Chapter Text
At work, Tsumugi Aoba is a hard worker. Scratch that. THE hard worker. He keeps up relations with everyone, takes on extra work, and sometimes even stays overnight. He's the perfect role model, maybe even a little too perfect.
His coworkers often ask him in amazement, how he manages to survive the week when work is a never ending flow of papers.
Tsumugi just smiles at them and doesn't say a word. And if he's pressed, he just mumbles some textbook bullshit about his passion for his work or something akin to that.
Natsume is one of the coworkers that never seems to stop nagging at him to stop working and to take a break. They were childhood friends for a short while, before Tsumugi's mother committed and he had to be sent to child protective services. Coincidentally, they had ended up at the same company, New Dimension, and now Natsume was his personal alarm. To get off work, that is. He's forced to get off work some days, but most days Natsume doesn't bother with more than a sharp poke to his stomach.
Little do his coworkers know, Tsumugi has a little hobby he keeps from them.
There's a reason he overworks most weekdays. When the weekend comes around, his boss often calls his colleagues to remind them to finish their work. He hasn't ever had that problem.
And that's exactly why he works extra during the weekdays. To leave his whole weekend free for himself and his hobby.
Today it's Friday, so Tsumugi decides that it's fine to indulge himself on the way home. He takes a small detour to a lonely street, with deserted shops lining each side, except for a singular, brightly lit store in the distance.
It’s small and chock-full of Lolita dresses. From time to time, he also picks out something for an ouji coord, but that’s a lot rarer than his usual purchases. Hardly anybody comes here, which is an added bonus for him. The woman behind the counter is dozing away, but when she hears Tsumugi’s footsteps click in, she shoots up and gets to her feet.
“Tsumugi! It's been a hot minute since you last came in. What's holding you up at work? Another higher-up leaving?” The singular shopkeeper, Anzu, is a fond friend of Tsumugi’s. When he first nervously stumbled upon this shop, after getting lost, Anzu provided him with a place to sleep until the morning came and he could find his way back to his home. While he was here, she insisted that he try on one of her carefully crafted dresses.
“Come on, just try! I don't get customers that often, but it doesn't matter that much. You don't need to buy it or anything. Just try it.” Anzu holds out a simple dress. It's not as frilly or decorated as the other dresses on the display, but when he tries it on, he feels strange…maybe even pretty?
He just kept coming back after that. And one fateful day, he decided to buy a dress.
It's become his way of de-stressing. He saves up some of his money every week, and at the end of the week, he enters Anzu’s dress shop and picks out a dress to buy. And then on Saturday, he dresses up. He doesn't always wear the dresses that he buys the day before on the next day, but he swears to give all his dresses love and take them out.
As he's perusing the collection, Anzu pops up from behind. “You always go out tomorrow right? Do you have any clear cut plans to go to some cafe or…?”
Tsumugi answers while keeping his eyes on the lacy bodice of the dress that he was admiring. “No, why do you ask?”
Anzu smiles cheekily, then pulls out a small poster. It advertised a new cafe that recently opened up, and apparently they were holding a special event for people from all walks of J-fashion to meet and bond with one another. “Wanna go? I've invited a friend whom I want to introduce to you, but if you don't want to go, I won't ever force you to go.”
Tsumugi chews on his lip thoughtfully. He likes being alone, to wander aimlessly amongst the streets of Harajuku or Shibuya, but he wouldn't mind going to a meet up. Especially if he could meet other lolitas. Maybe they could exchange places where they had gotten their accessories from…Tsumugi is definitely not gatekeeping Anzu’s lovely work. So he agrees.
Tsumugi leaves the store with a rather unique gown. Its train is longer than his usual purchases, and unlike the usual sleeves that Anzu sews on, she's taken a new approach by creating a shoulderless sleeve. The sleeve itself also trails along the arm, and when he tried it on he found that it swished with his arm wonderfully. It isn't his usual thing, but he finds it makes for a pretty special dress.
He immediately decides that he wants to wear this for tomorrow's meet-up.
Tsumugi gets home quickly and lays his new dress out on the sofa to remind himself to wear out tomorrow. The argument that he had with Natsume over a project thankfully hadn't escalated, so he's able to relax without it bugging him. He does like Natsume, he really does, but he has to stand his ground to defend himself.
Honestly wish we were able to work it out more gently though… he thinks, before he disappears into sleep’s soft arms.
It's the next morning, and Tsumugi is having a small dilemma over what to do with his hair. He adores his long, curly hair, but he has a blue wig with straighter hair which might fit the dress’ flowy vibe better. It's a small conundrum, but he unfortunately cares about this kind of small details. After wrestling with himself for a totally normal amount of time, he finally settles on the wig.
He prepares himself to go out and when he looks in the mirror, the effect of the flowy dress is obvious. Tsumugi's always been tall, but now he feels slim. He feels slender and the shoulderless sleeves accentuate his collarbones. He feels godly.
Before he leaves, he makes sure he has his phone. He wants to ensure that he can connect with at least one other lolita.
Natsume taps his foot impatiently. Anzu is taking far too long to arrive. He's already been here for ten minutes. Any longer and that mystery person whom she swears he will like will be stood up.
When he finally spots her running towards him at full speed, he sighs loudly. “KittEN, where oN thiS world have yOU-” but he's cut off by the sight of the person that she's pulling along forcefully. “A-Anzu-san, please slow down!” The unknown person yelps out, but she ignores him and continues running at breakneck speed until she comes to a sudden stop in front of Natsume. Evidently, the stranger didn't predict this, and falls forward with the force of the momentum, landing on his shoes.
“I-I’m sorry! I'm seriously so sorry, uh…” The stranger exclaims, his voice tinged with anxiety. He tries to get up, fast as he can, but Natsume is rather intrigued by this person. He lifts a finger crowned by a red nail to drag it along the curve of the stranger’s face, and chuckles to himself. What a delicious-I mean, delicate face for a man, or so it seems from his voice. He's not dressed conventionally for a man, but we are going to a meet up for J-fashion. There's got to be some outliers within the male population.
The stranger gulps as Natsume trails his finger down the side of his face. He's perfectly still until Natsume flicks his forehead and tells him to get up, and then he hurries to his feet and returns to his position behind Anzu. As if he's hiding behind her. What a coward.
“So, who's this?” he says bluntly to Anzu. “Aoba-chan, this is Sakasaki-kun. I hope you'll be friends!” she clasps her hands together on the last word, and beams. Natsume's eyes narrowed. Aoba was his idiotic coworker’s name too. Even more irritating was the fact that he had a very small crush on his coworkers too. He facepalms. Oh well. As long as he can keep his work and life separate. Should be fine, right?
Aoba shifts nervously. “A-Anzu-san, Sakasaki-san, we should be going to the cafe now.”
They all agree on that point and walked towards the cafe, with Anzu filling in the silence by striking up conversation about their J-fashion types. “Aoba-chan, what's your favourite lolita dress in your collection?” Aoba nibbles on his lip in thought. After deliberating for a short moment, he presses his fingertips together and begins a LONG tangent of the different types of dresses he has and his favourites of each archetype.
“So I guess, in the end, the one I'm wearing now is my favourite. For now.” Aoba finishes cheerfully.
Natsume thinks he's cute, but he might have to take off a point for that unnaturally long speech about dresses. Anzu, however, seems unaffected by the length of his rambling. “And what's the most interesting part about being in the Lolita community as a guy?”
That sets off another tangent, which Natsume completely ignores and focuses on Aoba’s adorable face instead. He supposes the dress he's worn was supposed to make him look more graceful, but it doesn't diminish the natural round cheeks that Aoba has. He really wants to squish them.
As soon as they arrive, Anzu turns around to face them both. “I'm seriously sorry to say this, but I've gotta go. I've got an urgent commission, so you two go on with each other!” Without waiting for a response, she runs away, leaving them to go in together.
“W-well, Sakasaki-san…should we go in?” Aoba asks nervously. Natsume thinks it’s seriously too cute how he's tugging at his hair worriedly. “Don't worRY, I had A feeliNG she waS trying to sET us up anyWAY. RelaX, I don't bITE.” Driven by spontaneity, he leans over and kisses Aoba on the cheek. Natsume admires the way a tomato-red blush spreads from his cheeks all the way to his ears.
He is going to be SO much fun to play with.