But if it's a maid outfit, that sort of thing doesn't matter, you know!"

Ray stopped to turn to Max, staring at him as if he had grown a second head, "Wha-?"

"Besides, with that baby-like face, there's no issue. As a matter of fact, don't you look like any other pretty girl?" Max looked as if he had given this much thought, "So don't be shy!"

"I'm not being shy . . ." Ray whined a bit. He now understood why the guys would run away soon after asking Max out while they warned others not to approach him. Like him, no one had wanted to wear the maid outfit.

"Being bashful is fine," Max said as he blushed, placing his hands on his cheeks as if that would cover his blush, "but I wanna see some showiness, too."

Ray sweat-dropped, "Wa-wa-wa-wait, I'm just a gu-."

"Well, in that case, let's cast a magic spell!" Max said excited before digging into the bag and showing Ray things that he had once seen in Mariah's bag, "See here, with makeup, we put some foundation on your cheeks, eyeliner, fake lashes, mascara and eyeshadow and, with a ribbon tied in, you're just like any other pretty girl!"

"I think I'll pass on that . . ." Ray thought, backing away. Max's smile turned into a smirk and Ray didn't know if he had frozen out of terror or because Max looked good smirking evilly like that.

"Come on, Ray," Max said in an eerie tone that would have belonged in a horror movie rather than in the back of the school, "there's nowhere else for you to run." That just made Ray want to run away with more reason and the maid outfit that Max pulled out from the bag didn't make things better, "These costumes were on sale today wholesale. They're all men's size M, so there's no mess-up here!"

Ahh. Goodbye to those old days of pure rhapsody. Welcome to the underground. The smile I was searching for couldn't have been this. Ray wondered as he saw Max start speaking quickly, describing all the maid outfits, color combinations and several other things that Ray had no idea what it meant.

"Max . . ." Ray started before he saw that Max had suddenly turned serious, holding the maid outfit with a soft smile on his face. He stopped talking, surprised at how Max looked like when he usually didn't show much emotion.

"You know, Ray," Max said, closing his eyes, as if he was looking back on something, "I don't really care how cruel this world is. I know that it is but my mother told me to appreciate the good things in life and I really appreciate maid outfits." He opened his eyes and Ray did not feel himself falling deeper in love when he saw the emotion in Max's eyes, "So let me dream with this magic of maid outfits."

Ray groaned, running a hand through his hair once more, "Ahh, jeez."

Max blinked, "Huh?"

Ray cleared his throat before speaking, wondering if he was going to regret this in the future, "Is today's chic thing Victorian style? Or maybe the sexy French style?" His eyes widened before he grabbed Max's shoulders, "Whichever one it is, cat ears are out of the question, Max!"

Max looked like he was going to question Ray on what he was talking about before realization dawned on him and he grinned widely, "No prob, no prob! It's all totally fine!" He laughed and Ray realized the no one had ever agreed on this crazy thing before. Max must really be happy over this.

Max smiled sheepishly, "Besides that, will you go bare or with black stockings or with knee socks?" Ray flinched at the mention of the socks before Max blushed again, hugging Ray, "Whichever one it is, it's too stimulating like a crime scene in here!"

"Huh?!"

Max looked up at him and grinned, "You're really going to wear the maid outfit, Ray?" Boy, Ray didn't want to wear the thing because of how frilly and girly and short it looked. Not to mention that it was an early school morning and he knew Max wanted him to wear it now. He thought about all the teasing he'd have to endure for wearing the maid outfit.

And yet . . .

He smiled down at Max and hugged him, nodding. Max laughed, his flushed cheeks making him look adorable. If this brought Max so much joy, then he'd be willing to wear the thing and put up with the teasing.

And he wouldn't regret it.

~~~Maid Factor~~~

"What's taking Ray so long?" Mariah wondered as she, Lee, Gary and Kevin waited outside for their childhood friend to appear. She gasped, covering her mouth while her bright yellow eyes widened, "You don't think he was jilted?"

"There's no way Tate would reject Ray!" Lee assured his sister as she began to mumble, coming up with multiple scenarios to explain why their friend was taking so long with Max, "He'd either be blind or dumb to do so!"

"Then what's taking them? They've been gone almost an hour. School's about to start, too." Kevin asked, groaning while leaning on Gary for support. They all sighed, knowing that, if the blonde jilted their friend, Ray would probably be depressed for weeks.

Gary lifted his head after a while before pointing in the distance, "Guys, isn't that Ray and Max over there?" They all looked up and Kevin and Lee both gave out startled noises while Mariah covered her mouth to stifle the laugh she felt was coming.

Max and Ray were walking towards the front of the school building, Max smiling brightly as he held Ray's hand. That wasn't the reason why they were startled/laughing, however.

Ray had removed his hair wrap so his long hair was down and he was wearing a short-sleeved black and white cotton maid outfit. At the hemline, there were white frills and he was wearing black knee socks. There was even a lace headpiece on top of his head. And he was wearing light makeup, for crying out loud. For a moment, they hadn't even recognized their friend.

"Ray?" Lee questioned when the two had come close enough for them to speak. He saw Ray turn bright red before Max let go of his hand to cling to his arm, looking at Ray with a smile.

"I know you're shy about this, Ray, but you can do this. Besides, it's sweet that you'd dress up like this even though you didn't want to." Max stated before giving Ray a small kiss on his cheek. Mariah cooed at them, drawing the attention of people that just makes turn bright red.

"You can take it off . . ." Max started, seeing how embarrassed Ray looked when people started staring at them. He even recognized his previous suitors among the crowd and he frowned. No one should make fun of the only guy that had proven himself to Max by doing this for him.

"It's okay." Ray replied, smiling down at Max, "I can handle it. I told you I'd do anything to try to make you smile." Even if that meant embarrassing himself in front of the whole school, Ray would still do it. Because this made Max smile and that's what he wanted the blonde to always look like.

Max blushed before grinning up at Ray. He let go of the grip he had on his arm and grabbed his hand, "Let's go, then, Ray! Class is starting!" He winked at Mariah and the others before the two lovebirds began to run to class, Ray trying hard to keep up.

"Look at them go." Lee said, grinning.

"At least they're both happy." Gary stated.

When they reached their homeroom, Max turned his head around to give a kiss to his first –and hopefully only – boyfriend before squeezing his hand, "Welcome to this fantastical land, my darling!"

This, Ray decided, was worth the embarrassment of wearing this ridiculous maid outfit.

~~~Maid Factor~~~

Anime: That's all I wrote! I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, comment your thoughts. No flames, please. Once again, happy birthday RPS! This is Whims of Anime, signing off.