Chapter Text
“You know I love you,” Ivan put a hand on Mizi’s shoulder, “But I’m gay, there’s no reason for me to go to a maid cafe.”
Mizi frowned at her childhood friend. She’d been trying to work up the courage to go to this cafe for months. It started when she stumbled across one of their posts online. It was a video where three of the staff did ‘magical girl’ changes into their working uniforms. The concept was cute enough but what really drew Mizi in was the last girl.
She had shoulder length black hair initially hidden by a ballcap. Her eyes were an enchanting shade of purple that reminded Mizi of hyacinths. Her transition started with a ballcap, orange cardigan over a powder blue t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. After a spin it cut to her wearing an intricate all white lolita style maid outfit. The fills and bows seemes completely at odds with her uninterested gaze and understated personal sense of style.
Naturally, Mizi followed the account instantly. She basically stalked the page trying to find more videos of that specific maid. She was able to discover that she was called Maid Lilly, one of the senior most staff at the cafe. The comments under her videos were filled with people discussing Maid Lilly’s smile, a rarity that most never saw first hand. It seemed to be a sort of badge of honor to have been one of the select few Lily smiled at.
Mizi wanted to be one of those few. She wanted it so badly that she was currently dragging her very unenthusiastic best friend along as moral support. Ivan was good natured and a little bit of a pushover when it came to people he cared about. Mizi was prone to flights of fancy so this worked out.
“They have two butlers too!” Mizi smiled, tightening her grip on Ivan’s hand in case he tried to flee before she could convince him. It was unnecessary, as soon as she mentioned the butlers he pursed his lips and averted his gaze. A sign that he was folding to whatever Mizi was demanding.
“Are either of them my type?”
Mizi honestly hadn’t looked at the butlers at all. She was aware of their presence but aside from that she knew nothing about them. Not their names, not their personalities, she wasn’t even sure she could describe their uniforms.
She bit her lip and turned away from Ivan, “One’s blonde I think…”
Ivan gave her a look of soft fondness mixed with annoyance. Mizi dropped his hand and pulled out her phone. She typed in the cafe’s name and started going through their videos, looking for clips of the men. After a little scrolling she paused and held her phone out.
“This is the blonde one, cute right? He’s like a twink or whatever you call it.” Ivan snorted, taking the phone into his hand and examining the man on the screen.
“He’s straight.”
Mizi snatched her phone and stared down at the butler, mouth agape, “No fucking way! That’s the fruitiest looking man I’ve ever seen.”
Ivan scoffed in mock offense and shrugged, “He’s just a theater kid.”
Mizi rolled her eyes and found a post with the other butler, some silver haired man with too many piercings and an air of annoyance staining his every action. She handed the phone back to Ivan and watched as Ivan’s eyes went wide. Yes! She had him.
“Till?” Ivan muttered, looking like he’d seen a ghost. Mizi tilted her head at him curiously. Till was a name Ivan only ever brought up when he was shitfaced. From what Mizi could piece together, he was someone Ivan had been in love with for a long time and who had never reciprocated his affections. If this butler really WAS Till she didn’t think she’d be comfortable bringin Ivan along.
“Ok, we’re going now.” Their roles reversed, Ivan dragging a hesitant Mizi along. She muttered something about the past being in the past and asked Ivan if he was ok about a dozen times. But her desire to see Lily in person kept her from fully digging her heels in. Something that made her feel more than a little guilty.
When they arrived Ivan opened the door and stepped aside to let her in first. She smiled at him and mouthed ‘are you sure.’ To which he just stepped in behind her cool, calm, and collected. A bell rang out signaling their presence and several voices called out warm welcomes.
The person who came to greet them was none other than Ivan’s Till, or as his name tag read ‘Butler E.’ It became instantly apparent that 1) this was Ivan’s Till and 2) Ivan had been sorely mistaken about Till’s feelings for him, or at the very least things had changed since they last met.
Mizi had to stop herself from laughing as both men stared at each other with twin lovestruck expressions. The butler’s face was so red Mizi started to worry he might faint. Ivan wasn’t faring any better. Mizi looked between them several times before making up her mind to shatter their moment so they could actually be seated.
“Hi! So you’re Till? Ivan’s told me a lot about you.”
Till’s gaze snapped to Mizi, seemingly noticing her for the first time. He looked between Mizi and Ivan several times. Ivan must have understood what conclusions Till was coming to as he made a move more childish than Mizi had ever seen him. He linked an arm around Mizi’s arm and introduced her.
“This is Mizi, she wanted to come and I’m more than happy to indulge her. Honestly I didn’t know you worked here until just now.”
Before Mizi could scold Ivan for acting like a toddler a new voice joined the conversation, “That would work a lot better if she wasn’t wearing a shirt with a lesbian pride flag on it.”
Ivan’s mouth fell open and his eyes instantly went to Mizi’s chest. Guess it was a benefit of having a gay friend, he clearly hadn’t looked at her tits once that day judging by this reaction. Mizi covered her mouth with her hand and started to giggle.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately Mizi couldn’t decide, the woman who’d spoken was the exact maid that Mizi was there for. The commenters were right, she was even more beautiful in person. Mizi’s eyes went wide and she was sure her expression was just as ridiculous as the one Till and Ivan had made a second ago.
“SUA!” Ivan shrieked beside her and Lily, no, Sua rushed into their space to clap a hand over Ivan’s mouth.
“Don’t use my real name you idiot! I’m not happy to see you either.” Sua looked at Mizi and scanned her up and down. Her gaze softened and a subtle smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, “I am more than happy to see you! Good to know my brother has good taste in friends.”
Sua put extra emphasis on the word friend and Mizi could see Till flinch behind her. She only barely registered it as she was so enchanted by Sua’s attention. Sua dropped her hands from Ivan’s mouth and wiped them across her apron.
“I didn’t know you worked here either.”
Sua gave Ivan an unimpressed glare and rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms and Mizi tried her best not to focus on how the motion perfectly framed her tits. Mizi was a feminist, Mizi did not objectify women, Mizi respected women's autonomy.
Fuck it, Mizi was no better than a man. Holy shit this woman’s body was amazing.
Mizi could feel a flush staining her face. When she finally found it in herself to look up at Sua’s face she was instantly reassured by the fact that Sua’s gaze was not so subtly locked onto Mizi’s chest.
“And you say men are animals…” Ivan muttered, causing both women’s faces to burn bright as they looked away from each other and pretended they hadn’t both just been ogling each other.
“Umm…” Mizi broke the silence, trying her best to recover from her embarrassment, “Ivan? How do you know them?”
“If you’re planning to stay, would you mind discussing this at a table?” Sua’s voice was filled with professionalism, a far cry from the bitter angry tone she’d used with Ivan. Mizi nodded bashfully. She shot Sua a soft smile, which Sua returned and Mizi thought her heart might beat out of her chest.
Sua lead Ivan and Mizi to a small round table for two and Till popped up behind her to set down two menus. Sua side eyed him suspiciously but didn’t comment.
“One of us will come back to take your orders. As an apology for our lapse in professionalism, your drink will be free Mistress Mizi.” Mizi tried her best not to openly shiver at the sound of her name coming from Sua’s lips, especially along with the title ‘mistress.’
“Why don’t I get a free drink?” Ivan pouted.
Sua fixed a stern glare at him and snapped, “Because I hate you.” Before returning to the soft expression she’d been using to Mizi. She curtsied at Mizi and retreated. Ivan was rolling his eyes but Mizi could see the excitement in his eyes as he closely followed Till’s movements through the cafe.
“Explain.” Mizi commanded.
“Ah…” Ivan withered under Mizi’s curious gaze, “So Sua is my cousin.”
“WHY DIDN’T YOU SET US UP!!!” Mizi hissed at him, smacking him on top of the head with her menu.
Ivan flinched and held his hands up in surrender, “It’s not like we’re close! And I like you too much to unleash that b-” Mizi glared at him and his mouth snapped shut, “Beautifully flawed individual.”
Mizi was still side-eyeing him but she turned her attention back to the rest of the cafe.
“And what was that stunt you tried to pull with Till? That is THE Till right?”
Ivan covered his face with his hands and groaned. Mizi almost felt sorry for him, almost. He looked up at her from between his fingers.
“He’s my first love,”
Mizi nodded, “I figured out that much.”
“And he had a thing for you when we were kids, I wanted to make him jealous.” Mizi nodded and hummed, prompting Ivan to continue, “because I’m still not over him.”
“I don’t even remember him? Did I know him?”
Ivan shook his head and buried it in his arms, crossed over the table, “When we did modeling together as kids he saw the ad and got this huge celebrity crush on you. I intentionally never introduced you two cause I didn’t know you were gay back then.”
Mizi’s face stretched in amusement as she tried to swallow her laughter. Ivan had always been a little golden boy. The rule follower, the mature one, the mini adult. When she would start to cry during their long shoots he would silently comfort her and let the adults know when she needed a breather. Seeing this jealous, petty side of Ivan was refreshing.
Even after all these years together, there was always more to learn. The thought had Mizi smiling at Ivan softly and reaching out to pat his head. He lifted his head and pressed into the hand she cupped his face with. When he opened his eyes they were filled with vulnerability and regret. Any mocking comments she’d been forming dissolved on her lips.
“Ok, back to Sua.” Mizi said, unable to restrain herself any longer. Ivan raised one eyebrow at her.
“What about me?” That soft, enchanting voice sounded behind Mizi. She spun around in her chair to face Sua.
“Sorry, I mean Lily!” Mizi panicked, worried that she’d overstepped.
“You can call my name whenever you like.” Sua said, smiling at Mizi and putting one of her gloved hands over Mizi’s. Ivan made a gagging sound but both girls ignored him.
“I was just asking Ivan about you, we’ve been friends for years and he never mentioned you to me!”
“I was about to ask him the same thing.” Both Sua and Mizi looked over to Ivan who was pretending to focus on the menu, “Wait, aren’t you the girl that models with him all the time?”
Mizi nodded, blushing at the thought of this goddess knowing of her work.
“If I’d known Ivan was working with someone like you I might have taken him up on the offer to join him.”
“You would make an amazing model,” Mizi replied, earnestly. Sua was a sight. She shared Ivan’s distinct features and piercing gaze. The neutral expression she wore in most of the cafe’s posts screamed elegance.
“That means a lot coming from you.” The smile on Sua’s face was bad for Mizi’s heart. She thought her time as a model had built up her tolerance for beautiful people. Either Sua was leagues above the people Mizi worked with or Mizi was utterly twitterpated. Probably both.
“Can we order?” Ivan asked. When Sua turned to him he stuck his tongue out at her and Mizi shot him a confused glare.
“Of course,” Sua dropped Mizi’s hand and pulled out a tiny notebook, “Mistress Mizi, Ivan” Sua’s tone turned harsh and dropped all professionalism as she addressed Ivan, “What would you like.”
Mizi hadn’t looked at the menu at all since they came in, too distracted by Sua’s presence and Ivan’s pathetic love life. She looked over the pink and purple cutsy writing next to dozens of pictures of various complex drinks and baked goods. It all started to swim in her vision. A whirlpool of cutesy lolita themed confusion pulling Mizi in.
“I’ll have a mint mocha latte and Mizi will have a lavender lemonade. We’ll also have an order of the checkered shortbread cookies to share.”
Tension drained from Mizi’s shoulder as Ivan pulled through an order for her. She gave him a grateful nod along with a mouthed ‘I owe you.’ Ivan grinned at her and grabbed her menu to hand back to Sua. Sua took it with a little more force than necessary and shot one last soft smile at Mizi before walking away.
“I think that’s the most I’ve ever seen her smile.” Ivan tilted his head at Mizi, grinning mischeviously.
Mizi tucked some of her hair behind her ear and looked down at the tablecloth. Which she’d just noticed had little teddy bears hugging hearts printed on it. She ran her finger along the outline of one of the bears.
“This place is really cute!” Ivan nodded.
“If you’d told me the name I wouldn’t have hesitated to come.”
“Huh?” Mizi fixed him with a confused look.
“Lavender Matrimony? You didn’t make the connection.” Ivan was snickering at her as the gears in her mind started turning slowly. She furrowed her brows and tried to recall where she’d heard the phrase before but nothing was coming to mind.
A plate filled with cookies was gently placed down between them and Mizi looked up to see Till, burning red and refusing to look at either of them.
“It’s like lavender marriages where gay men and lesbians would get together to help hide the fact that they were gay. You coulda just told her instead of being a dick.” Till snapped at Ivan. It bounced right off of him as he fixed Till with that ridiculously love struck gaze.
“When did you start working here?”
Till bristled at Ivan’s question. He became impossibly reder and he sputtered around words for a second before taking a breath and finally responding, “Around the time you stop responding to my texts.”
Mizi and Ivan both tilted their heads in confusion.
“God the two of you are like fucking dogs.” Till flinched as he looked between them.
“I never stopped responding to you Till, you stopped reaching out.”
Mizi grabbed a cookie as she watched a soap opera unfold in front of her. Both Till and Ivan were looking at each other with melancholy guarded expressions. The cookies were shockingly good, buttery and sugary and light. Mizi hummed in appreciation and wondered who made them. Of course it wouldn’t have made any sense for Sua to have made them but Mizi let herself daydream about eating a cookie Sua had baked specifically for her.
“I never stopped!” Till was agitated. He pulled out his phone and shoved it in Ivan’s face. Ivan took it and looked at a wall of messages all left on delivered. He stuttered and frowned while trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
It finally hit Mizi what had happened.
“What number do you have Till?” The two men looked over at her in surprise as if they’d forgotten she was there. Ivan handed over Till’s phone and Mizi set it on the table next to her own. She held the cookie in her mouth as she pulled up Ivan’s contact on both phones. She made a victorious sound around her cookie and pointed to the numbers. They were different.
Covering her mouth as she tried to chew the remainder of the cookie quickly Mizi spoke, “Ivan had a stalker about two years ago and he had to change his phone number. They stole his old phone so he had a lot of trouble transferring contacts.”
Till and Ivan looked at each other blankly. Confusion turned to anger in Till almost instantly.
“How did you forget my number!”
Ivan put his hands up anxiously and shook his head vigorously, “I didn’t! I called you so many times but you never picked up so I assumed you didn’t want to talk to me anymore!”
Other guests were looking over to their table making Mizi feel mildly self conscious. She reached across the table and put a hand over Ivan’s while gently grasping Till’s wrist.
“Maybe you two should step outside or something, it seems like you’ve got a lot to talk about.” Till froze the moment Mizi came into contact with him. Ivan caught Till’s reaction instantly. He frowned and grabbed Till’s other hand then began leading him out. Till followed in a daze. The two passed Sua on their way out.
“I’m counting this as your break, you’ve got fifteen.” Till groaned in response.
Sua stopped in front of Mizi’s table and unloaded the two drinks from the silver serving tray balanced on her hand. To Mizi’s immense shock and excitement, Sua sat in Ivan’s now vacant seat. She placed her elbows on the table and rested her head atop her hands. Mizi twirled her hair anxiously as she tried to think of something to say.
“How did you find out about us?” Sua’s full attention was on Mizi, a sensation both exhilarating and anxiety inducing. Every little thing Sua did sent Mizi’s heart rate skyrocketing.
“I saw a video on social media,” Sua covered her face with her hands and let out a low distraught sound.
“Which video?” She asked slowly, as if she didn’t want to hear the answer.
“The um…magical girl transformation.” Mizi spoke carefully, nervous she would upset Sua even more.
Sua let her head fall back and stared at the ceiling in annoyance, “That was our boss's idea. I didn’t want to do it. I bet I looked so dorky.”
Mizi shook her head emphatically, “No! You looked amazing! It made me want to come here and meet you!”
Pink colored Mizi’s cheeks and her eyes went wide at her own confession. But Sua seemed pleased with this information. She grinned at Mizi.
“I guess it was worth it then!”
Mizi was stunned into silence. She just looked at Sua, blinking slowly like a particularly confused lizard. Luckily, Sua seemed to find her anxiety cute. She laughed brightly and Mizi found herself joining in.
“Why did you start working here?” The question was out before Mizi could second guess herself. Sua didn’t seem to particularly enjoy service work. The whole maid persona didn’t fit her at all from what Mizi had observed so far.
Sua sighed and looked down at her fingers, now intertwined atop the table, “I needed money for grad school.”
“Oh!” Mizi sat up a little straighter. From what Ivan had shared their family was quite wealthy so it was a shock that Sua would have to pay for her own education, “What are you going to grad school for?”
“Applied mathematics.”
Mizi almost choked on the drink. Her eyes bugged out of her head as she wheezed around the acidic burn in her throat. Sua looked at her with concern but Mizi just waved her off.
“Sorry,” She said with a final cough, “I didn’t mean to make it seem like that doesn’t suit you, that’s just really impressive.”
“Hah…” Sua trailed off, looking out the window pensively, “I wish my family felt the same way.”
“How could they not?” Mizi deserved a medal for putting her foot in her mouth so many times in a row. She winced and pressed her eyes shut at Sua’s sad expression.
“They want me to either get a business degree or become a mother.”
Mizi couldn’t stop the look of disgust that twisted her features. It drew a laugh from Sua. The gentle smile she’d had since seeing Mizi returned and she was gazing at Mizi with a soft fondness that Mizi was sure she was mirroring.
“Neither of those sound like me, huh?” Mizi shook her head and laughed.
“I wouldn’t have predicted mathematics either but it suits you. I could see you as a professor.” An image of Sua in a tweed jacket and suspender flashed through Mizi’s mind and she tried her best to ignore the way it made her shiver. Seriously, Sua would make a good model.
“That’s kind of you to say.” Every positive response Mizi got from Sua made her ravenous for more. She didn’t think she could get enough of this woman in her lifetime. Mizi would be cursing Ivan for not introducing them sooner for the rest of her life.
“Are you and Ivan on bad terms?” The question had been on Mizi’s mind since earlier. She would have preferred to ask Ivan in case it was a touchy subject but she was starting to suspect he wouldn’t come back.
“No, He’s the only one of my family members I actually love.” Mizi startled in surprise. Nothing about their interactions so far had read like familial love. Though as she started to run over them again she realized that their interactions could easily be read as sibling teasing.
“Him going into modeling gave me the courage to pursue my interests. I’ll always be grateful to him for that, and for allowing me to meet you,” Sua flashed a vibrant smile at Mizi and Mizi worried she might flop out of her seat and turn into a puddle on the ground.
“I’m grateful too.” It was an understatement. Without Ivan’s presence Mizi never would have come here and she certainly wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to get to know Sua, not just Maid Lily.
“I just wish he hadn’t stolen one of my staff members right as we get busy.” Sua scowled and stood up from the table, signaling the end of their one on one conversation. Mizi knew better than to hold her back, but the desire was there. Three more groups had come in. The blonde butler had seated them but he was signaling for Sua’s help.
“Uh-” Mizi couldn’t stop herself from calling out, “Will we be able to talk again some time?”
Sua grinned at her and pointed to her drink. Mizi looked down and quickly discovered a phone number scribbled across it along with a hastily drawn heart. Mizi grinned but when she looked up Sua was already attending to another table.