Notes:

*shows up 3 months late with Starbucks

Ask and ye shall receive


The afternoon lazed by with quiet monotony. Making the most of her days away from work, Kobayashi slouched back on the living room couch. The TV chattered quietly, playing a show she had long since lost interest in, but not bothered to turn off. Occasionally, the bored salarywoman would glance up from her phone to watch Tohru go about her daily routine. The dragon maid was currently looking through the kitchen fridge for missing items to add to her shopping list. She spoke softly to herself, writing diligently in a notebook, until the intrusive beep on the laundry machine sounded. She always kept busy. Kanna, meanwhile, had disappeared into her room. What she was up to exactly, Kobayashi wasn't sure, but the littlest dragon had no shortage of ways to entertain herself. All the same, it likely wouldn't be long until she wondered out for a snack or attention or something else.

Popping out of the laundry room, Tohru carried a basket of wet clothing out to the balcony. Sliding the glass door open blew a cool breeze into the apartment. All the better for the clothes to try in. The show Koabayashi pretended to watch came to an end and began a new episode. The preview promised dramatic developments to the plot, but such expectations would fail to be met.

When Tohru reentered the room, she spoke to Kobayashi as she passed, "I'm going shopping."

Without looking up from her phone, Kobayashi responded with a simple, "k."

Tohru gathered up her shoes, her purse, and her scarf. She never left home without it, even in the warm months. "The laundry should be done by the time I get back." she announced before setting out. The hinges of the door creaked as it slowly swung back into place. It hit the frame with a small slam and eventually the handle clicked closed. Suddenly everyone was up.

Kobayashi pushed herself off the couch as Kanna rushed out of the bedroom. Colliding, Kobayashi scooped her up into her arms and held her on her hip. Kanna held a determined look, tightly gripping onto her mom's shirt. Kobayashi smiled back at her, "Alright, she should be gone for a bit. Are you ready?"

Barely able to contain her excitement, Kanna all but shook Kobayashi, "Yeah!"

Thankfully, the human was used to dealing with such shows of dragonic strength. She merely rolled with the force while making her way to the kitchen. "Well we don't have too long, so we better hurry." she advised, placing her child on the kitchen counter.

Kanna nodded seriously and watched Kobayashi pull out a variety of ingredients. Each was carefully set next to the dragonling: a carton of eggs, a container of milk, stick of butter, bag of flour, jar of sugar, can of baking powder, and a small bottle of vanilla extract. Today, they were baking a cake.

The idea had been Kanna's. Having recently experienced her first human birthday party, she was enthralled by the prospect of baking treats. Granted, the child was a touch too young to be let loose to operate an oven on her own, but Kobayashi promised to teach her when she had the time. The excuse came promptly upon May 10th, or as it was lesser known, Maid's Day. The combined sounds of the english word for the month of May and the alternative japanese word for ten, do, made the japanese word for maid, Meido. It was a fairly underground holiday in Japan. You wouldn't find it on a calendar. Only really celebrated in really niche otaku circles, which is to say that Kobayashi and Takiya were familiar. Typically, one would commemorate today by visiting a maid cafe, but the Kobayashi household had no need for such places when they already had a wonderful maid of their own. As such, the two schemers devised a different way to celebrate, one that recognized their most favorite maid in specific. But there was still a lot of work to do.

To that end, Kobayashi set about mixing things together. She instructed Kanna as she went along, reading off a recipe she found online. Together they measured out the dry ingredients into a large bowl, stirring as they went. Kobayashi showed her how to crack an egg and then had her copy with a gentle touch. The child carefully separated the two eggshell halves with success, earning herself a pat on the head that she relished in. Kanna continued to beat the mixture as Kobayashi dealt with the baking pan and the oven. Although, when she turned her attention back to Kanna, the dragonling had gotten a little too enthusiastic about her task. Splats of batter were strewn about the kitchen like a blender without its top on. Kanna hardly seemed to notice until Kobayashi stopped her. Thankfully there was still enough to fill the pan.

Within a short time, their cake was set into the oven ready to bake for a while. And in a longer period of time, the kitchen was also cleaned back to the spotless state Tohru always left it in. Kanna peeked into the oven to check the cake's progress. She might have sat in the kitchen and simply watched it the entire time if Kobayashi didn't distract her. With the longest item on their to-do list complete for now, they could move onto other things. Next up was a card.

After the success of her last creation, now currently on display at Kobayashi's desk at work after being the talk of the office for a day, the dragonling was excited to recreate her masterpiece. Kobayashi collected some of the needed supplies on the dining table as Kanna retrieved a special item from her bedroom: a well-loved container of rainbow crayons. Lately, she'd been showing a strong interest in drawing and her mom was doing her best to support her. Together they sat down in front of a blank piece of paper and got to work.

Kobayashi had expected to do some of the work, but Kanna quickly took the lead, recreating the lessons taught to her in school. Diligently, she folded the paper in half, careful to make sure the corners overlapped as perfectly as possible, and slowly creasing it right down the middle. On the front, she began sketching a portrait of Tohru: large fearsome wings, sharp carnivorous teeth, long dangerous claws, enraged and breathing fire. It was the picture of a spine-chilling monster, capable of starting armageddon! Or at least it was to Kanna. To Kobayashi it looked like a very rotund lizard with classic zigzag lines to represent flames and a messy color job. It was incredibly cute either way. In the background she included drawings of her favorite meals Tohru had prepared her, dishes, laundry, cleaning supplies, and even an appreciative looking Kanna and Kobayashi. She topped it all off by writing "Happy Maid's Day" in clean print.

"Looks very nice." Her mom complimented. "You must have been practicing your letters recently."

Kanna beamed back. She had been and she was happy it was noticeable.

That being said, she was still learning, so Kobayashi slid the card over to herself to handle the rest. "What should we write on the inside?"

Kanna leaned in, barely giving her mom room to write before humming thoughtfully. "Make it say that we really like Lady Tohru and that she's really good at doing maid things." Koabayshi started putting down Kanna's ideas as the child went on. "Also that Lady Tohru is very scary and strong and great at fighting and never shows anyone any mercy, especially not those who cross her!"

"Ab-so-lute-ly… mer-ci-less…" Kobayashi sounded out as she dotted her i's and crossed her t's, completely unperturbed by the contents. Once finished, Kanna looked it over and eventually nodded her approval like the chief editor of a hard-hitting publication house. They both signed the bottom with Kobayashi's small, neat handwriting right next to Kanna's large round letters.

With time still left on their cake timer, they continued to go about their preparations. From the walls, they hung paper chains and streamers from the ceilings. Kanna's wings were a little too big to maneuver through the apartment so she had to sit on Kobayashi's shoulders to reach. A banner went above the door frame. Kobayashi even put out a small vase of flowers she had stowed away out of sight. The human had considered blowing up some balloons as well, but between all the horns, claws, and teeth, she decided against it. It was a bad idea to startle a dragon. They were busy at work and everything was coming together nicely when they heard the timer ring.


A couple hours after she left, Tohru climbed her way back up the staircase outside of their home. Her draconic strength allowed her to carry her shopping bags in one hand, overpacked as they were with fresh produce for tonight's dinner: baked salmon, one of her personal favorites. Standing before the door, she fished her keys out of her pocket and stepped inside. She could barely take her shoes off before she was intercepted by a sudden embrace with its own draconic strength.

"K-Kanna?" she called out in surprise. The little one had wrapped her arms around her waist and was holding her tightly without any intention of letting her go. It was a fair bit more affectionate than she usually was. Tohru had to lift her grocery bags above her head to keep them out of danger. "What's gotten into you?"

"Here, let me help." Kobayshi came around the corner to offer.

Tohru breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she'd soon be free of Kanna's deathly hold. She was surprised when Kobayashi instead stole the grocery bags out of her hands and walked off with them without her permission. "Wh-? Hey!"

She was terribly confused. Her family was acting very strange and her confusion only grew as Kanna took her by the hand and pulled her further in the house. She caught a glimpse of Kobayashi unpacked the groceries in the kitchen on her way past. She wanted to protest against her mistress taking over her maidly duties, but it seemed like her whining would just fall on deaf ears today.

Kanna led her into the living room and pushed her to sit down on the couch, where she was immediately assaulted. The young girl had thrown a blanket over her and was now feverishly tucking her in on all sides, much like how she usually did for her, but with much more force. Around the same time, Kobayashi came out of the kitchen and gently placed a freshly brewed cup of tea in her lap. Once it was accepted, she even leaned it and pecked a small kiss onto her girlfriend's forehead. Tohru was being surrounded by affection on all sides. Completely flustered, the only thing she could do was stay in place, hide her blushing face in her hands, and allow herself to be taken prisoner in her own home. Unfortunately for her, her two admirers were only getting started.

Once she finally looked up from behind her hands, Tohru finally noticed the decorations scattered around the apartment. The room was painted with bright greens, golds, and reds. For a dragon who's never really been to a party before, it was a fascinating sight. And that wasn't all she saw. Her gaze wandered over to the coffee table in front of her. It was topped with a modest bouquet of flowers, a hand-drawn card, and a rather funny-looking cake. Kobayashi had done most of the icing, achieving only a slightly uneven result, but Kanna had done the rest. She decided to use all of the colors at her disposal, creating a jumbled rainbow of a mess. It was difficult to make sense of and even more difficult to wash off afterwards, Kanna's small hands were still lightly stained; but Tohru loved it all the same. Her hands slowly drafted down before being pressed against her chest happily.

Kobayashi and Kanna sat on either side of the table, watching her expectantly. They exchanged a quick nod and then both threw up their hands and simultaneously wished her a "Happy Maid's Day!" before descending into giggles. They had made sure to practice beforehand so they could nail it and judging by the look on Tohru's face, they had succeeded.

The dragon maid wore the biggest, toothiest grin Kobayashi had ever seen her give. It was clear she hadn't been expecting so much attention today. Kobayashi and Kanna made sure to keep their plans between themselves until today, but the sentimental reptile was overjoyed all the same. It took all she could just to keep from crying. Sensing this, Kobayashi hopped onto the couch next to her and slipped an arm around her shoulder. Tohru immediately took to it and buried her face in her chest. The force behind it knocked the breath out of her, but really, that was to be expected. Kanna indignantly squirmed her way in too, of course. She was never one to let herself be left out of the love. Together, the three of them shared a sappy, bone-crushing family hug.

"Thank you! I love you both too!"


A small while later, Kobayashi was once again busying herself in the kitchen. With Tohru being preoccupied for the time, the duty of preparing dinner fell on her shoulders tonight. Thankfully, the dragon maid had already done all of the planning and shopping. All she really had to do was put things together. It probably wasn't going to come out as well as Tohru's cooking, but she'd do her best. Dragons were easy to please anyways, so they'd probably love it no matter what and they always had cake for dessert.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that she had been joined by the dragon maid herself, stealthily slipping into the kitchen to check on her. Even with both Kanna and Kobayashi trying to keep her relaxing on the couch, she couldn't help but involve herself in the chores anyways. The best maid in the world, the one who most deserved a break, just couldn't take a day off.

Kobayashi shot her a disapproving look, letting her know she was about to be evicted. Tohru panicked, but before Kobayashi could shoo her away, she threw up her hands up in defense, pleading that "I'm just looking!"

With a leery glare, Kobayashi decided to let her stay for the time being. Her hands were covered in meat anyways. "Alright, alright, but just looking, ok? No touching."

Tohru held out her pinky, a gestured taught to her by Kanna from school, and assured her, "I promise"

Kobayashi half-laughed at the sight. A fire-breathing dragon probably didn't need to make pinky promises, but she appreciated the gesture all the same. She went back to cleaning the fish, cutting off the fat for a healthier meal.

Tohru peaked over her shoulder to watch. She seemed content with what she saw, but continued to hang around close by regardless. After a moment, she began shuffling her feet and looking timid until she finally spoke up. "Kanna said that setting up everything like this had been your idea?"

Somewhat surprised by the question, the human paused briefly before answering. "Yeah well, I just told her about the holiday and we decided to celebrate. Really everything afterwards was all her. You know how she's been looking for an excuse to bake a cake." Kobayashi explained.

Tohru nodded with a devious smile. "Aaaaand you helped her bake it?"

"Of course."

"And make the card? And put up decorations? Hm?" she continued to insist.

This time Tohru got a full snicker out of her. "I did, yes, but both of us worked on it together and that's the most credit I'll accept." she stated definitively.

Tohru giggled girlishly, finding delight in the idea that her mistress did something so special just for her~

Finishing up, Kobayashi rolled her eyes and turned away to wash her hands in the sink. "I can see you're in a good mood."

"I am!" she sang back with a smile. "Today has been wonderful. I'm so happy!"

"Oh yeah?" Koabayshi perked up. She put down the towel she'd used to dry her hands and stealthily slid a little closer to whisper into her girlfriend's ear. "Would you say, perhaps even in a good enough mood for other things too?" she suggested delicately. It wasn't a move Kobayashi made often, but if today was all about showing appreciation to her maid, then she couldn't think of many more efficient ways.

Tohru's breath hitched. She looked to her partner, staring wide-eyed. Kobayashi matched her gaze with a confident smirk and playful eyes. Once her head caught up to her heart, Tohru suddenly answered loudly with an enthusiastic "Yes!"

Kobayashi chuckled at her excitement in a way that made Tohru's chest leap. "After Kanna goes to bed then." came her teasing reply.

"Huh?" Tohru had been prepared to make good on that offer right now. She did not want to wait. She might have argued on if not for the small hand pulling timidly on her skirt. Having been most likely alerted by her previous shouting, Kanna had been made aware that Tohru was no longer on the couch and was determined to bring her back.

The older dragon had to cling to the wall to keep from being pulled away. "S-So later tonight?" she tried to confirm, desperately fighting against the youngling.

Having returned to her cooking, Kobayashi offered no assistance. Instead she smiled back coyly, "I'll look forward to it" and winked before watching Tohru be dragged away with an ecstatic expression on her face.