Title: Role Reversal
Author: Silverookami
Pairing: Kasanoda x Tetsuya
Rating: PG-13 (implied shounen-ai and adult themes)
Summary: Upon opening the bathroom door, Kasanoda could only hope there was a reasonable explanation for why Tetsuya was wearing a gown.
Disclaimer: All properties relating to OHSHC belong to Bisco Hatori.
Notes: The continuing saga of Kasanoda and Tetsuya, as written by yours truly. Okay, it's not really 'continuing' since none of my stories have any connection to each other. I need to point out that we actually don't know Tetsuya's age, and given that he's always working around the house while Kasanoda's at school, he wouldn't seem to attend a school himself. Well, forget that. For the purposes of this story, they are the same age-ish, and Tetsuya attends a public school. Enjoy.
"You're...wearing a dress." Of all the statements Kasanoda Ritsu could imagine, that was one of the least likely he'd ever thought would come up in his household. It was just as unlikely seeming as the sight of his faithful servant blushing a deep crimson in the bathroom while trying clumsily to fasten himself into a gown. It wasn't exactly a good idea considering the sheer size of the dress that Tetsuya was struggling with, and that the bathroom that most of the men in the house had to share was fairly small. Rather than do anything to help the matter though, Ritsu stood there dumbly and watched as the situation steadily worsened.
"Could you...at least close the door or something, Young Master?" the boy hissed out frantically between clenched teeth. Dimly Ritsu understood that if anyone other than himself had decided to check on the rather odd noises coming from the bathroom, the entire house would be in a hilarious uproar right about now. A voice in his mind advised that laughter was a pretty appropriate response in this situation, but his mortification at coming across his most loyal servant in an oversized pink satin gown was too overpowering to let any laughter escape quite yet.
As Tetsuya turned to face him, cheeks still a flaming red, the back of his dress caught on the counter sending toiletries everywhere, spilling noisily into the sink and across the floor. The boy swore under his breath, trying without much success to turn himself back around in the cramped space, but a stick of deodorant had landed right where he tried to plant his foot. He grabbed desperately for the counter to catch himself, but in his panic missed and stumbled sideways into his master, sending them both spilling out into the hall in a tangled mass of limbs and fabric. "Dammit," Tetsuya cursed, lurching unsteadily to his feet, clutching at the hem of his dress and hiking it up close to his waist. Ritsu was relieved to note the boy was wearing shorts underneath the huge bell of the gown. Not willing to spare much time, Tetsuya roughly jerked the redhead to his feet and nearly ran down the hall, his skirt hoisted in one hand, his other firmly clamped around Ritsu's wrist. With a darting glance down the blessedly empty hall, the servant boy stormed around the corner and ducked quickly into Ritsu's room, pulling the sliding door firmly closed behind them. Finally a little more secure in their privacy, Tetsuya slumped down wearily, the dress spreading out around him like a pool of rosy satin.
"You're wearing a dress." Ritsu stated again, as though perhaps the first time he'd said it hadn't quite clued the boy into the matter of his strange attire.
"I hadn't noticed." the young man muttered sarcastically, not going quite so far as to glare daggers at his master, but it was damned close in the redhead's opinion.
"I didn't mean to come in in the middle of your...uh, hobby." he looked away in embarrassment, the sight of the blond in so much pink and in such a state of disarray was doing strange things to the pounding of his heart.
"WHAT?" the young servant exploded, face a mask of horror. It was pretty reminiscent of their misunderstanding from the previous semester, just with a reversal in their roles. "This isn't a hobby, Master!"
Ritsu shrugged mildly, remembering his own efforts protesting to the boy that wearing dresses hadn't been a hobby of his either. They hadn't been very effective at the time, and even now and then on occasion when they walked past a women's clothing store, the redhead could feel the speculative sidelong glances from the other boy practically digging into him.
"We're doing a play in school," Tetsuya sighed, pushing away a few stray strands of hair that had come loose from his usual ponytail. "Rather than audition, the teacher decided we should cast votes for each role, that way everyone could have a say in it. We cast ballots for all of the roles, and when we tallied them up..." he trailed off, crossing his arms angrily in front of himself, though the gesture was effectively ruined by the way the dress was sliding off his shoulders, exposing a fair bit of his well toned chest.
Pretending not to notice, Ritsu coughed uncomfortably before speaking."What play are you doing? Weren't there enough roles that, well, guys could act?"
"Plenty." he replied bleakly. "The play is freaking filled with male roles."
"What play?" Ritsu prompted again, curious now.
"Romeo and Juliet."
"And you're...?"
Tetsuya threw his hands up in disgust. "I'm Juliet! It seems every single girl in the class voted for me to play Juliet. The teacher even tried calling for a re-vote, but they still picked me. The second time even most of the guys voted for me just for a laugh." he sulked, pulling uselessly at the top of his garment, trying to force it back onto his shoulders. "I think the only person who didn't vote for me was the guy who has to play Romeo."
"Well, that's understandable," Ritsu found himself smirking, surprisingly near to the edge of outright laughter.
"This isn't funny, Young Master! The teacher had no choice, none of the girls would accept the role after I'd been voted in. They all want to see me up there in this stupid dress!" Tetsuya muttered softly. If this had been happening to Ritsu, he knew he would at least have the decency to never laugh in his face over the matter. Sure, when he was in private he might have a small chuckle or two, much like he had after the disastrous kitty-maid event, but he wouldn't compound the problem by embarrassing the other so openly. His dignity already in worse than shreds, Tetsuya floundered from his sitting position, intent on leaving the room before his master was rolling helplessly on the floor laughing at him.
Feeling more than a little apologetic, Ritsu reached for him, thinking to grab him by the arm, but instead tugging on a fistful of fabric. Tetsuya tried angrily to pull away but found the dress more resilient than expected, falling backwards heavily into a heap of satin. More than half his ponytail already fallen out of it's elastic, it fanned softly around his face, bright gold against the deep pink of the fabric. He stared upside down into his master's face, eyes angry and a scowl plastered across his lips. "What?" He challenged, and wished that he didn't feel so stupidly vulnerable in the enormous gown.
"It wouldn't look so bad if it wasn't falling off of you half the time," Ritsu tried to console the other boy, to smooth out the roughness of his hurt feelings. Considering Tetsuya's reaction was to shoot up from his prone position, crashing their foreheads together painfully in the process, Ritsu feared he missed the mark. "Dammit, Tetsuya!" he growled, massaging his forehead lightly with one hand.
The other boy was also gripping his forehead, but his cheeks had gone a flaming red again, and his hair fell in disarray down his back. Absently, Ritsu reached up with his right hand and plucked free the elastic from where it still clung to his servant's hair in a futile gesture of determination. He ran his hand through the boy's blond locks, smoothing them down, surprised by the sheer weight of them. It seemed like it must hurt to keep that much hair up in a ponytail all the time, but it was how Tetsuya wore his hair everyday. With the other now looking sideways at him, eyes wide and cheeks rosy, Ritsu had to admit he looked good with his hair down, the tips curling softly at the middle of his back.
"I...I just can't figure out how to do it up. There are some sort of clasps as well as a zipper, some kind of cinch near the waist too..." Tetsuya trailed off in a subdued voice, eyes still warily following the motions of Ritsu's arm as he played with the boy's hair. "I got some of the clasps closed, but I can't reach high enough to pull the zipper up so it will stay."
"You just need help. I think that's how girls usually manage to put these things on." the redhead shrugged, sliding closer to the blond, lifting his hair carefully and settling it over his shoulder, out of the way of the zipper.
"Did you need help when you were getting into that maid's dress, Young Master?" he smiled slightly, trying to dispel some of the tension that had grown in the room with a bit of gentle teasing.
Ritsu was frowning intently at the back of the dress, his skilled fingers testing the fastenings in an exploratory manner. "The twins kind of threw me into the dress, I don't even remember much about putting it on."
Tetsuya sighed "Well I guess I wish that I could say the same about this, but I have a feeling this will be a pretty memorable experience." he frowned at the end, suddenly aware of a metallic clicking sound that was slightly familiar. "Uh, Young Master," he stammered, flushing desperately and clutching the satin in huge fistfuls. "I, uh, I think you're undoing the clasps I already managed to fasten."
"It looks that way," Ritsu murmured agreeably, eyes still trained on their task.
"But, Master!" he protested, face growing warmer by the second. "That means you're undoing the dress instead of helping me into it!"
Ritsu looked up thoughtfully, his dark honey eyes intent on Tetsuya's stormy ones. "You're already most of the way out of it," he argued reasonably, slowly closing the distance between them until he had captured the boy's lips with his. Taken aback, shocked, and more than slightly enjoying himself, Tetsuya smiled into the gentle kiss and laughed silently in his mind. He supposed there was a lot to be said for memorable experiences.
Fin.
End Note: I wrote this slightly over 4 years ago, and I just found it today buried on my computer. I recall that I didn't post it those long years ago because a reviewer of a previous story gave me flak for having Ritsu be the one to initiate their first kiss. I had already written this, and it of course also ends with Ritsu choosing to kiss Tetsuya (who wouldn't make that choice?) I guess enough time has passed that I no longer care. Ritsu can totally make the first move, why not?