A/N: Hello again! So guess who's back with more recommendations :D? Before I get to that, I want to thank you for thanking me for writing this story lol. It's always nice to see that my readers are polite and kind. Now, let's keep working on getting this fandom active again. I know ya'll are there! Uni ends for me in two weeks, so if things become more active, I'll become more active, I'm just saying ;)
I'm in a much better place now, if it's any consolation :)
ALSO, MY EYEBROWS DON'T COUNT AS A RECOMMENDATION, FOR F'S SAKE LMAO. I'm not a meme, damn it (although, it'd be a pretty dank/cringey one).
Recommendation #1: "Danse Macabre by Angelofmusic46" An eerie, short, sweet and well-written fic about AusHun. My poor boo Liza :(
Recommendation #2: "Cigarette Smoke" by browsofglory" *Spasms uncontrollably because it's FrUk* It's beautiful.
Recommendation #3: This one is an author recommendation. Regardless, I've already read most of their stories. CodeVassie. This author is fantastic at characterization and writes some very lovely Spamano!
As always, feel free to PM me with your recommendations (still working through them/ waiting for the authors' permission!) I accept self-recommendations too! I am also accepting pairing requests for this story. Thus far, I've promised to include Dennor. Any others?
Enjoy and make sure that this fandom doesn't die! Support! Support! Support! Please don't get annoyed if you see me review every story on the update page. I'm determined to get things rolling.
Adieu, mon lovely cinnamon buns. (I got two hours of sleep last night, leave moi be).
Made to be a Maid: A Traitor in the Cafe?!
~Afternoon Shift~
Lovino's POV:
I was taking my break at - you guessed it- the front counter, when a certain bastard with a swaggering grin on his face walked up to me.
Antonio was wearing a bright red parka, his cheeks equally as red from the biting weather outside. His brown curls were crusted with snow, and even though he was shivering and absolutely despised the cold, nothing would stop him from visiting his precious 'tomato'.
Antonio grinned at my deadpan expression, bending over to rest both elbows onto the counter, his face falling into his hands as he beamed and waited for me to insult him.
"So," Antonio mused, his green eyes widening exponentially. "How was your day, honey?" he teased.
"Sweetie," I rolled my eyes. "You know how it is. These children-" I pointed to the various customers residing in the café. "-Can never be satisfied. They're always hungry."
Come to think of it, everyone's been acting quite oddly lately. Liza had everyone busy doing something in preparation for the Christmas party that we would be hosting in a few weeks' time. Although, hardly anyone was being remotely productive.
Even Liza herself was bummed out more than usual. Apparently, Roderich wasn't coming back for the holidays anymore as he had just been booked for a last-minute concert in Vienna. Tch! That fiddle-fuck really needed to get his shit together. He was making his poor, lunatic girlfriend lovesick. Any good boyfriend would ditch everything just to be spend time with their significant other. Oi, I'm just saying.
Okay, so maybe I'm just salty about Liza projecting her sadness onto me. If she thought that I was going to cosplay to make her feel better, then she had another thing coming. Either way, Liza was using this Christmas party as a convenient distraction. By ordering everyone around like a pan-happy drill sergeant and vowing to defeat Vlad's rival café, it was very easy for her to forget about how lonely she was truly feeling.
Heck, just today she had made me do more chores than I had done in my entire two years of working here. My hands were still partially frozen from scraping off Natalia's ice fingerprints on the windows outside. I swear to fuck, don't you dare even ask. You really don't want to know.
Oh, and lest we forget about how unhelpful the rest of the café's employees were being. Matthew was off today, so my only hope of bumming around and letting him do all the work for me was crushed. Alfred had been holing himself up in the kitchen, acting much quieter than usual. In retrospect, Ivan wasn't nearly as chummy as he normally was either. I'm going to take a wild shipping guess and assume that something not good must have happened between those two idiots.
The only normal people in the café were Francis and Arthur. It was honestly hilarious to watch their romance unfold. Don't get me wrong; Francis is an extraordinarily creepy (and hairy) bastard. But, it was still nonetheless amusing for me to watch him prey on someone else for once. Besides, Arthur must have at least been somewhat interested in the baguette deep-throater. The Briton's beet-red face was enough to prove this suspicion of mine.
Heh. Every day Arthur would come to the café to write his stories, and because of Francis's 'loving' presence, he would fail to produce anything remotely coherent. Nowadays, we actually talked whilst in class, and he trusted me enough to edit his work from time to time. It boggled my mind how many times Arthur would make the villain in his stories all somehow related back to a frog. Weird as fuck, am I right?
A tanned hand waved itself back and forth in front of my face. "Lovi?" Antonio questioned. "Are you spacing out again?"
"Charming bastard say what now?" I spluttered.
Antonio shook his head in disbelief. "You didn't get any sleep last night, did you?"
I looked down at the counter, avoiding eye contact. "No, I didn't," I sighed. "It's midterm season. What the hell did you expect?"
Antonio grabbed my right hand, clasping it between his still frozen hands. "I expect you to take better care of yourself," he chided. "I've never seen you look this tired."
On completely inconvenient cue, I yawned. "Things will get back to normal soon. Well, after exams are done anyways," I groaned. "Say, speaking of which, what are your plans for Christmas break?"
Antonio shrugged. "I live on the other side of the country. The trip back home isn't worth it for me given how short the holidays are. I'll probably just stay here with Francis and Gilbert like I usually do. After three years, this is the first time that I finally have a partner to spend it with~!" he exclaimed.
Antonio's smile faltered. "Oh, that's right. You're an exchange student… will you be going back to Italy?" he asked, manipulatively batting his eyelashes at me. Well, thankfully for him, he wouldn't have to persuade me to stay back over the break.
"No," I smirked. "Nonno always goes on a cruise over the holidays. The old fart gives Feli and I enough money throughout the year that Christmas is practically pointless for us to celebrate."
Antonio grinned from ear to ear. "The perks of being rich, si?"
I rolled my eyes. "Oh please," I scoffed. "You're just glad that I'll be spending the break with you."
"Is that such a bad thing?" Antonio moped. "Feli told me that you spent Christmas alone last year."
"I wasn't about to be a third wheel!" I protested.
Antonio crouched down closer so that our faces were only mere inches apart. "Well, now you won't have to be. You have me, a comfy bed, and all the hugs and kisses in the world."
"Was that meant to be romantic?" I snorted.
Antonio and I both jumped a little when Mei giggled and dangled a mistletoe over our heads. "Kiss and make every fangirl's dreams come true~!" she trilled.
I raised a hand to swat at the mistletoe. Unfortunately, Antonio grabbed the mistletoe for himself, purposefully dangling it over my head. He playfully puckered his lips at me, his green eyes bright with mirth.
"One kiss?" Antonio mused. "Por favor?"
"Oh fine!" I snapped. "Just make it quick."
Antonio crushed his lips against mine, using his other hand to rake his fingers through my hair. Several customers in the café erupted with a series of cheers and inappropriately profane comments, the latter of which were mostly from Francis.
Mei, who was thankfully hobbit-sized in height, hopped up and down on the balls of her tiny feet, struggling to capture the perfect picture of our kiss.
This was the one time that I would ever willingly let my picture be taken. It was a picture that I would want to keep for the rest of my life. I've had many lovers before, sure, but Antonio was the first person whom I've actually had feelings for.
Liza's POV:
Oh boy, was I ever bummed. So not cool! Now I wasn't even sure if I would be able to see Roderich over the holidays. Tsk! Whatever! Life went on, and I still had a café/ yaoi fan group to run. It's not like I missed that sour puss that much anyways. No! Not at all! Hahaha! Happy place! Happy place!
Yaoi…Lovino and Antonio licking a juicy tomato together…kawaii ear nips…
Ah…much better…
I would just have to focus my efforts into showing up Vlad's butthole café. Regardless, I didn't need to prove anything to him. In our program, I was the leading student business by a wide margin. And to think that I was the only non-senior allowed to run her own business too! Usually it was only those graduating who were able to test out their business plan, but I had been able to start mine halfway into my sophomore year.
No matter, I still had a lot to do in preparation for our own Christmas party. Unlike Vlad, I didn't need to rely on cosplay to spice things up. One thing about the LGBTQ community was that they were some of the realest people to be around. They were all so smart, fun, and beautifully different in their own unique way. I could literally spend hours talking about how wonderful and eye-opening they were. This café inspired meaningful conversation and a place to be your true self. Putting on a mask wasn't fun; it was taking off the societal masks and facades that allowed people to truly enjoy themselves.
Sorry, I got on a bit of a tangent there, didn't I? I just feel so strongly about love, kindness, and unconditional acceptance. Heck, it was these very beliefs that had inspired this café in the first place! Vlad's competition didn't just challenge my ability to run a successful business; it was a challenge as to whether or not these values could be coincided with making money.
But, as hard as this may be for Vlad to wrap his dumbass head around, my customers' enjoyment and satisfaction would always be my top priority. Although, my focus on quality customer experience must have worked, as the café continues to grow in prestige and reputation. People come here because they can feel happy, and their happiness is my pride and joy. Perhaps I was going all out with this Christmas party, but I wouldn't stop until the love in this café prevailed!
I snapped out of my thoughts when several customers were giving me weird stares. I must have been physically miming my train of thought again. One time, I had been mistaken for pretending to be Martin Luther King. Eheh. I have a tendency to get worked up over the simplest of things…
I began to walk around the café, inspecting how my employees were faring with the tasks that I had given to them. Ludwig and Feliciano were experimenting with new cupcake flavours in the kitchen while Alfred gratefully acted as their taste-tester. Lovino and Antonio were making out in a booth, but I decided to let this infraction slide as it served as entertainment for the rest of us. Mei was doing a great job at snapping kawaii photos for us to hang on the café's walls. Kiku was organizing our next yaoi meeting in between studying for his chemistry midterm. Francis, although flirting with an adorably stuttering Arthur, was busy sketching out designs for the new work uniforms that I had paid him to create. All in all, the café was functioning perfectly.
Just when I thought that there was nothing to worry about, a small figure to my right crept past me. He was wearing a burgundy parka that hid most of his face. He was thin, and if I squinted close enough, you could see that he was trembling. From the corner of my eye, I watched him creep over to the front counter. What he did next was enough for me to ring the alarm bells, or rather, fangirls.
The boy pulled out a ziplock baggy from his parka, slipping several of the free sample cupcakes on display into it. I knew it! That bastard Vlad had sent a spy! Oh hell to the no! Ludwig and Feli had worked far too hard to have their recipe be stolen so easily! Not on my psychotic watch!
I stormed over to the boy, ripping off his hood with a clawed hand. Wide blue eyes pleaded for mercy, his lips trembling as he struggled to form a sentence. Everything happened in slow motion as I glared down at him, grinning devilishly.
The boy appeared to be no older than fifteen. He must have been a student enrolled in the young and gifted program here at the University. The scruff of blond hair on top of his head reminded me of a baby bird. Despite his cuteness, I held absolutely no sympathy for one of Vlad's minions.
"What do we have here?" I growled in a suspiciously cheerful tone. "A spy?"
The boy repeatedly shook his head back and forth, his Adam's apple bobbing as he took a large gulp.
"N-n-no! I-I-I…j-just…"
I didn't let him finish his sentence. I snatched the bag from his hand, holding it up to the air. "You're my bitch now!" I cackled, cupping both hands over my mouth to call out to Mei. "That's what you get for trying to steal from me!"
The boy's face paled considerably. He began to stammer nonsensically in another language that I didn't understand.
"MEI! CODE NOSEBLEED! I REPEAT! CODE NOSEBLEED! LOCK IT UP!"
Mei shot up from her seat, scrambling to pull down the blinds of every surrounding window. Kiku walked over to the front door, solemnly standing guard. Nobody was to leave the café until I had coerced every last bit of information out of this boy.
Customers began to protest in confusion, whereas the employees simply expressed their annoyance at my predictable hair-brained scheme.
"What the fuck is going on?" Lovino shouted from the other end of the café.
Ludwig, Feliciano, and Alfred all came out from the kitchen, matching looks of dread and apprehension plastered on their faces.
"Yo, Liza! What's got ya all worked up?" Alfred groaned.
I grabbed onto the mysterious boy's shoulders, purposefully pressing my nails into the padding of his jacket as I spun him around for everyone to see.
"We've got a rat to interrogate!" I bellowed.
Every single one of my employees' faces darkened. There was one thing that we all hated, and that was Vlad and anyone who worked for him.
…
Turns out that the boy's name was Raivis. Or at least that's what I think that his name was. It was hard to understand him when he was constantly sobbing and stammering like his scrawny life depended on it.
As of now, we had tied up Raivis to a chair. Thankfully, Ludwig had been resourceful enough to find some spare rope in the backroom. It took everything in my willpower to prevent my nose from spontaneously gushing out blood. Raivis just looked so helpless and cute! No Liza, God damn it! He's the enemy! Focus!
Employees and customers alike had gathered around Raivis's trembling form. He shyly looked down at the ground, refusing to meet my gaze.
"So, Raivis," I mused. "Do you want to tell me why Vlad sent you here?"
"You go girl!" Alfred hollered. "Give the twerp the justice that he deserves!"
This was the most energy that Alfred had shown all week.
Arthur growled, covering his ears as he had been standing right next to Alfred during his outburst. "You don't have to shout like a bloody ape! The entire African continent can hear you!"
"HAHAHA! YOU REALLY THINK SO?" Alfred bellowed (again), causing Raivis to curl up into a ball as much as his rope confinement would allow him to.
Arthur opened his mouth in retort, but Francis placed an arm on the Briton's shoulder, shaking his head. Arthur angrily crossed his arms, but chose not to say anything.
"Oi! Is this kid going to talk or what?" Lovino rolled his eyes.
Antonio wrapped an arm around Lovino's waist, cooing about how cool and stoic his 'precious tomato' looked.
"Fratello!" Feliciano scolded. "Just look at the poor bambino. He looks terrified, ve. We should cheer him up, si?"
Feliciano reached into his cooking apron to pull out a chocolate chip cookie, bringing the treat to Raivis's trembling lips. I licked my own lips in anticipation, much to the disgruntlement of everyone around me save for Mei and Kiku.
"Come now," Feliciano cooed. "No need to be so shy! I promise you that this cookie is very yummy. All you have to do is tell us why you came here~!"
Raivis whimpered. "I-I-I…can't."
Feliciano pouted his lips. "But, don't you want to eat this cookie?"
Raivis blushed. "I…do…"
My vision blacked out.
*We briefly pause this chapter as Liza is currently experiencing kawaii overload. *
"Then tell us why the hell you came here!" Lovino snapped, losing his patience.
Raivis stuck up his nose to the air, turning his head away from Lovino. "I can't," he stated again, this time more firmly.
"Well fuck your cookie!" Lovino proceeded to slap the cookie out of Feliciano's hand.
Feliciano sighed, stepping back as his plan of bribing Raivis with food had failed.
Raivis's eyes watered as he looked down at the now shattered cookie.
"Look," I started. "If you tell me everything that you know about Vlad's upcoming plans, I'll let you go without any repercussions."
Ugh, just saying that asshole's name made me feel sick to my stomach.
Raivis remained silent.
Oh, it's on…
The boy had left me with no choice…
"Ludwig," I groaned. "Do your thing."
Ludwig's combat boots clacked against the ground as he stepped forward to have a crack at breaking Raivis's spirit. The blond-haired German paced in front of Raivis, firmly slapping a wooden baking spoon into the palm of his hand every now and then.
Ludwig marched with the calculated prowess of a soldier, and judging by Raivis's increased panting, the boy was scared shitless.
"Listen up, you little schiesse!" Ludwig snarled. "I'm going to ask you a question and you're going to answer me right back! Do I make myself clear?!"
"Y-yes…sir?" Raivis stuttered.
"Oh Luddy," Feliciano swooned. "You know how much I love it when you become assertive."
Lovino pretended to gag.
I blinked spots out of my eyes when Kiku none-too-discreetly snapped a photo of the flabbergasted German.
Ludwig flushed a faint pink despite maintaining the hard-ass expression on his face.
"Feli, not now," Ludwig muttered before turning to look at Raivis again. "YOU!"
Raivis squeaked in response.
"WHY DID YOU COME HERE?!" Ludwig bent down so that his face was mere inches away from Raivis's.
"I…c-c-c-c-c-can't say!"
"YOU SEE THIS SPOON IN MY HAND?"
"Y-yes?"
"GOOD! NOW, DON'T GIVE ME A REASON TO USE IT! IT'LL BE IN YOUR BEST INTEREST TO BE HONEST WITH ME, JA?"
Cue Raivis bursting out into tears; again.
"CRY ALL YOU WANT! I HOLD NO SYMPATHY FOR LIARS AND THIEVES LIKE YOU!"
I tugged on Ludwig's forearm. "That's quite enough," I whispered. "You did your job well, potato trooper. Allow me to do my thing."
Ludwig nodded his head, stepping away as I took back the reigns of this interrogation. Ludwig's job had been to break down the morale of our interrogee. It was now my turn to finish things off with sweet, sweet vengeance!
"Hello again," I grinned, bending down to crouch in front of Raivis.
I then pulled out my phone, turning on the flash option. "Still don't want to talk?"
I took Raivis's silence as my answer.
"That's fine by me!" I exclaimed. "Mei?"
"Yes?!"
"Get me a set of measuring tape!"
Mei left the crowd in a hurry.
I bent down to whisper into Raivis's quickly reddening ears. "You're going to make such a beautiful maid," I teased. "Once I'm done with your makeover, I'll make sure to give you the proper photo shoot that your cuteness deserves."
"N-no!"
"Oh yes!" I cackled. "You'll become quite the star here! And then-"
I faltered when Ivan of all people stepped forward from the crowd.
"Raivis?" Ivan questioned. "What are you doing here?"
"Ivan?!" I squeaked. "You know Raivis?!"
Ivan nodded his head. "Da, he's my little cousin."
Ivan politely grabbed my wrist, pulling me to the side. He then turned around to look at Raivis. "Are you causing trouble again?" he leered. "Did Eduard put you up to this?"
Raivis trembled even more, if possible. "I'm sorry!" he wailed. "W-we were paid!"
"To do what?" Ivan sighed, walking forward so that he towered over Raivis.
Raivis cocked his head in the direction of the front door. "Eduard hacked into the camera system. I was supposed to steal some cupcakes and bring them back to Vlad!"
It was amazing how easily Raivis had succumbed to Ivan's questioning. Then again, Ivan was one terrifying yandere.
Ivan clapped his hands together, causing everyone in the entire café to flinch. I'm almost positive that Raivis wet his pants. "Alright! Because you're being so honest, I won't tell your mother. And I'm sure that Elizabeta won't press charges, da?"
I weakly nodded my head.
"Good~!" Ivan beamed. "Now I want you to apologize and promise not to do something so vile and disgusting ever again~!"
Raivis nodded his head enough times to sufficiently break his neck. "Y-yes…big cousin I-Ivan sir!"
…
Alfred's POV:
The crowd began to disperse, as Liza and Mei had finally decided to end the café's lockdown. Raivis was quick to scurry away, but not before having another private chat with Ivan, who didn't appear to be all that happy with the behaviour of his younger cousin. Serves that little rat right, don't ya think? Heck, if it were up to me, the kid wouldn't have gotten off so easily! Justice had wrongfully been ignored today; I was beyond irked.
Or perhaps my irksome mood had a lot to do with the fact that I was nervous. I was waiting to catch Ivan's eye, but he was busy helping the other workers move the tables back into place. Ever since he had snapped at me last week, things have been extremely awkward between us. He avoided speaking to me entirely, and rarely came to the café if I was scheduled in to work. To put things into perspective, Ivan only used to come to the café when he knew for a fact that I would be working.
Ivan usually took extreme pleasure in bugging me. I don't know why I felt the need to do this, but I wanted to make sure that he was okay. I mean, don't me wrong! I can't stand the guy! But that doesn't mean that I don't care about him. I felt my face heat up for whatever inconvenient reason, but I supressed these nerves by tightly balling my fists together.
From the other side of the café, I watched Ivan carry the last table back into place. When he waved goodbye to Liza, I took this as my opportunity to intervene. I stumbled forward, rushing over to stand in front of Ivan.
"Hey!" I panted. "I just wanted to thank you for catching that thief!"
Ivan stopped before me, his violet eyes widening in a frightened expression that I had never seen on his face before. He just looked so vulnerable and foreign to me. If I didn't despise the guy, my heart would have broken into two. Also, my heart was so not beating at a mile a minute right now. No! Of course not! Hahahahaha!
"That thief is still my cousin, Alfred," Ivan sighed.
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Who was this new Ivan and what did he do with the old one? The Ivan I knew was always smiling and happy. He wasn't nearly as serious and forlorn as this…stranger.
I nervously rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, well, thanks again! You really saved the cooks here! Feli and Ludwig have been working on that cupcake recipe for several months now. Hahaha! I can't imagine having to taste test for them all over again. Last time, I almost went into cardiac arrest from the sugar overload."
Ivan smirked at me, albeit faintly. "You talk too much. I almost forgot about how annoying you are."
I grit my teeth together. "Well then why don't you come here more often?" I retorted, looking up at the Commie bastard with an angry scowl on my face. "This place just isn't the same without your constant complaining."
Ivan laughed. "Kolkolkol. I've been busy with a lot of school work lately."
My chest deflated. "Oh, well, um…good luck on your assignments then."
"Spasibo." Ivan reached down to 'fondly' pat my head, something that I had always hated him for doing. Agh! He was just so goddamned patronizing! It made my blood boil.
I closed my eyes, only to realize that Ivan had taken back his hand. He appeared to be very conflicted about something.
Out of nowhere, Ivan abruptly surged forward, skirting around me with ease. "I forgot that I have somewhere else to be," he said in a clipped tone. "I have to go now!"
"Ivan wait!" I called out.
Ivan froze, his back still turned to me. "Da?"
I swallowed heavily. "We're still friends…right?"
"Da," Ivan whispered. "Friends."
To be continued…