I guess it’s been 2 years, but I’ve cycled back to this particular comfort OTP. I think they just feel safe because Usui is so soft for Misaki. And the world is so tumultuous now, it would be great if some super-powered diplomat with her amazing chronic-illness curing doctor husband would come save us. If only if it were that simple.
Role reversal AU (sort of): The Butler and the Ojou-sama
Usui Takumi had been the Ayuzawa family butler for almost a year now. Misaki didn’t pay him much mind. He was annoyingly handsome and competent and she didn’t really understand why her father had hired a butler anyway. Just as they lived in a huge house but only really used the kitchen, it hardly seemed necessary to hire a butler when they were all perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. He did organize the cleaning staff properly, she supposed. The hallway was always blindingly bright. But it’s not as if they had visitors that needed to be taken care of or . . . whatever it was that butlers did.
Her father seemed to treat Usui as a personal assistant, when he was actually home. That mostly included being fed new menu items and palling around with with a fellow male. Perhaps that was why he had hired a butler. With Misaki and Suzuna and their mother, plus all the female maids, perhaps he had just wanted a male in the house.
But her father wasn’t often at home. Mostly it was her mother and Suzuna. They also mostly kept Usui on hand to feed and occasionally to do some heavy lifting. Misaki resented that. Usually she did the heavy lifting in the kitchen, since she couldn’t cook. Granted, Misaki was often out of the house, attending her classes at Todai or helping out with her father’s sushi chain or doing field research—but if she was at home she could get the bread maker from the top shelf! She had done just that one day when she had come home early and stopped in the kitchen to get a snack. Suzuna and mother had wanted to make bread and had asked Usui to get their fancy bread maker from the shelf. Misaki had rushed to get it instead—perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. She had almost fallen over. Of course Usui had steadied her and told her in that annoyingly patronizing way of his to take care of herself.
And there was another thing about Usui. He always referred to her as ojou-sama. Suzuna was Suzuna-chan. Mother was Minako-dono. Even father was Sakuya-dono after he had insisted that Ayuzawa-dono was far too formal. But Usui never called her Misaki-san or anything like that. She was just ojou-sama.
At first it had annoyed her so much that she had gone to Maki and asked him about the protocol for butlers. He had said that many butlers referred to the young ladies of their households as ojou-sama and that it was perfectly correct. When Misaki had pressed him on why she was ojou-sama while her sister was Suzuna-chan, he had merely said something about age, though Suzuna was already in high school. Maki had then invited Misaki to visit his butler cafe so that she could see how other butlers acted.
It was an . . . experience. The hall was grand and the butlers were handsome and shining and deferred to their customers as ojou-samas and kikoshis. Misaki had told Maki she still didn’t see the appeal. Maki had talked of service and deference and special treatment. He had said that most people couldn’t afford butlers, so they came to his cafe to have a taste of what it would be like to be a real lord or lady, and that Misaki should be grateful that she could afford the real experience and should take advantage of it. Misaki had merely grumbled. Maki then suggested that perhaps she would understand the female version better and had arranged to take her to a maid care that he admired.
Misaki didn’t see the appeal of the maid cafe any more than the butler cafe. She did note that there were more male customers at the maid cafe than at the butler cafe, and Maki had then gone on to discuss male and female fantasies, which Misaki had understood even less, even when the manager of the maid cafe had tried to explain the concept of “moe” to her. She had been so enthusiastic that she had insisted that Misaki would understand if she tried on a maid costume herself. Next thing she knew, Misaki had been serving tea to customers, referring them to kikoshi and ojou-sama herself. She had gotten so caught up in it that she even worked the back room and offered to take out the trash. Of course, that had to be Usui’s day off, and of course he had walked by the alleyway just then.
Misaki had explained to him that she was doing research on different types of restaurant franchises, but Usui had seemed skeptical. Misaki continued working at the maid cafe for the rest of the month to make good on her story. She had wanted to anyway. Her father’s sushi chain was popular with salarymen and families, but not so much with the young and trendy, like those she had seen at Maki’s butler cafe and Honoko-chan’s maid cafe. Misaki had wanted to see if she could incorporate aspects of the role-playing into some of her father’s franchises to attract that customer base. Honoko-chan was very into themes and already had various Japanese-style costumes, so she was happy to show Misaki the Taisho Romance theme and the Meiji Samurai Romance theme.
“Why always romance?” Misaki had asked Honoko-chan in the beginning, and then again when Usui had visited the cafe during the Meiji Samurai Romance Day. He had been so annoying, uncharacteristically flirting with her in an over-the-top way, telling her that she looked beautiful in her kimono and that he wished that she would be his personal maid for the day.
“Does it feel fun to be waited on instead of waiting on me?” Misaki had asked through gritted teeth.
“It’s fun to be waited on by you, but I don’t mind waiting on you at all!” Usui had grinned at her. Then he had said in a normal tone—no, in an unusually serious tone, “I wouldn’t mind waiting on you forever. Except maybe—“
But at that point the 3 idiots had spilled something and Misaki had had to go scold them.
By the time Misaki had come back with his check, he was chatting with Honoko-chan and asking about the theme for the following week: “Maybe I’ll dress up too! It’s more fun that way.”
Then, of course, the over-enthusiastic Honoko-chan had pulled him into the back and found a samurai costume for him to wear. All the girls in the cafe had gone googly-eyed and clamored for pictures, which he had agreed to as long as he got to take one with him “Misa-chan,” as she was called at the cafe, first.
He had ended up staying until closing, and offered to walk Misaki back home.
“I hardly need a chaperone! I’m a grown woman!” she had insisted, but he had merely ignored her protests gently, saying that Sakuya-dono would never forgive him if Usui let ojou-sama come to any harm. So he had followed her back on the train to the Ayuzawa household, even though it was his night off. On the train, he was so quiet that Misaki felt the need to make conversation. She admitted that he had looked good in his samurai costume.
“You looked quite different. Even in your street clothes, you give off a different impression than when you’re working as a butler.”
“Oh? What’s ojou-sama’s impression of me, then?”
“No-nothing much,” Misaki had stammered, turning away. She didn’t know why the question had thrown her off. Sometimes Usui seemed to gaze at her in an unusually intense way. It was true though. Usui, had looked, well, cool in his street clothes. Casual. Like he could have been a classmate at her college instead of an overly formal butler. And as a samurai he had looked dashing. All the other girls had certainly thought so.
“Usui!” Misaki exclaimed, turning back to him. “Would you be willing to dress as a samurai at my father’s restaurant?”
“I’ve been thinking, Honoko-chan’s whole cafe is run on a maid theme, of course, but there’s even more attendance when she does theme days like the Meiji Samurai Romance today! It would take a lot of planning and money to overhaul even one of my father’s sushi restaurants into a Meiji style, but for a theme days it wouldn’t be bad! If the servers could dress in kimonos and we could do a couple of shows slicing the sushi with a katana, I think there’d be a lot of interest!”
“Well . . . it’s not that I’m opposed. But I’m not one of your father’s restaurant workers. I’m your household butler. Do you need me to dress up as well?”
“It’s just that you’ve already done it. I thought that you could help train the other workers in how to move in the costume.”
“Would ojou-sama also dress up, to help train the female workers?”
“Well then, I suppose I really can’t refuse. Anything for ojou-sama.”
For some reason, this had made Misaki blush. She had stammered out her thanks and looked out the train window for the rest of the ride home.
At home, mother and Suzuna were still up, chatting in the kitchen.
“Oh my! Usui, what a surprise to see you! Isn’t it your night off?”
“I happened to run into ojou-sama and thought I should make sure she got home safely.”
“Eh, Usui? You look so strange without your uniform. If I didn’t know better I would think that you were nee-san’s new beau,” Suzuna interjected slyly.
“D-don’t say stupid things, Suzuna! Anyway, what are you still doing here? Don’t you have homework?”
“I’m just a 2nd year. I don’t have that much homework. Besides which, I’m not like you, queen of extracurriculars. I just have my cooking club.”
“Is that what you’re doing here? Making pie for cooking club?”
“Yup! I’m testing the ingredients that You-kun sent us.”
“Ah,” Misaki said. “Well, I’m tired. I think I’ll go to bed.”
“I should go as well,” Usui excused himself, heading towards the door that led from the kitchen to the back yard.
“Eh, you’re leaving? Why not just sleep here?”
“I still have some things I want to do.”
“Ah, of course. It’s your night off. Well, thank you for seeing me back home, Usui.”
“The pleasure is all mine, ojou-sama.”
Misaki flopped onto her bed. You-kun had been her childhood friend, and then later her high school boyfriend. She had had reservations when he had confessed. She didn’t really reciprocate his feelings, but she had liked him well enough, and he had looked so hopeful that she had accepted. Igarashi had made fun of their relationship mercilessly, which had made her cling to it even more out of defiance. When they were nearing the end of high school and You-kun had had no plans for afterwards except continue working his part-time job and stay in the city to be with Misaki though, she had insisted that he find his own path.
“Don’t you want to be with me?” You-kun had asked.
“I like being with you!” Misaki had answered. “But I shouldn’t be the only reason you stay in the city. You need to find your own path.”
So they had separated and You-kun had gone back to the country to learn farming from his grandparents. He had continued to write to text Misaki and started sending boxes of vegetables. In the meantime, Misaki had made the mistake of letting Igarashi Tora get under her skin, and under her clothing.
She had known it was a mistake. Despite everything—all the help he had given her and the sincere-sounding confession he had made after she and You-kun had officially called it quits, Misaki had had hesitations. She had actually refused him. She thought she had learned her lesson from You-kun about accepting confessions just because she felt sorry for the guy and because they got along fairly well. But Igarashi had made more and more extravagant gestures, sending flowers and chocolates and expensive dresses. Finally, she had agreed to go on one date with him, just to shut him up. It had been not too bad. So she had agreed to go on another one, and another. She still wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she had allowed him to kiss her. He had been much more experienced than You-kun. And of course, one day when You-kun had come to visit Tokyo, he had caught Misaki and Igarashi making out in her living room.
It had been horrible. Igarashi had insulted You-kun and You-kun had accused Misaki of just wanting a rich guy. The fall out had been such that Misaki hadn’t spoken to either of them since, though You-kun and Igarashi had both since apologized for their behavior. They both still sent her gifts.
That had been awkward, especially when Usui had first started working for them. Whenever he informed her that there was a greenhouse of roses in the living room for her or a box of vegetables for her in the kitchen, she had merely snapped at him to send them back. Maybe it made sense that he only ever referred to her as ojou-sama.
Takumi flopped not his sofa. He didn’t know what he had been expecting. Nothing. He could expect nothing. It’s not like ojou-sama was ever going to, like, kiss him or anything. I mean, for a second he had thought she would. After she had gotten her idea of him dressing up as a samurai for her father’s restaurant, her face had been so close. He hadn’t really wanted to do it. It had sounded like a bit of a pain. But of course if she was going to be there—
What was he doing anyway? Why was he stalking her? Buying her time at the maid cafe? Insisting that they take a picture with each other?
Takumi took the photo out of his pocket. There were lots of reasons he hadn’t wanted to stay under the Ayuzawa roof that night, but his main reason for going to his apartment had been this. He was going to keep the photo of him and Misaki at his apartment, where he could look at it without guilt or fear. Or at least fear.
It’s not that he never pleasured himself at the Ayuzawa household. He was there 6 days a week, after all, and he was always seeing Misaki. The time after he had caught her around the waist to keep her from falling off of a stool in the kitchen, well. He had lived off the memory of that moment for weeks. But now he had this picture. And he could pretend better in the privacy of his own apartment that it meant something. That he was just a regular guy, who had met a regular girl at a maid cafe, instead of a butler who had pathetically fallen in love with the household’s daughter.
Pathetic. He had become a butler in order to try and find his old man, but all he had discovered was that he was just like his old man. Takumi wasn’t dumb. He knew who Igarashi Tora was, the absurdly rich man attending Todai University with Ayuzawa, who had dated her and had actually kissed her and who was still sending Misaki elaborate gifts. It’s not that Takumi thought that Misaki was swayed by wealth, but Igarashi Tora belonged to the same world as Misaki, and he was clearly still interested. Eventually Misaki would forgive him and realize what a good match they made. They were both brilliant and beautiful and business-minded—what was not to love? Igarashi Tora could support the Ayuzawa family business and expand it to a national chain that would take the Ayuzawa household from the 1% to the .01%, easy. Instead of playing at being masters in their newly constructed mansion and a novice butler, they could be the real thing.
And what was Usui? Just another butler who couldn’t keep his dick under control. He was better than that. He wasn’t going to touch Misaki. Ever. He wasn’t going to destroy Misaki’s life the way his father had destroyed his mother’s.
