All for a Cup of Coffee

That settled it.

"Hey, Cherry!" I called and she popped back from the bar.

"Yes, handsome?" She cooed, hurrying over to me with a sweep of her skirt. She wrapped an arm around me and pressed her chest to me.

"I've been wearing the same dirty slacks and shirt since I woke up here. You want to help me shop for something better?" I asked, flicking soap and water off my hands as I turned to her.

"Do I... Want to take my handsome and talented man-" Her eyes sparkled as she repeated it like a claim, "My man! Take him out shopping for some sexy new clothes and dress him up to show off?"

"Well don't make it sound like I'm some doll to play with." I laughed.

"Yes, Harrold. Yes, I want to take you out and dress you up. Especially with all the money we made today. I've absolutely never had that many people even in the High-Tail before. I couldn't have imagined we could've served that many in one day." She giggled and kissed him on the lips.

Was I a kept man now? I choked back another laugh at the thought and kissed her back.

*******

It had taken some time to get everyone out the door, especially after some of the newcomers finally got their eyes on me. None of them wanted to let me go and I had offers in the hundreds of gold for my jizz. Cherry vehemently denied them and hurried such offering ladies to the door.

We had found our way to the tailor's shop two hours later. The tailor was a pretty Lamia with sharp green eyes and long blonde hair by the name of Sarissa. She wore an elegant dress that was cut low across her impressive chest and barely reached past her ass, with powder blue scales making up her serpentine half. When we walked in and told her we were shopping for me, she nearly bounced in joy. Apparently men were rare enough that clothing for my gender was only done to-order and she just kept around a catalogue in the form of a few dozen pictures on worn old parchment. They looked like photos but they were a bit washed out and scratchy. When I asked Cherry about them later, she told me they were a sort of magic that recorded a still scene of the world. Magical photography.

As I looked through the catalogue, I realized just what kind of a kept man I was in this world. The pictures looked like a collection of Playgirl photoshoots with only one difference from my world...

The men were not attractive.

I couldn't actually believe what I was looking at. All of the men modeling the clothes were scrawny, or short, or pudgy. They were sometimes bearded but never well-kept. The few of them that were somewhat fit were also the least masculine looking ones. It was no wonder all the women were so enchanted with me if this was the level of man I was competing with. I'll be honest... It wasn't even a fair competition. Maybe in my world, the prettiest and strongest men competing for a woman's hand in marriage had resulted in better genetics. Here where even the semen of the infirm and ugly was highly valuable, I was apparently the pinnacle of manly worth.

The clothes were a completely different matter too. The Playgirl comparison was very apt on many levels. Aside from their less-than-average attractiveness, the men in the pictures were almost exclusively dressed in skimpy lingerie. Harnesses, garters, stockings, and tight underwear made of silks and lace. There were frills and ribbons. What reasonable clothes there were had glaring bits meant to show off his body like assless pants, or crotchless shorts. Kilts were quite the thing here too, as a number of the chubbier men were shown wearing them while standing with posed arms and spread legs. Was this what it was like for a woman shopping at an underwear store? This world hadn't felt like the gender roles were so terribly reversed, but in this one case apparently they were. Men were expected to dress... well... like sluts and whores.

Eh. Fuck it. Who am I to judge? I liked it when women did it for me back home. If that was the norm in this world, it would be the absolute peak of hypocrisy if I spoke out against it. I'm actually certain that some kind of divine being would strike me down if I said I wouldn't dress in any of this. Honestly, if I could steer clear of the lace, I wouldn't actually mind some of the skimpier clothing. It felt good to show off a bit for the ladies. I wasn't a bad looking guy and I was in damn good shape. No harm in showing it off!

Cherry got more excited with each picture I looked at. So did Sarissa. She kept exclaiming about how she never got to work with someone as pretty as one of the queen's own consorts and how I would be the finest work she ever did. I went along with it for the most part until Cherry started trying to get me to agree to some of the kinkiest lingerie. One in particular she was raving about was a silk cocksock with a drawstring pouch for my balls that tied around my thighs with frilly ribbons. I put the stop to that one right away and she looked so disappointed I quickly found something else to suggest. My offer was for something that looked like a banana hammock. It was shaped like a bikini with a comfortable amount of space for my package but still tight enough to show it off. Most importantly, it wasn't covered in frills and lace, but instead cut solid and sensible. She leapt on it like a starving woman after steak and told Sarissa to make two in her finest dark silk.

Much as I wanted normal clothes, I didn't win on that front either. Cherry wanted to put me in a short kilt and just a scarf around my shoulders. I argued for one of the tight pairs of pants and a sleeveless shirt. We settled on a pair of tight shorts and a sleeveless vest that hung open in the front to show off my chest hair.

By the time we were done, I had a whole new appreciation for women that complained about not just being a piece of pretty meat. Sarissa was happily choosing colors and materials with Cherry. She settled down in front of a sewing machine that I, at first, took to be an ancient pedal-driven model. But of course Sarissa was a Lamia and had no feet to use such and that realization led to me noticing the magical glow that began to emanate from the side of the machine. As soon as she slid the cloth beneath the head, the machine started sewing away automatically with a smooth schlick, schlick, schlick of the needle passing through the material.

"Alright. That's that. Is there anything else we can shop for to make my man happy?" Cherry said with the glee of a high schooler offering up their first date.

"Not particularly but you could show me around town a bit more. I've only seen the market." I suggested and that put a huge smile on her face.

Her tail was actually wagging as she nodded, "I'd love to! We can pick up a few things on the way back and get something ready for dinner this evening. Normally I'd try to be open for lunch but we've been so wildly successful because of you that I think we could take a break."

I kissed her on the cheek and she just about floated off the floor in her happiness.

*******

Scarborough wasn't much to look at, as I had thought from my initial adventure around. There just wasn't much beyond the market and a few shops, taverns, or similar businesses strewn out across the streets. I did make a point of remembering where the shop that sold arcane items was because I intended to find out what kind of magic I could have fun with in this world. Beyond that, there were a few shipwrights down on the shore and the city's docks were pretty impressive. It reminded me very distinctly of every fictional pirate town ever. Lots of ships were anchored either at docks or just out in the bay. People and cargo were coming and going quite busily. All in all, I estimated the town's main population to be in the thousands but less than five or six.

On the inland side, the city and its walls gave way to a semi-tropical countryside. There were palm trees but also more leafy kinds. Quite a few farms spread the land from near the city all the way to the horizon. They seemed to grow just about everything with the majority of the space taken up by orchards and fields of grain. But that didn't stop some of the closer farms from having an absolute bevy of colorful vegetables and fruit plants.

We went to the tailor on our way back, then stopped at the fishmonger for an armful of large tuna-like fish. I made Cherry let me carry them while she just kept the bag of clothes in one hand. It was clear that she was not bothered by doing her own labor, and quite likely expected it. Since everything else in this world was backwards I suspected that a man carrying a burden was an oddity too. But it just felt wrong to carry a tiny sack of cloth while the woman hefted a huge load of gutted fish in a woven basket she had brought along.

The High-Tail was a quick jaunt off the main road from the market and we made it before I started to strain under the load. I set it on the kitchen table and dusted my hands off like it was no big deal. Cherry blew out a breath and gave me a look before tossing me the bag of clothes.

"If you're all done showing off." She chuckled.

"Now what gave you the idea I would ever stop?" I grinned back at her.

"Fair point, and I guess I can't complain. Before I get in your way again, did you want any help with this?" Cherry asked as she nodded towards the fish.

"No need, I've got it. I'm going to need to flay it all and chill it before dinner. This evening I'm going to try something that I know none of you have ever eaten before." I said as I began to size out and look over the quality of the fish. I was pretty picky at the fishmonger but even so, there were certain cuts I wanted and others I'd need to just mince for use in another dish.

"You've done a lot of things I've never had before." Cherry said teasingly before slapping my ass and walking out to the bar. I snorted back a laugh and shook my head.

*******

Dinner came around and we were looking at just about the entire town lined up in the street. Scarborough had maybe a population of two or three hundred and most of the women were standing crowded up and down the street. It was a problem because I only had enough for so many dishes. I told Cherry that we wouldn't be able to serve all of them and she asked what we should do.

"This is why I made that comment about a maitre'd. I wasn't kidding. We need someone at the door to count heads and hold people once we're full." I explained, "Hell, maybe we start a ledger and take reservations from here on so it doesn't become a mob on our doorstep."

"I'll take care of it. How many should we serve?" Cherry sighed.

"No more than sixty. Even that might be risky. I'll part out the fish as best I can and I'll cook up another side to fill it out. Something quick. Something... something. Ah! Tell them that tonight's meal comes with dessert. I'll get something cooking while we're serving." I explained as I eyed a couple of large square metal pans on one of the shelves.

"Dessert? Really?" Cherry looked excited to try some herself.

"Don't get too distracted. If I can pull this off, I'm going to have to change breakfast plans because we'll be out of flour, sugar, and peaches. We're going to end up needing another grocery run sooner than expected." I said.

"Who cares?! Sixty for dinner at a gold each! We're going to make a fortune!" Cherry exclaimed, throwing her hands up as she headed for the bar.

"Not like this we're not. I need more dishes, and we need to raise our prices." I grumbled as I rushed about, grabbing up bowls and the half-empty sack of flour. I began parting out enough into bowls and then mixing in water into each before letting it set while I rearranged the dinner ingredients for extra space.

The voices I'd been listening to outside got more noisy as Cherry opened the front door. The crowd was clearly not happy with what she was saying and they got rowdier. Cherry got rowdiest.

"CALM DOWN YOU LOT OF BARBARIC LITTLE BOYS!" Cherry's voice rose to a sharp howl, "Now! If any of you want any of my man's cooking at all, you will listen! We obviously cannot seat or feed all of you that are out here! If you will form an orderly line down the street, I will count you off and let you in. We're working on our planning but you got to understand that we can't feed the whole blasted town!"

There was a lot of muffled grumblings about that which I couldn't hear well as I worked. I smiled down at the enormous bowl of chilled sticky rice I was scooping out of. Cherry really could have a fire in her when she wanted. The fact that she was standing in the doorway against a group of horny and hungry women that would all trample her to get to me was very impressive.

Apparently she got the word passed around well enough though because she began counting loudly as people came in. She counted and I could see seats filling through the swinging doors in the kitchen's doorway.

"ALRIGHT! THAT'S SIXTY! THAT'S MORE THAN CAN EVEN FIT IN HERE ANYWAY. YOU LOT COME BACK TOMORROW FOR BREAKFAST OR SOMETHING." Cherry's voice boomed out the doorway as she blocked the next shoving woman from getting through. The time it had taken her to get to this point had me nearly finished with the dinner and far enough along on the dessert.

She wasn't wrong about the space. Thirty could seat comfortably in the High-Tail. Another thirty had to stand, squat, squeeze, and shove just to get inside the building. Quite a few ended up on the stairs, sitting where they could to wait for their meals.

Cherry heaved her way through the crowd, got back behind the bar and sighed before entering the kitchen again.

"You should be our bouncer." I observed as I finished up the first plate of uramaki, nigiri, and rice balls, then I paired it with a bowl of thin garlic and onion soup on the tray. I gestured to it, "That's the dinner. It's an oriental dish from my world called Sushi. Comes with a soup you can dip it in if you like. Remember to tell them that this comes with a dessert tonight so don't get angry over the small portions."

"You didn't cook the fish..." Cherry said as she looked down at the dish. She set a bag on the counter that jingled suspiciously like it held sixty meals worth of gold already.

"Not supposed to be. It's seasoned and ready to eat just like that. Here." I said, picking up an uramaki roll and shoving it in her half-open mouth.

She just about choked in surprise before getting her tongue working around it. She looked like she wanted to spit it out at first but then her face changed as she chewed. Her eyes went wide and she swallowed with a gasp, "That was delicious!"

"Thank you. This is going to go pretty quick now that I've got all the ingredients readied and many of the rolls already done and cut. I just have to pack the rice ball for each plate. So get this out there and I'll have two more ready once you get back." I said, pushing the tray at her.

"You sure I can't just eat this one?" Cherry asked as she lifted the tray with a smile.

"Go on." I said as I lined up sushi on multiple plates at the same time.

She didn't delay, whisking the meal out to some lucky patron first. Hopefully she knew to serve it to someone sitting by themselves... Eh, who am I kidding. She could give it to someone standing in the corner and the rest of the room would stare at them. I really had to get this whole restaurant bar thing organized better.

A project for tomorrow, I decided as I rushed to get more done.

*******

"Harrold, they loved it but they're all going crazy for this dessert. I wish you'd tell me what it is." Cherry asked as she looked eagerly at the closed ovens over her shoulder. She stood at the sink with a mountain of dishes in front of her. At my request, she was focusing only on the bowls.

"Patience. I usually don't cook as much of this at one time but everything today has been a bit of a rush job." I said, holding my hands up to calm her.

The gathered women in the bar had been eagerly awaiting their second course for ten minutes now. Cherry had been serving beer and liquor to an excited and happily spending crowd since dinner had started to wrap up. It had been a slim thing to get it all done with the dishes we had. Just like the last meal, Cherry had to come in and start washing dishes for me before we had even finished.

One more glance in the oven and a sniff of the crust and I knew they were done. I had packed the ovens to bursting and it had taken some clever rotating to keep them cooking evenly. But I had managed to cook ten pans at once without any of them burning in the brick ovens. I pulled them out one at a time and set them on the table.

"Oh yes! This smells so good." Cherry exclaimed as she turned from the dishes to stare eagerly.

I covered most of them with towels before cutting out a square slice from the one I left bare. I scooped it into a bowl, carefully drizzled a bit of juice from the bottom of the pan on the crispy crust before dusting it in powdered sugar.

"Here you are. A crispy topped peach cobbler." I said as I held the bowl up to her.

Her face fell and she said, "A cobbler? That's... that's it? I've had that before."

I rolled my eyes and huffed out a breath, "Oh please. Try some of this and tell me you have." I said as I shoved the bowl ino her hands.

Cherry shrugged and dug in with a spoon. She cut through the crust with a crunch and scooped up a slice of peach before popping it all into her mouth. There was about a single second of realization and then her face went as bright as it had with the sushi earlier. She quickly chewed and swallowed before saying, "I'm sorry Harrold! You are so right. This is so much better than anything I've had before!"

"Great. Serve the rest first." I said as I plucked the bowl from her hands.

"Hey!" She jumped and looked up angrily.

"Customers first. Then you can come have yours." I said as I set it on the table and began scooping other bowls.

She looked sullen but did as I said and took the cobbler out to the bar as fast as she could. From the sound of it, the women were enjoying this just as much as they had the sushi. I had been a bit worried that the sushi wasn't going to go over as well as my other meals had, but apparently the novelty of being cooked by a man was enough to get all of them to try anything.

Cherry finished serving and came back to her own bowl. As she dug back into it, I leaned against the table and said, "I want to hire another employee."

"What?" Cherry said through a mouthful.

"We can't hardly keep up with all this. We need you to stay at the bar and to run this place as a whole. This running back and forth is no way to run a restaurant, there's nobody out there for most of dinner service except when you're dashing out there with meals." I said, gesturing to the bar.

Cherry swallowed and asked, "You sure? That'll cost money and I'm used to this. I usually have to cook stuff beforehand and then spend the whole time running back and forth anyway. I'm never standing at the bar unless someone is getting a drink."

I shook my head, "You want me to be chef, we run this place right. I've hobbled along with what we've had until now but I need a second set of hands that can just do what I need while you keep things in order. We also need a bunch more dishes if we're going to keep cooking this big. Long run, I'm going to hire a full team."

"Oh we definitely are! You can't imagine how much money I've been making! This one dinner has made me more money than I usually make in a week! It's not just the meals either! I've almost sold out of beer and I actually am out of booze!" Cherry beamed as she stuffed her mouth again.

"Great. You finish that, I'm going to talk to everyone." I said, pointing at the cobbler and then at the doors.

"Uh-huh!" Cherry said, her attention focusing entirely on the sweet dessert.