Author's note: Heya, peeps!
Just to let you know, requests are always open! Especially now, when ideas for one-shots are running a bit dry.
Speaking of which, this one-shot is dedicated to Fanficlover16000 and Marichat4ever! Hope you enjoy it!
Also, a new one-shot (that's not by me) just dropped! Go read and review 'Pikachu's Dare' by Carson55! It's cute and fun, and might make you nostalgic for the good ol' days of simple fanfiction!
On that note, peeps, feel free to write one-shots of your own, too! Even if the plots are cliché, that's okay! This fandom's even lacking in cliché stories, so the more, the merrier, I say!
Right, on with the one-shot!
My Fair Maiden
"Isn't this a bit over the top?" Ash asked, cringing with a red face.
Pikachu, who was pulling a similar face, had to agree. "(Yeah, we kinda look ridiculous...)" he muttered, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
"(A little...)" Turtwig agreed just as awkwardly. "(Glad I didn't fit in any of the dresses...)"
"(Aheh, yeah, lucky you...)"
When the group had first entered the Mountain Hut Maid Café - a place in the middle of the mountains that was famous for its farm fresh miltank milk - none of them had been expecting this. One of the maids, Autumn, was currently learning pokémon tips from Brock, so the group had agreed to help the other two, Spring and Summer, with their influx of customers.
Unfortunately, they had a strict code of 'all helpers at the café must wear a uniform, including pokémon'. While Pikachu normally wouldn't have an issue with this, having to wear a maid outfit was making him start to regret offering to help...
... Especially since Chimchar, Buizel and Staravia had outright refused and gone back in their pokéballs. Croagunk, Sudowoodo and Happiny sadly got a pass, since they were with Brock...
Ugh, Pikachu couldn't bring himself to look at the other members of their group right now. Just Turtwig seeing him was bad enough...
Spring smiled apologetically at Ash. "I'm sorry, but that's all we've got..." she replied.
Summer winked and nudged Ash with her elbow. "Don't worry about it," she reassured. "You look great!"
"I don't know about that..." Ash replied.
"Well, I love it!" Dawn said gleefully, holding the brim of her skirt with one hand, while balancing a tray on the other. It had two glasses of water - which were free for customers - sitting on it. "It's so me!"
"Yeah, it is..." Ash heaved a sigh. "Maaaan... and I thought I was done with cross-dressing..."
Dawn blinked at him, looking perplexed. "... Eh?"
Suddenly, the door opened, and two customers walked in. One of which was wearing glasses, and the other of which had a picture of a girl's face stretched across his wide shirt.
"We're baaaack!" they said, though it was probably the first time they'd been here. Maybe. That was just how this place worked, it seemed.
... Actually, now that Pikachu looked at it, wasn't that face on the shirt that blue-haired coordinator from one of Dawn's magazines? What was her name? Marina, or something? Well, whatever.
Ash inhaled deeply through his nostrils, straightening his posture. "Alright, well," he said, "if that's how it's gonna be..." He grabbed the tray out of Dawn's hands, making her yelp in surprise. "I'll show 'em some real service!" He turned to the customers in a dramatic fashion. "Welcome home!"
Figuring he'd better take a leaf from his trainer's book, Pikachu joined in. "(Y-Yeah! Welcome home!)" he cried.
"(Welcome home!)" Turtwig added.
The two customers yelped in shock and horror, probably not only because of Ash's over-enthusiasm. Embarrassment immediately washed over Pikachu and he wanted to cover his face in shame.
Why had he agreed to this...?
Once the customers had been seated - now looking sad and awkward, rather than shocked and horrified, which wasn't much of an improvement - Pikachu heaved a sigh. Spring and Summer had said it was rush hour, right? So did that mean he'd have to put up with this for a whole hour? Oh, the agony...
"(Good job with those customers!)" a voice said. He looked up to see Buneary hopping towards him, also in a maid dress. She stopped to beam at him. "(You tried really hard, huh?)"
He smiled sheepishly at her. "(Yeah, I guess so,)" he replied. He glanced down at his own maid dress. "(... I look ridiculous in this.)"
He looked back up to see her inspecting it, a thoughtful paw on her chin. "(... Hmm...)" She paused a long moment. Eventually, she beamed again. "(Yep, you look better in manly clothes!)"
His ears perked up. "(You think so?)"
"(Oh, definitely! It suits Pachirisu... and it even suits Piplup...)" She stopped to snicker to herself. Coughing once, she continued. "(... But it doesn't really suit you.)"
He allowed himself a small smile. "(Oh, well... thanks.)"
"(You'd look much cooler in a butler outfit~)"
"(Yeah?)"
"(Yep! Pity they don't have any.)"
He chuckled. "(Yeah...)"
Giggling, she twirled and gave him a wink. "(How about me? Do I suit being a maid?)"
His smile turned sheepish again. "(Aheh... of course you do.)"
He gave her a once-over, seeing how the maid dress perfectly fit her delicate frame, how well the black and white matched the brown and cream of her fur, and how feminine the bow and head piece were. Yep, they suited her far too well.
"(Really~?)" She curtsied. "(Welcome home, master!)"
He froze. "(M... Master?)"
"(Yeah, that's the idea behind the maid café, right? To make the customers feel like they're living in a mansion with lots of lovely maids~!)" She twirled and curtsied again. "(Welcome home, master!)"
... Oh dear lord, he could feel his face burning.
Alright, maybe there was some credence to this maid café thing, after all. He was starting to see why people might like it so much...
Trying really, really hard not to picture Buneary as his personal maid, he spun on the spot, facing away from her. "(Uh, yeah! Anyway! Better get back to work!)"
"Welcome home!" Dawn said at the door.
"Yeah, welcome home!" Ash added, causing more shrieks of fright from the customers.
"Maybe he shouldn't work the door..." Spring said with an awkward smile, as she fidgeted with one of her dark purple ponytails.
Summer laughed. "Yeah, maybe!" she replied, her curly light purple hair bouncing along with her shoulders. "Don't want him scaring off the customers!"
Pikachu chuckled as he passed, carrying a tray with a slice of strawberry cake - made from farm fresh miltank milk, of course - to table one. On his way, he passed by Ambipom, who was carrying four trays, one per paw and tail hand. One had a cup of tea, one had a chocolate cake and a cup of hot chocolate, one had two glasses of milk, and one had two paper cups of soft serve ice cream. All four were perfectly balanced as she headed for table five.
He also saw Piplup and Pachirisu kneeling on tables three and four, wiping down the tablecloths for the next set of customers to use. Turtwig passed by them, carrying a tray on his head with a cup of coffee to table two.
Pikachu smiled. Everyone was working rather hard, it seemed.
With a sudden jingle, he heard the door open.
"(Welcome home~!)" Buneary called out, hopping past him to greet the customers.
"Aww, how cute!" one of them said. "A buneary maid!"
She curtsied, then indicated into the café. "(Can I show you to a table?)"
Pikachu blinked. Dang, he'd caught himself staring again. He'd been doing that for the past ten minutes now, whenever he'd caught a glimpse of her in the hustle and bustle. He tried to shake it off and get back to work.
Taking a couple more steps, he found himself turning around to look at her again.
Argh, darn it!
... Okay, he had to admit, she did look really good in that maid dress. The more he looked, the more convinced he was that she looked quite pretty in it. Far, far better than he probably looked.
The funny thing was, it wasn't like it was the first time she'd worn nice clothes that suited her. There was the cheerleader outfit, and there'd been that dress she'd borrowed from the steamboat. So why was this different?
... Well... maybe the 'personal maid' thing from earlier had gotten into his head. Either way, he was seeing her in a bit of a different light, and he didn't know quite how to feel about that. Had she always been this pretty?
"Uh... my cake, please?" a voice nearby asked.
Pikachu snapped out of his daydream and looked over at table one. Sitting there was a customer with a light frown on his face, looking directly at him.
He felt his face warm as he tried to smile. "(Oh yes! S-Sorry!)" he replied, hurrying over. "(Coming!)"
As Pikachu began wiping down table two, he glanced up at the clock. Okay, three quarters of an hour had gone by. That meant only another fifteen minutes to go. He heaved a sigh. Man, being a maid was hard work...
It had been kind of rewarding, though. Still, who knew a café in the middle of the mountains would get so busy? Their miltank milk was tasty, but did people really come from all around to try it out?
He heard the front door jingle. "I'm back~" a masculine voice said in a melodic singsong.
"Welcome home!" Spring replied. "Can I show you to a table?"
"Yeah, sure thing~"
Not looking up, Pikachu continued wiping down table two. Hearing the chair scrape the floor nearby, he figured that the guy had probably been seated at table three.
"I'm a little busy," Spring said, "so I'll get one of our other maids to take your order. One moment, please."
"Take your time~" the customer replied.
Still not looking up, Pikachu inspected his work. Okay, nope, the table wasn't quite up to the café's clean standard yet. Huffing, he wiped it down some more.
"(Hi! Welcome home!)" he heard Buneary say.
His head snapped up. Across from him, she was standing on top of table three, in front of a teenager with long curly purple hair that was swept to one side, and a rather gaudy outfit. Next to him, sitting on the table, was a pikachu.
Pikachu looked over this other pikachu, who seemed to have a sort of hairstyle. There was a messy tuft of fur on top of his head, and there were more tufts dangling down the sides of his face.
"(What can I get you?)" Buneary continued, curtsying.
Briefly flicking one of these tufts, the pikachu smirked at Buneary. "(Well!)" he replied. "(A cute buneary maid!)" His smirk widened. "(Mind calling me 'master'? It'll make me feel more at home.)"
Pikachu felt a spark of irritation at the audacity.
Buneary put a paw to her mouth in surprise. "(Oh! Well, Spring did say the customer is always right, so...)" She curtsied again. "(Welcome home, master!)"
Pikachu felt something stab him in the heart, which only increased his irritation.
"(Nice, nice. Alright then, cutie. A round of coffee for me and Kieran here.)" He indicated his trainer, who had his face buried in a music magazine. "(By the way...)" He rested his chin in his paw, leaning the elbow against his leg. "(Name's Pepper. 'Cause I'm red-hot, like a chilli pepper!)" He winked, throwing her a finger gun motion with his other paw.
"(Oh, I see!)" Buneary smiled a little awkwardly. "(Nice to meet you, Mr. Pepper!)"
"(Master Pepper.)"
"(Sorry. Master Pepper!)"
Something flared in Pikachu's chest. Why, the nerve of that guy! How dare he say such a thing! How dare he make her say such a thing! Burning with anger, he could feel himself wringing the cleaning cloth between his paws.
"(And your name?)"
"(I go by 'Buneary' these days.)"
"(Huh, pity. A cutie like you deserves a better name than that.)" He smirked. "(If you were my maid, I'd be sure to give you a cute name.)"
"(Oh!)" She giggled sheepishly. "(Thank you!)"
Part of Pikachu pictured the cleaning cloth being Pepper's neck, and he twisted harder.
Once Pikachu had finished cleaning table two, he trudged back to the counter to put away the dirty cloth. On the way, he passed by Piplup and Pachirisu.
"(Say, Piplup,)" Pachirisu said, carrying a tray with a slice of strawberry cake and a glass of milk to table five, "(why is there a Spring, a Summer and an Autumn, but no Winter?)"
"(Less talking, more serving!)" Piplup barked back. Turning away, he carried his tray of two cups of tea to table one. He paused a moment. "(... Though that is a very good question.)" Shaking his head, he went on his way.
Mostly ignoring them, Pikachu walked over to Summer, who was handing a soft serve ice cream in a wafer cone to a customer. Thanking her, the customer headed towards the front door, clearly not sticking around.
Pikachu held up the cleaning cloth for Summer. "(Here you go,)" he said.
She beamed down at him. "Oh, thanks, little guy!" she replied. Briefly kneeling down, she took it from him. "Keep up the good work!" She winked. "Only about ten minutes to go, before your shift's over!"
He tried to smile, but he somehow couldn't dredge up much enthusiasm. "(Yay...)"
Ambipom suddenly bounded over. With one of her tail hands, she pointed to the cakes. "(Got an order!)" she said. She lifted up two fingers on her second tail hand. "(Two of 'em!)"
"Oh, an order for two cakes?" Summer replied. "Alright, show me which ones!"
The two walked off towards the display case, where the cakes were being kept.
Averting his gaze, Pikachu caught sight of Spring pouring two cups of coffee. When she was done, she placed them on a tray, picked up the tray and smiled downwards.
"All ready," she said, kneeling down.
"(Thanks!)" Buneary's voice replied.
Pikachu's head snapped down to see her walk around the counter, the tray in her paws.
Remembering who that coffee was for, his head snapped in the direction of table three, where Pepper was sitting with his trainer, Kieran.
His chest flared. If Buneary took that coffee over there, then that lout would shamelessly flirt with her again. He'd insist on her calling him 'master', utterly degrading her and... and other horrible things like that!
He felt his feet carry him forward, walking until he blocked Buneary's path. Upon seeing him, her eyes widened in surprise.
"(Oh!)" she said. "(Hey, Pikachu.)"
It was in that moment that he realised how tense his face muscles felt. So as not to worry Buneary, he forced them to relax into a smile.
"(Hey,)" he replied. "(I can take that for you, if you want.)"
"(Huh? What for?)"
He floundered a bit at that. "(Just... thought I'd be nice. Give you a little break, since our shift's almost over, and... and customers are dying down a bit.)"
"(Oh! Well...)" She ducked her reddening face down slightly. "(Sure... if you want. Thanks.)"
He smiled brighter. "(No problem!)"
Taking the tray from her, he turned on his heel.
"(... Wait! Do you know who it's for?)"
Now that she couldn't see his face, his smile tightened painfully. "(Oh, I know. Don't worry.)" He continued walking, past table four in the middle of the room, and heading directly for table three in the corner. When he finally reached it, he held up the tray. "(Here you are, Mr. Kieran!)"
Kieran stopped reading his music magazine to look down at him. He smiled. "Thanks, little gal~" he replied in his singsong voice.
Pikachu's eyebrow twitched, but he said nothing. It wasn't like the guy would understand him, anyway. He continued smiling as Kieran put down the magazine and took the tray.
"(Huh?)" Pepper asked, leaning over the side of the table. "(Hey, you're not the maid from before.)"
Pikachu's grin painfully stretched across his face. "(She was busy with other customers, I'm afraid,)" he replied.
Pepper clicked his tongue. "(Dang. Shame.)" He looked Pikachu over and blinked. "(... Wait, aren't you a guy?)"
Pikachu beamed brighter. "(My, how observant, Master Salt! Yes! I am!)"
Pepper frowned slightly. "(Hey, man. It's Pepper.)"
Pikachu's paw flew to his mouth in surprise. "(Oh!)" He curtsied, his smile never leaving. "(I'm terribly sorry, Master Salt. My mistake!)" Standing up again, he waved. "(Well, enjoy your coffee~!)"
Before Pepper could reply, Pikachu turned on his heel and walked away from the table. Pride swelling in his chest, he felt a genuine smile tug at his lips, as well as a new spring in his step.
Finally, the hour was over. Pikachu couldn't help but sigh in relief as he cleaned the floor near table five. Sure, the day had been rewarding, but he wasn't in a rush to ever do this again.
Glancing up, he saw Pachirisu cleaning the floor near table four. On top of table two, Ambipom was passing empty glasses down to Piplup with her tail hands. while Buneary chatted to them both.
"(It kinda felt like he was flirting with me,)" she said with a sheepish smile. "(It was a little awkward, but also kinda nice.)"
Pikachu's ear pricked at this.
Ambipom chuckled. "(Lucky!)" she replied. "(I didn't get flirted with.)"
"(Maybe he liked you,)" Piplup said to Buneary.
"(Naw,)" she replied with a giggle, "(he was just having some fun.)"
Pikachu felt himself deflate. So she hadn't minded it? In that case, maybe he'd kicked up a fuss over nothing.
He thought back over his spiteful act - though not too spiteful, since he'd still wanted to be a good maid - and suddenly realised how childishly he'd been acting. He felt his face warm a little in shame.
"(So did you see him again?)" Piplup asked.
"(Nah,)" Buneary replied. "(Pikachu took over my order, so I didn't see Master Pepper again. Maybe he left soon after.)"
Everyone looked at her in surprise, while Ambipom snorted in amusement. "(Master Pepper?)" she asked.
Buneary's face reddened. Lifting her maid apron, she covered her face with it. "(Whoops. H-He asked me to call him 'master', so...)"
Ambipom barked out a laugh. "(Oh my~!)" Everyone else laughed along.
Pikachu felt a stab of anger and frowned. After a moment, he paused. Wait, why was he angry? Buneary hadn't seemed to mind the flirting, other than feeling a little awkward. Was he really annoyed by Pepper disrespecting her?
"(Sounds like he liked you, to me!)" Pachirisu called over.
"(What species was he, anyway?)" Piplup asked.
"(... A pikachu,)" Buneary mumbled, her face still buried in her apron.
The group laughed at her again.
"(Oh jeez...)" Ambipom replied.
Huffing, Pikachu continued wiping the floor. Just why was he angry? Why had he taken Buneary's order, and why had he chosen to spite Pepper? Was it just because that guy was a pikachu? No, that couldn't be right. Why would he feel any sort of rivalry?
... Then a memory suddenly surfaced.
Buneary curtsied. "(Welcome home, master!)" she said.
Pikachu froze. "(M... Master?)" he asked.
"(Yeah, that's the idea behind the maid café, right? To make the customers feel like they're living in a mansion with lots of lovely maids~!)" She twirled and curtsied again. "(Welcome home, master!)"
Pikachu felt his heart pounding, warming his entire chest. As he realised why, he froze, his eyes widening in horror and the cloth dropping from his paws.
He'd... been angry because...
... Because he'd wanted to be the only one she called 'master'.
His face exploded in heat, and his shame skyrocketed to unbelievable levels. Groaning in utter disbelief at himself, he covered his face with his paws. After a moment, he planted the whole thing against the dirty cloth on the floor, not wanting to move for a while.
"(Huh?)" Pachirisu asked. "(... Hey... you okay, Pikachu?)"
"(... Fine...)" he croaked in reply.
How... very embarrassing...
The End