Hiro and Tadashi were so screwed. Even after Hiro had agreed to apply to SFIT, giving up his bot fighting career and agreeing to stay out of trouble, Aunt Cass was still mad at the two. Not only had Hiro done something so stupid and dangerous as go to the worst part of town to bot fight, but TADASHI, her angel, had decided it was smarter to chase after his brother into danger than, she didn’t know, call the POLICE?!? HOW ABOUT CALL HER?!?
So, she had decided, if they were going to pull something so stupid on her, then their punishment would be just as stupid. She had spent the night working it out, and, by the next morning, she had run out to get the necessary supplies. The boys were in for it now, and, if it didn’t work, this would be great blackmail material in the future.
When the first day of summer for Tadashi rolled around not a week later, the punishment was set into motion. The boys had agreed long ago to pick up more hours in the café, and she had gotten this idea in order to increase sales for all the students. She was just going to get more fun out of it, though.
“Boys.” She began as the two finished their breakfasts that morning. She had come up from running the morning shift with her regular helper girl, but the young lady was leaving, and the boys would help through the lunch rush. In her hand were two hangers covered in a plastic cover, obviously hiding some sort of clothes on the inside. “I have come up with a suitable punishment for you two getting arrested.” She explained sternly as Tadashi winced, Hiro looking into his bowl as he tried not to look guilty.
“Yes Aunt Cass.” They both intoned as Tadashi grabbed the two’s plates for the sink. Hiro grabbed a towel from the counter before he cleaned up a few missed crumbs on the table.
“What’s the punishment?” Hiro asked as Tadashi muttered, “Wait, why am I being punished?”
Cass smirked. “Tadashi, you ran into danger without thinking to call for back up, and ended up getting arrested. I do not care if Hiro always needs saving. It was a bad part of town, and, while I’m proud that you want to protect your brother, you should have thought it through before driving so recklessly into danger. Hiro, you are the biggest knucklehead for running towards dangerous bot fights to begin with, and I expect more from you.” She added as she stared down the boys. Both gulped at her glare.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Hiro stuttered slightly as fear practically rolled off the boy. What had she in store for them? No robots for a week? No lab? Hiro couldn’t be without a lab because he had the SFIT showcase coming up!
Cass set the bag on a wall hook before peeling away the plastic. “I have decided that you two, for making idiots of yourselves, will do further so until I am satisfied that you will never, ever plow into danger without thinking ever again.” From within, she separated the two hangers to show to the boys. “These are the new uniforms you will be wearing every day for the lunch rush until I say otherwise. It’s going to be part of our new summer special!”
Hiro choked on air as Tadashi gasped. “That’s abuse!” Hiro threw right off that bat. “Downright heartless!”
“What… but…” Tadashi was stunned at the thought. “You can’t be serious!”
“Oh, I sure as heck am!” Cass continued with a triumphant grin. “I’ve given up on typical punishment. It’s either wear these, or I’m going to the next extreme, and next, until you two are upright citizens.”
Hiro jumped from his seat. “You can’t make me!” He tried to defend as he ran, but Cass knew her boys. She stuck the clothing out at just the right angle as it flapped into Hiro’s face. The boy tumbled into her arm as she shoved the hanger into his grasp.
“I can, and I will. Suit up and be downstairs in ten minutes, or not only will I shut down the lab for the next month, but I will remove all gummy bears from the area and tell Mr. Tamaka at the grocery not to sell you any, either.” Hiro’s mouth moved without speaking as Cass placed the second hanger back on the hook. Turning to the eldest, who looked much like Hiro in that he wasn’t saying anything, she continued. “The same goes to you, Tadashi, but it will be the moped keys that disappear.”
“But I paid for that myself!” He pointed out.
“And who helps pay insurance?” Cass added with a cocked eyebrow. “One that will go up now that you’ve had a major traffic violation. Ten minutes, boys.” With that, she turned tail back to the café, giving Moochi an affectionate pat as the fat cat ran across her legs.
Meanwhile, Hiro dropped his hanger, the clothes falling to a heap on the floor as he rubbed his hands into his hoodie, trying to rub off something that wasn’t there. “I am NOT doing this! This is ridiculous! Back me up, Tadashi!” Hiro turned huge eyes to his brother, valiantly looking for back-up.
Tadashi, however, had his arms hanging limp at his sides as his moth stopped moving without words. The deathly silence of the moment as Tadashi was obviously going through everything in his head left Hiro to hold his breath. Finally, his head turned towards the younger Hamada.
“Hiro,” Tadashi answered his brother. “We’re screwed.”
Cass was waving off her morning waitress when a familiar group of college students walked in. “Hello, Aunt Cass!” Honey greeted to the woman as they entered. Honey, Fred, Go Go, and Wasabi were frequents at the café on nights where they and Tadashi needed a quick pick-me-up or just good food. Fred was probably in there the most considering San Fransokyo University was around the corner, where he was actually enrolled though he also took classes at SFIT. She had, at some point, gotten them all to call her Aunt Cass because calling her Miss or Ma’am made her feel old.
Cass waved to the quartet as they approached. “Hey! How are my favorite pack of college kids doing? How’s summer so far?”
“Nothing too out of the norm.” Wasabi returned with a smile. “Mind if we grab a bite to eat? Tadashi mentioned he was working, but we all wanted to say hi.”
Cass smiled in a way that the others were not familiar with, but it looked downright devilish. “Of course! Take a booth. The boys will be down soon to take orders.”
The four took a booth as Cass hummed happily. Honey looked to the woman before turning to her friends. “Does Aunt Cass seem to be acting weird?” She wondered as a few more people entered the café. Cass sat them down with the same smirk, explaining that the wait staff would take their orders in a second.
Go Go shrugged as she glanced at the menu (even though she pretty much knew what she wanted). “Seems fine to me.”
Wasabi wasn’t so sure. “I agree with Honey. She seems way too happy considering Tadashi said she was ready to blow a couple nights ago.”
“Well, if we’re about to pick theories…” Fred began in a conspiracy-filled as he reached for his phone. He pulled up a list of comics he kept in his books library. “I’m thinking alien brain eater…”
“Oh, not this again.” Go Go shot to the boy as she smacked down the menu. “We don’t want to hear it, nitwit.”
Fred, however, was non-pulsed as he then looked up again to the counter. “Or maybe it’s that she IS a… HOLY MOTHER OF MEGAZON!” He exclaimed as his jaw dropped. The others followed his line of sight as they, too, felt their jaws drop.
Hiro and Tadashi stood there at the counter dressed in the most frilly maid outfits the four had ever seen. Tadashi’s went right down to his feet with black pleats under a little white apron, the top of which was a hear-shaped top paired with little black sleeves that hung off his shoulders. Across his torso were little white buttons down the center as lace lined in parallel vertical single lines down the side. White lace lined the edges and around the back to the big white bow that rested at the small of his back. The ruffled bottom fell a little away from his waist but was otherwise flat to just above the floor where black, slightly-heeled Mary Janes paired with white socks peaked out.
Hiro’s was another story. His dress went to just below the knees, poofing out with ruffles and a secondary layer underneath, both layers lined in white stripes. They reached up to an oversized white fabric belt that pulled the dress towards his torso. A white apron pocked out from the belt before disappearing and reappearing at the top, reaching up to tuck into his square neckline. White ruffles also reached up along the edges, over his shoulders, and down his back to disappear into a huge bow. Black short-sleeves peaked out at the shoulders as black buttons decorated in dual lines down his chest. A single, large black bow was at dead center of the neckline. His shoes were the same as his brother’s that twitched back and forth.
They were probably twitching because, in Fred’s exclamation, every eye in the growing-busy café turned to stare at the two. Tadashi and Hiro, though, were staring down the gang. Tadashi’s look was one of a special horror.
Cass, of course, smiled to the crowd. “Welcome all to the first day of our new promo: the Lucky Cat Maid Café!” She cheered as Tadashi and Hiro winced.
Then, another group of college girls giggled behind the gang. “Oh, gods, they look so adorable!” One chattered to her friend.
“You know, I should being Andrew down here with us sometime. He loves Maid Cafes.” Another threw as the store soon quickly got back to their orders. Cass shoved the boys off as she went to behind the counter ready to serve food.
Tadashi soon approached his friends (they knew the table they had was going to be served by him as they knew how the boys split the café) as Hiro, with his notepad out and red across his face, went up to another table where a woman in highly outdated and very inappropriate for her age clothes sat and smiled to the lad.
Tadashi’s friend, of course, were not as calm.
Honey’s camera flash went off as he stopped at their table. It would have blinded the young man had he not been so used to her constant photo taking, but this was something he did not want to remember ever. “Honey, please delete that!” He begged to the girl, but it was too late as another flash went, this time from a purple phone. “Go Go!”
“Oh, this is so going to be blackmail.” She muttered with a smirk.
“Why am I friends with you all?” Tadashi gripped as he rubbed his hand to his forehead.
“Dude, what are you wearing?” Wasabi threw in, getting straight to the point.
“Humiliation.” Tadashi added as his arms dropped to his sides. “Aunt Cass decided that, since normal punishment hasn’t worked, she’s going for the abnormal. Hiro and I are stuck like this until she believes we won’t run into danger without thinking.”
“Dude, your aunt is awesome!” Fred threw with a massive grin. “This sounds like something straight out of a manga!”
“Don’t remind me…” Tadashi groaned again.
“Oi, woman up.” Go Go threw without pause. “You did the crime, do the time. Besides, I want some of your aunt’s chicken salad.” She smirked. She felt for Tadashi, but the boy’s groaning was not something she could get behind. The sooner he got through this, in her opinion, the better for him. Besides, if girls could wear pants, boys could wear dresses, as far as she was concerned.
Tadashi rolled his eyes before cracking a slight grin. The old moniker of Go Go’s did remind him that there were other people needing to be served, and THEY would tip better if he at least cracked a smile. “Look at the bright side.” Honey cut in with a smile as she set her chin on an open palm. “You finally know what it’s like to wear a dress!”
“Oh, dude, is it comfortable?” Fred asked excitedly. “Like, I’ve always wanted to wear a skirt in public.”
Tadashi couldn’t help but feel his mood brighten at the image before chuckling at the thought. Fred totally would, given the chance. “It’s actually kind of comfortable, admittedly.” He pulled up a flap to reveal bare legs at the bottom. “A lot more airy then I expected. The top doesn't give much space, though.”
“Can we talk fashion later?” Wasabi threw with a smirk. “As much as talking dresses is interesting, you’re aunt’s baking is making me hungry.”
And so that was how the long four hour lunch rush passed. Hiro and Tadashi were bouncing between tables all afternoon as more and more people came to love the idea. However, it was apparent that word got out (*cough*Go Go*cough*) as more SFIT students came to see Tadashi run around in a dress. Hiro was embarrassed enough by all the attention, and the dozens of sniggering boys and girls taking pictures with them was downright ridiculous. When three o’clock finally rolled around, the gang had returned to see Hiro and Tadashi fallen into the booth they had earlier sat at. Tadashi’s back was too the wall as he propped his legs up on the bench as he carefully crossed them to not reveal anything under the pleats. Hiro had forgone all manner as he simple face planted into the bench, head in his arms. It was a good thing that no one sans two students in the corner studying were there because otherwise the two would probably still be running around.
Of course, when the four entered, Tadashi had looked over, specifically at Honey Lemon. “How do you walk around in those?” He pointed to her rather tall heels in shock. “My feet are killing me, and my heals are no where near as tall as yours!”
Hiro groaned from his spot on his bench, not even moving. He added something about “pain” and “top annoying” and something pinching something, but it was all lost into his arms.
Honey couldn’t help but giggle. “Years of practice and many tricks. You’re probably especially hurt because they’re brand new and need to be broken in. Give it a couple of days.” She assured as Hiro shot up.
“Days?!?” He bemoaned as he fell back, this time with his head to the ceiling. “I can’t do it!”
“I can’t even breath in this dress! It’s so tight!” Tadashi complained as he tried to loosen the waist strap to no avail. It was obvious that the "little tightness" earlier had turned into an outright pain as he had worked in the outfit throughout the day.
Go Go rolled her eyes at the two. “You two are being babies. Woman up.”
“You said that already.” Tadashi threw as he rubbed his face with his palms. “At least this day is over.”
“Dude, didn’t your aunt say you were stuck like this until she deems ‘lesson learned, young padawan?’” Fred noted to no one in particular as both Hiro and Tadashi shot the blond looks of utter horror.
The two sat up as they looked for their Aunt, but she had seemingly disappeared from sight. Hiro, instead, turned his look to Tadashi. “Lesson learned, right? I will never, ever do anything to get arrested again!”
“I’m sure she’ll let us off the hook.” Tadashi added as he turned back to his friends. “You guys agree, right?”
“Well, you did get into a heap of trouble.” Wasabi pointed out with a stroke of his chin.
“Not. Helping.” Tadashi ground out as he got up, but he winced and wobbled as blisters, no doubt, agitated at the movement. “Come on, guys, back me up! We did great today!”
“I know!” Tadashi and Hiro jumped as the whole crew turned to Cass, whom had stepped out from the kitchen having overheard everything. “And we made a killing today! You know, I don’t think you got the right message yet, though. It wasn’t about jail, it was about running into danger like knuckleheads.” Her eyes raked over the two Hamada boys. “And I just don’t think the message has sunk in yet.”
Hiro and Tadashi groaned in defeat. What they didn’t know was that Cass had decided ahead of time that this would go on for a minimum of two weeks. It her ultimate punishment for the two, and it had worked far better than she had expected. Both boys had come out far more frightful of their aunt and far more appreciative of female clothing. Fred even got to try on the maid outfit and serve one afternoon, and he had a bomb doing it (though, as Tadashi pointed out, the other man hadn’t had to wear the terrible shoes because they hadn’t fit).
Cass kept the uniforms on hand, however, and every time one of the boys even suggested doing something as stupid as going into danger or something that could get them arrested, she would simply leave the gowns on the hall rack for all to see as a friendly reminder of what could happen. She’d even gotten a picture of Honey, showing the two boys nodded off on a couch in the outfits to throw up on the wall, more for her eternal amusement at their cuteness than anything else.
Yes, in ten years she had tried her hardest, and she was now getting through with her weirdness.
The end!
Just kidding.
Omake:
The fire burned out of the SFIT presentation hall as the two boys rounded the corner. People yelled and ran as Tadashi surged forward, Hiro at his heals. A woman ran right into Tadashi as the young man attempted to calm her. “Are you alright? Is everyone out?”
The woman, in a dazed mix of fear and adrenaline, replied without hesitance, “Most are, but Professor Callaghan is still in there!” She threw before running off again. Sirens and confusion were in the air as emergency vehicles approached, but it was not fast enough for Tadashi’s taste.
The split-second decision ran through his head as he rushed towards the flames. However, a skinny arm shot out in time to latch onto his cardigan. “Tadashi! What are you doing?!?” Hiro yelled at his older brother as Tadashi turned his head back, worry etched on his face.
“Callaghan’s in there. Someone has to help.” He threw as he nearly wretched out of Hiro’s grip. However, a flash of something came to mind as the fabric wrenched of his abdomen reminded him of another outfit that held too tight. In a rush, his aunt’s words came to his mind.
If you ever run blindly into danger again, I will make you wear nothing but the maid outfits for a month!
And then the building exploded.
Tadashi and Hiro were thrown back in the resulting blast outwards, the boys landing next to each other as hit air hit them. Hiro looked up to the flames in terror as Tadashi couldn’t help but gasp. The flames had hit so fast that, had he just run in, there was little chance he’d have made it out.
“Hiro?” Tadashi suddenly thought as he turned to his brother. He shot an arm out to latch onto the smaller’s shoulder in a meager attempt to make sure his brother was still there. “Hiro, are you alright?”
The teen jumped in his spot, turning his horror filled look at his brother. “You could have DIED! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!?” Hiro threw as his own hand latched onto Tadashi’s arm.
Tadashi spoke before his brain had really processed everything. “That I never, ever want to be caught in a maid outfit ever again.”
And that is the story of how Tadashi didn’t die.