The bus pulled into the campus north parking lot just after sunset. Dulvelan woke with a snort from his nap when Nikki slipped out from under his arm. The demon rubbed at one eye while the other glanced around. Spotting Nikki, Dulvelan reached out to grab him, but Nikki sidestepped his hand.
“We’re here, you ass,” Nikki hissed, though his lips twitched at the look of annoyance that crossed Dulvelan’s face. “Come on. It looks like Felix’s mom is waiting for us.”
The horned ass tilt his head, but he yanked himself up out of the seat and into the aisle. Nikki turned and led the way, with Felix and Tyan bringing up the rear of their group. Other students from their class gathered their belongings and exited the bus. Several of them went to waiting cars and greeted those waiting for them.
Felix waved to a woman leaning against a sports SUV. The woman grinned, waving back, her short auburn curls bouncing at the movement. The petite woman stood just a few inches shorter than Nikki, even in the two-inch heeled boots she loved. Dark jeans covered the tops of the jeans. A dark blue vest with a lion’s motif sat atop her white button-up. Tall pointed ears covered in red fur and the same black tufts as Felix sat atop her head. Behind her, flicked a short red tail, a match to Felix’s own.
Cassandra -Cassie - in all her 5-foot glory was a fierce, loving woman by all accounts.
“Felix, Nikki! What happened? You didn’t say much in your text, just that you were coming home early,” she asked when the four of them finally stood before her. Her expressive green eyes flicked around the group, sizing up Dulvelan and Tyan. “And… who are these two?”
“Mom, this is Tyan,” Felix said first, his hands on Tyan’s shoulders and shoving him forward. “He’s … pretty much my familiar. He bonded to me in the forest.”
“Familiar?” Cassie narrowed her eyes, then grinned and threw her arms around Tyan. “Welcome to the family. You know, Felix’s great grandfather had a familiar, too, a cute little homunculus named Jackie. Cute as a button.” She finally released the squeaking imp and allowed Tyan to attach himself to Felix’s back. Felix was about to open his mouth and ask if she really knew what that meant, but the woman moved on.
Her eyes turned to Nikki and Dulvelan. “And what’s the story here?”
Nikki glanced up at the demon, then away. He pointedly did not look at Cassie.
“Dulvelan,” the demon said, holding out his hand and smirking at her. “Kitten’s mate. Bonded to him in the forest.”
Nikki elbowed the demon and stepped between him and Cassie. “Mrs. Wilson, he’s-”
“Mom,” she interrupted, putting her hands on her hips.
Dulvelan snorted and draped an arm over Nikki’s shoulders, holding out his hand again towards Cassie.
“Pleasure to meet you, Mom,” Dulvelan grinned.
Cassie beamed at him and took his hand - then squeezed. “So what was that about being Nikki’s mate?”
The woman’s grip didn’t seem to bug Dulvelan; if anything, the demon’s grin widened. “Yes, I saved him. Kitten got lost in the woods, ya see, and I brought him home. Stuff happened… and here we are.”
Nikki let out a little sight. “Yeah… so… Mom… this is Dulvelan. My mate.”
“A pleasure! So glad you could help Nikki… and since you’re now part of the family, you’ll help out at the cafe, right? We don’t abide freeloaders,” Cassie said, finally releasing Dulvelan’s hand.
“The… cafe?” the demon asked, tilting his head towards his mate.
“Yeah… the Lion’s Den Cafe,” Nikki began, “Felix and I help out there whenever we don’t have class.”
“Huh. Never worked at a cafe before,” Dulvelan murmured. But he shrugged. “Sure, whatever. Kitten said I’d need a job out here, so sure.”
Cassie narrowed her eyes, hands firmly on her hips again. “Have you ever worked before?”
The demon shrugged again. “Not in the sense yer thinkin’ of. Where I’m from, ain’t no currency. Was all about power. Got pretty cut throat.”
Nikki shuddered and leaned back against Dulvalen, just thinking about what he’d been through.
“Well, we’d best get back,” Felix said, shaking his head. “Did you have to close early to come get us?”
As Felix reached for the front passenger door, Tyan shrunk and latched onto the feline’s shoulder. Cassie shook her head and went to the driver’s door, pulling it open and sliding in. Nikki headed to the back seat, sliding in behind Felix. When he went to pull the door shut, Dulvelan was there and the demon motioned for Nikki to scoot over.
Muttering under his breath, Nikki complied, and Dulvelan slid into the car.
“Seatbelts!” Cassie reminded as she turned on the car. Felix and Nikki complied, while Dulvelan watched. Cassie turned around her seat and stared at the large demon, raising one eyebrow at him. “Seatbelt. Now.”
“Seat what now?” Dulvelan asked, turning to Nikki. His mate rolled his eyes and pointed to the hanging seatbelt on the demon’s other side. Dulvelan grasped the belt and pulled, watching it extend.
“Click it here,” Nikki explained, pointing to the connection at Dulvelan’s hip. “It’s a safety feature. Have you never been in a car before?”
Dulvelan shrugged as he clicked the metal into the mouth. “Didn’t exist back home. If ya couldn’t get somewhere under yer own power, ya didn’t need to get there.”
Cassie hummed as she turned back and the car started moving. Dulvelan glanced about, frowning slightly, as he watched the landscape go by. No more than fifteen minutes later, the SUV pulled in behind the Lion’s Den Cafe and Cassie threw the vehicle into park.
“There’s still plenty of time to be open for a few hours, since we don’t usually close until ten, so! Put your bags away upstairs. Nikki, you know where the uniforms are, so take Tyan and get him fitted. Felix, you show Dulvelan the kitchen and get him acquainted with the menu. I’ll open the front.”
“Uhm, shouldn’t you check if he knows how to cook?” Nikki asked, even as everyone got out of the car.
“He lived in the woods by himself, Nikki, I’m sure he knows how to cook,” Cassie laughed, “and besides, if he wants my approval, he better damn well know how to cook.”
Oh. Nikki’s fingers tightened on his backpack and he stifled a chuckle. Felix suddenly thrust Tyan into Nikki’s hands.
“Give me your bag, I’ll take it up,” Felix said, “the more time you have to get Tyan in a uniform, the better…”
“Get a shirt for the other one while you’re upstairs,” Cassie called back as she disappeared into the cafe’s back door. Felix snorted and shook his head, before looking up and down Dulvelan.
“I think you’re gonna need more than just a shirt to work in the back,” Felix said, taking the bag from Nikki. “So… you come up with me. We’ll see if my dad’s old stuff will fit you. He was about your size.”
Nikki rolled his eyes and glanced down at Tyan, who sat with his arms crossed in a pout, his wings curled close to him. With a sigh, Nikki strode into the back of the cafe, through the employee’s entrance and into the backroom where all the lockers and extra uniforms were kept. He set Tyan down on the coffee table and started rifling through the boxes of uniforms.
“I don’t know if we have anything that can work with wings,” Nikki said, frowning. “Plenty of stuff that works with tails…”
With a huff, Tyan grew to his five-foot size, pulling his knees up to his chin. “I can… make my wings disappear…”
“Oh, well, that’ll make this easier,” Nikki said, then started pulling black fabric out of the boxes. “You look like a Petite Small, but I guess you can shrink clothes to match your frame. This should work.”
Nikki turned around and held up the outfit, which can only be described as lolita. A black short skirt with a white apron detailed with a pastel pink and the Lion’s Den logo. A large pink bow took up most of the chest area, so the apron was the only place for the logo.
“Uhm,” Tyan started, staring at the outfit. “This… is the uniform?”
“Yeah. Cassie’s kind of a lolitaphile. We’ve tried for years to get her to give up having these as the uniforms, because it tends to scare people away from working here, but she’s not having it,” Nikki explained with a sigh. “Just… put it on. Felix will like it, too, by the way.”
Tyan flushed at that, taking the outfit. Setting the uniform aside, Tyan tugged off his Cheongsam. As he dressed, Nikki went to his locker and tugged off his own clothes, stowing his shoes, jeans, and shirts. Then he pulled on the uniform hanging in his locker, suppressing a sigh. He took out the white stockings and tugged them up over his knees, letting the elastic keep them in place. Then Nikki slipped into the half-inch heeled white loafers.
When he turned around, Tyan stood tugging the skirt as low as it could go, flushing slightly and looking pointedly at the ground. “Uhm… do you have… what’s it called… underwear?”
“Uh, yeah, I think we have some extras… just be warned, it’s probably more stuff Cassie bought,” Nikkie said, going back to the boxes of extra clothing. After a quick search, he found the only kind of underwear, the exact kind he suspected Cassie of having here. Groaning slightly, Nikki held out the lacy white near-thong to Tyan.
“That should… hopefully… keep things in place. We’ll have to take you and the asshole shopping to make sure you guys have basic stuff like boxers and whatnot… Speaking of, you need stockings and loafers.”
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