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BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

A long, very displeased groan echoed in the pitch black bedroom. Baron slapped his alarm clock harder than he wanted to, but still as hard as he meant to. It was seven o'clock, and he had to get ready for his big day.

A quick motion left Baron standing on his feet out of his bed. He reached over to flick the light above his bed on. His eyes forcefully shut themselves in retaliation to the bright light. The Lycanroc rubbed them for a moment, shuffling lazily over to the sink in his kitchen and stumbling over several things in the process. He splashed his face with some water, both hating the obtrusiveness, but also appreciating the invigorating feeling. When he looked in the mirror, his eyes looked a deep red color. To some, that was a distressing thing. For a midnight Lycanroc, not so much.

A quick visit to the showers down the hall and a good toweling off had him feeling much more alive than fifteen minutes previous. Mornings were NOT his favorite thing. He sat on the edge of his bed, sipping on some coffee he had made for himself in his room. The dark, rich liquid was comforting as he sat and pondered the day ahead of him. Today was his scheduled training day to be a bedroom waiter here at the Cafe. Tomorrow, he started his job officially.

The training seminar was an all day thing, starting at 9 in the morning and going until 5 in the afternoon. He really didn't need to be up as early as he was, but he needed to eat some breakfast and mentally prepare himself for the day. After his experiences with Reyka a couple days prior, he was worried about what his reaction to the casual sex stuff of being a bedroom waiter might be. But, that's what the training hoped to teach him to not just deal with, but to embrace. Or at least, he hoped it would.

After readying his bow tie and brushing out his fur, he went to the waiters' lounge upstairs. There were few Pokemon about around this time. More were slowly trickling in as he got his breakfast and sat down to start eating. More coffee and lots of carbs was on his plate this morning. He scrolled through his cell phone as he ate, trying to kill as much time as possible. The longer he sat at his table and ate, the more he wished he hasn't woken up so early for this. Instead of the extra time letting him mentally prepare himself, it was only serving to make himself more nervous.

A long hour passed before it was time. He took one more swig of coffee and grabbed one more muffin on the way out. He had to go back downstairs and around Captivate to one of the function rooms. He could feel the nerves in his gut start to build up the closer he got to the room.

The plaque outside the door read "Function Room A." Inside was a room that looked like it'd been lifted straight out of a well-funded middle school somewhere. The floor was gray carpet, thin and hard under Baron's feet, not like the velvety stuff in the corridors. There were a dozen or so desks, a wide desk at the front for the teacher, bookshelves and counters all around, and educational posters and pictures covering the walls. The back wall had a wide, panoramic window, glowing gently with morning sunlight through white blinds. The front wall, meanwhile, had a classic green chalkboard. It was all highly convincing -- and more than a little jarring.

This was the room used by guests for teacher/student roleplay. Apparently, it was also used for actual teaching. It made sense, he thought: they'd already gone to all this effort to make the classroom like the real thing. Why not use it as such?

He guessed they probably closed it off one day a week for the training seminar. He took his seat next to a male Sandslash, nodding at him in recognition of his existence and shared situation. Baron started munching on his muffin.

The Sandslash leaned over and asked him, "Do you know who's teaching this?"

Baron shook his head.

"Hm."

Now that Baron was inside, he could see an analog clock on the wall above the door. It read five minutes to nine. Several more Pokemon shuffled their way into the classroom, some looking much more like morning people than others. Baron continued to nibble on his muffin and scroll on his phone in waiting.

The clock reached 9:00. The seminar officially began now.

In walked a Bibarel. She wasn't dressed in the standard waiter's apron, but Baron recognized her instantly. Her name was Nina, and she worked on the afternoon shift. She was as fancy as Bibarels could ever get. No buck teeth, dark red lipstick, and now a pair of silver-rimmed glasses. Baron had never seen Nina wearing glasses before.

Everyone was staring at her. The Sandslash's mouth hung open in shock.

"Good morning," Nina said, smiling cheerily. She closed the door behind her and moved over to the desk, where she jumped up and sat on its front edge, her feet hanging far above the floor. "I am Ms. Xavier. I teach Cafe Plaisir's in-house seminars on waiter behavior."

The Sandslash raised a paw. "Excuse me," he called out, a little too loudly. "I thought we were having a real Pokémon teaching us? Not a Bibarel."

Nina, or Ms. Xavier, stared blankly at him for a second. Then she turned to everyone else, gesturing to the Sandslash with one paw, and said, "As you can see, some waiters get hired just for their looks."

There was a chorus of snickers throughout the room. The Sandslash gritted his teeth, but said nothing more.

"But no," the Bibarel continued. "I really am here to teach you. Trust me -- I am, in fact, qualified to do it. Put that out of mind, because today's seminar isn't about me at all. It's about you. Each and every one of you. The administration of Cafe Plaisir thinks the topic of how you behave as waiters is so important, we're about to spend our whole day on it. And I agree.

"I'm seeing a few familiar faces in this group, but many of you are quite new to Plaisir. So why don't we start with some introductions? We'll go around, and each of you tell everyone your name, your shift, and what you want to offer your customers. Anyone who says 'my dick' for that last one will get an apple thrown at their head."

"You don't have an apple," said a Mienfoo on the far side of the room, meekly.

Ms. Xavier raised a paw up next to her head. She flipped it forward, and there was a green-and-red apple in it. "Magic," she intoned flatly.

The group of Pokemon all exchanged looks around the classroom, no one necessarily wanting to be the one to speak first. The Sandslash was the first one to speak.

"My name's Raptor. I work the morning shift, and what I want to offer my customers is my dic-"

THUNK

"...I want to offer them whatever services they want." He looked even more pissed now, and sat down with a huff. Again, the whole room snickered quietly to themselves.

The next in line was a delicately striped Ampharos. She asked, "Are we using our real names or our waiter names?"

The Sandslash twisted around in his seat and scowled at her. "Do you think my parents actually named me Raptor?"

Ms. Xavier cut in. "I really don't want to rag on you all day, Raptor, but one at a time, please." She smiled at the Ampharos. "Go ahead. Whatever name you want us to call you."

"Well, people call me Tilly. So I guess that." The Ampharos, Tilly, cleared her throat. "I'm on the evening swing shift. And ... I don't really know what I'm offering the customers. Um..."

The Bibarel smiled placatingly. "Don't worry about it. We'll be talking about what you--"

"I want to make their wildest dreams come true!" Tilly exclaimed.

Everyone stared at her.

"Well," Ms. Xavier said. Her smile had turned a bit sneakier. "If you can do that, you'll be the star waiter of Cafe Plaisir. I'm rooting for you."

A short lull caused Baron to speak up next.

"My name is Baron. I work the afternoon shift, and I..." He thought for a second, scratching his chin with a claw. "I want to offer my customers a sense of feeling special."

Ms. Xavier slowly smiled again, nodding once in approval. "We'll come back to that idea later."

Baron pondered what she meant by that. Her answer probably meant either that was distinctly a good goal, or a not so good goal.

There were three more waiters in the room: a Mienfoo named Cleo, a Frogadier named Bubbles (really), and a Wartortle named Christoph. They each took their turn introducing themselves, but none merited any special comments from Nina. Baron got the feeling they were all very new; maybe they came straight for the bedroom waiter job, instead of just working the floor at first like him?

Once the introductions were done, Ms. Xavier resumed talking. "You may be wondering how we're going to spend eight hours talking about what basically boils down to etiquette. But even if you weren't, here's the deal: Today is going to be broken up into a few different sections. First is just information, regarding the background of the Cafe and your role in it. The part you probably expected from the start, the dos and don'ts of working with customers, will be in the middle. And then we'll culminate with some more hands on applications."

Several people shifted in their seats. Baron raised his paw and asked, "Will we be doing... stuff, with each other?"

The Bibarel looked at him for a second, then spread her legs wide apart on the desk, leaning back on her forepaws. Her pink slit was right there in full view, in front of everybody. "You wanna fuck me, Baron? You wanna fuck me right now?"

Baron stared blankly. His cheeks started to heat up quite quickly. He said nothing.

"Exactly." With that definitive statement, Ms. Xavier put her legs back together, hopped off the desk and landed on her feet. She circled around to climb up on the desk chair, in order to reach the chalkboard. "A customer might ask you that at any point. You might feel turned on by them, or you might not. Don't expect to enjoy all your customers like you would enjoy partners for free. But you can always say no. And that brings me straight to our first point."

She picked up a piece of chalk and began writing. For a Pokémon without any proper thumbs, her lettering was surprisingly neat. At the top was: ROLES. Beneath it, in successive lines, went Escorts, Serving the customer, and Pokémon and humans.

"Your first, and official, role to customers is as an escort. And that's not just a legal necessity. You're not sex slaves in this establishment. You're companions to whoever buys your company. At any time, you can withhold your services to any customer, and nobody can hold you at fault. It doesn't matter if you're turning down a bedroom offer during the dinner rush, or if you get all the way to their room and you realize they're more trouble than you bargained for. The Cafe will not punish you for exercising your right to say no."

Ms. Xavier raised a paw and pointed to the next item on the list: Serving the customer.

"It's important to convey that point about consent first, because it can seem like it runs counter to this next point: Your role as escort is to serve the customer. This isn't a legally enforced obligation, but it is something your job performance depends on. You know, a third or so of the Pokémon who wander in here looking for work as waiters just think they're going to get free run to fuck all they please. Like they're customers themselves. But that couldn't be further from the truth. You can say no to your customers, but they can say no to you. And if you make yourself unappealing to them, they probably will.

"Sometimes we get waiters who think: 'Oh, if I strong-arm them into saying yes, then it doesn't matter if the people are uncomfortable!' We do not tolerate that kind of behavior from our staff. It isn't just morally wrong to make customers walk away feeling intimidated and hurt: it also reflects badly on the whole establishment of Plaisir. If we learn you're coercing customers beyond their comfortable limits -- and by the way, they can lodge complaints, anonymously -- you'll be reviewed, and further action will be taken if needed. Waiters can and have been fired for failing to respect their customers' wishes.

"But serving the customer is a two-sided coin. What I just described is the 'don't' portion of 'dos and don'ts.' The 'do' portion is what a couple of you touched on in your introductions: The key to success at Plaisir is in making your customers happy. Think beyond the day, or the evening, or the night you share with someone who hires you. Think like this: A week later, when the customer thinks back on it, will they want to come back to Plaisir for you? Will they set aside whatever other fun and cool things they were doing with their time? That kind of loyalty is the backbone of our revenue. Most of our customers live within fifty miles of the Cafe. That's a small radius for non-repeat business. So we'll talk a lot about how to treat your customers right."

Then she pointed her paw at the last item on the list: Pokémon and Humans.

"This point is a little different than the previous two. It's very particular to our time and place. Twenty, thirty years from now, consent will still matter most, serving the customer will still be a prime goal. But Arceus only knows how this one will be. The Liberation took place a little over fifteen years ago. All but our youngest employees remember life before it. And the same is true for all but our youngest customers. So we routinely deal with human customers who remember a time when Pokémon were slaves. How they feel about that can really vary: some want nothing more than to move beyond it, some even feel broken-up enough about it that they want to be tied up and punished by Pokémon now." The Bibarel glanced off to the side, and added in a muttering voice, "Not that half our customers don't want to get tied up regardless."

She refocused on the group and continued. "But a lot of humans have it in their mind that Pokémon have usurped a role in society that doesn't belong to them. It's silly of them. They treat us like a minority race. Anyone here study history? Every time an oppressed group of humans gets more official rights, there's a sort of unofficial backlash as the bigots and reactionaries chafe against the new rules. But the humans who get emancipated, they're the same people they always were. Only the rules changed."

As Ms. Xavier talked, she picked up her chalk and began making new marks on the board, to the right of the text. She wasn't writing now -- she was drawing. A semicircle, like a steep-sided bowl, then another above it, pointing down. The semicircles didn't quite touch.

"But Pokémon did change. I'm not just going over this for history's sake. When you're dealing with humans, you need to remember: they're thinking back to a time when Pokémon couldn't talk. When we had no way of participating as equals in their society. It wasn't possible. Then, one day, it was."

Ms. Xavier drew two much more smaller semicircles inside the first pair. They would have been also nearly touching, except that the top one was too far to the left, and the bottom one was too far to the right. She connected the small semicircles to their larger counterparts with some horizontal lines, then turned to the room and pointed to the shape she'd just drawn. "Who can tell me what this is?"

Raptor spoke up, "It looks like the logo on our aprons."

"Correct." The Bibarel smiled at him. "Do you know what it represents?"

"A Poké Ball?"

"A broken Poké Ball. It was one of the iconic images of the Liberation: Pokémon destroying the very devices that had enslaved them. We wear it right on our chests so the customers won't forget whom they're working with: not slaves, but free workers. Escorts, who can choose to say yes or no to their demands. When you're working with humans, be prepared for them to approach you with that bias in the back -- or the front -- of their minds. It's no reason for you to do more than you're comfortable doing."

She paused and glanced around at them all. "Are you taking notes?"

The waiters all exchanged awkward looks, murmuring confused versions of 'no.'

"I don't have any note-taking materials," said the Wartortle.

"I can't really hold pencils," said Raptor.

Ms. Xavier waved it off pleasantly. "Yeah, that's fine. Just be sure you keep listening. I was teasing a little. Anyway, let's keep going, because we've only just scratched the surface of the information portion. We're going to elaborate on all the points I just raised. First up, the legal aspects of your job..."

Baron had to admit: Ms. Xavier, Nina, whatever she wanted to be called, was a very good lecturer. She spoke to the class, writing down many various things on the chalkboard for a good hour and a half before they took a break. She went over all the things that they legally could and couldn't do for customers and how to talk to the customers about those things. They talked about what to do when working the floor as a bedroom waiter, they talked about how to decide to charge people for what they did, they talked about breeding and impregnation rules, and many other various topics.

Baron had decided that, while he had no pen and paper, he could at least write down some important things on his phone. By the time they got to their first break, Baron had three full pages of notes on his phone. There was so much more to doing this job than Baron had previously considered. The way Nina went over all of the information was very interesting, and it was actually making him pretty excited for starting the job.

The second half of the lecture started to go over anatomy and sexual practices of humans and several common Pokemon body types. At first, it was quite embarrassing talking about the different anatomical things. Nina was very knowledgeable. She explained in very rich detail, and even drew some very accurate pictures on the chalkboard. Baron found himself looking down more when she started talking more about canines, ignoring the couple glances he got from the others in the room. While certainly interesting, it was awkward to sit through.

They finished the informational part of the training around one o'clock, when they broke for lunch.

"...And that is all you need to know about the insides of a dragon. Any questions? No? Great. Let us take a break now for lunch, and we'll meet back here in one hour to get into the dos and don'ts of being a bedroom waiter, and then we'll start getting into the really fun stuff, now that we know all about each others junk. See you all at two." With that, Ms. Xavier took her glasses off and sat them on the desk. All the other Pokemon got up and filed out of the room while Baron finished typing a few notes on his phone.

But as he was tapping away, Nina came walking up to him. They were the only two people left in here. She had a polite little smile on her face. "Baron. How are you doing?"

He finished typing his sentence and sat his phone down on the desk. "Ni- Ms. Xavier. I'm doing well. Your class is very interesting, actually. I wasn't expecting that."

The Bibarel chuckled and said, "We're not in session now. Call me Nina."

Baron stood up slowly, putting his phone away. Nina seemed perfectly happy switching personas on cue. It was hard for him to follow. "Alright, uh... Nina. What's up?"

"Well..." She took a breath in. "The other five waiters taking this seminar are all new, or new-ish, recruits who are all pursuing bedroom work. But you've been here for significantly longer. I know for a fact that you used to avoid this kind of work. So ... I don't want to pry, but do you mind if I pry a little? Like -- what happened?"

Baron let out a sigh. He looked away from Nina for a second. "I had... an experience with the more adult side of the Cafe Plaisir a few days ago. I was asked if I would be the escort for someone specifically requesting a Midnight Lycanroc. I agreed, and the money was so good, I decided that I might as well continue doing it."

"You sure don't seem too excited about it. Here, walk with me, I need to eat." With that, the Bibarel turned on her heel and beckoned for him to follow, her flat, rudder-like tail on display behind her.

The duo walked out of the room together. Outside, the corridor was mostly quiet. All the other Pokémon were long gone. The only noise was of the lunch crowd in the main bar, probably starting to ebb away by this time of day. They walked in its direction.

Baron said, "I ... didn't have the best experience."

"Did they mistreat you?" Nina frowned. "I know you got an earful about just that topic today."

"It isn't that. I was a complete virgin up until that happened. I got... attached to her, and when she didn't share the same feelings, it left me feeling really bad. I'm honestly really worried about working as a bedroom waiter, even if the money is honestly too good to pass up."

The Bibarel paused, then said, "Maybe that's something we should think about covering in these seminars. How to hold customers at an emotional distance. I mean, I say it like that, but I know it's not easy to figure out. I bet a lot of our waiters have had that issue, but unlike customers, they can't just come back to their favorite."

They fell quiet when they entered the main bar. Sure enough, a dozen or so guests were sitting around, mostly with empty or near-empty plates on their tables, being attended to by the morning and midday waiters. Baron and Nina walked straight through to the other side, heading instead for the staircase upstairs in the bedroom block. Their destination was the waiter's lounge.

The waiter's lounge, unlike the main bar, was still fairly busy. About a dozen other Pokemon were already in here, taking up spots all along the right half of the room on chairs. Many waiters took their meals in their own rooms, but anyone who wanted company came up here.

The pair grabbed their lunches and sat down at one of the free tables. Nina started to eat right away, but Baron stared at his sandwich on the table. Nina raised an eyebrow.

She asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Same topic as before," Baron said, after a pause.

The Bibarel frowned, concerned. "It really did mess you up, didn't it?"

He sighed. "Sort of, yeah. I'm not used to that kind of stuff. I told her how much I liked her, and and said she felt the same way. But, it turns out, she thought I was just playing the role, and was doing the same." He opened his bag of chips and nibbled on one.

"When you say 'that kind of stuff,' you don't really mean the sex, do you? You're talking about what you thought was a mutual sharing of attraction."

He nodded.

She took another bite of her wrap, keeping her eyes on Baron. After swallowing, she said, "I'm sure you've noticed that most of the waiters here aren't really attached to their customers. It's tricky. For some people, sexual intimacy and emotional commitment are unrelated topics. For some, they're totally intertwined. Most people, myself included, are somewhere in the middle. The trick is to keep in mind that your job is just sex. Maybe really affectionate sex, maybe that makes the customer feel happy inside, but -- just sex. Not love."

"But what if they really like me?" he asked.

"Did your first customer really like you that way?"

Baron looked down.

"I don't mean that as an insult," Nina said quickly, upon seeing his reaction. "But these customers say all kinds of things in the heat of the moment. And if one really does get attached to you, down the line -- if you're lucky, that'll net you a regular. Just don't look to the guests for ... you know, social sorta relationships. Friendship. Romance. They're not here to give you that."

"What if that's what they want? Is it not our job to give it to them?"

"Well, that's the ticket, isn't it? Being an escort does mean being more than just a warm body for them to please themselves on. It also means being a conversation partner, keeping them company -- just being with the customers. But it's to satisfy their needs, not yours. Your need getting satisfied is the need for money. That's the job."

"I guess I was hoping this class would help me to get over that feeling. I figured most people would have the same problem I did at first."

Nina shrugged. "Maybe. I think usually the problem is they're not attracted to their customers."

"I guess I got lucky and unlucky then, huh?" He nibbled another chip.

"Yeah." The Bibarel smiled ruefully. "I guess. But like, you live here, don't you? You have a room downstairs."

"Well, yeah. What does that have to do with anything, though?"

"Indulge me. Who are your... oh, I dunno, your three closest friends here? Let's go with that."

"Okay. Well, I hang out with Flare and Gideon sometimes. We're on the same shift. They're pretty nice guys."

"Any friends outside the Cafe?"

He thought for a second, "Not... not really."

"Family?"

"I was trainer raised."

Nina nodded, taking another bite of her wrap, then washing it down with a sip of water. She asked, "You ever wonder if you might be kinda ... kinda starved for emotional connection with people?"

Again he thought for a little bit. One bite of sandwich later, he looked up, "I never really thought about that before. Maybe? I never really felt lonely. But, I guess that doesn't necessarily mean I would notice."

"Well, food for thought. I'm probably the last person anyone ought to look at for an example of a proper stable existence, but it's not impossible here. Get your Duckletts in a row, and maybe you'll have an easier time with customers who say they like you."

Both Pokemon went quiet for a little bit, focusing more on their meals.

"I have a question," Baron said suddenly after a couple minutes.

Nina nodded. "Go ahead."

"When you did that ... thing, on the desk, this morning, where you asked if I wanted to ... you know, have sex with you. What were you gonna do if I said yes?"

"Oh, that was gonna work for the lesson no matter what," Nina said instantly, as casual as ever. "If you said no, or dithered on it like you did, I'd point out that customers sometimes ask for these kinds of things. If you said yes, I'd point out that customers aren't always so ready to offer themselves for you." She paused, and a sly smile flashed across her face. "Why? Change your mind?"

"Not... really, honestly."

"That's the spirit." The Bibarel's smile turned more amused. "Although if I were paying you, you'd still probably want to consider it."

He nodded. "You're probably right. I couldn't believe the number I saw on the paycheck I got after that night." He chuckled, "I honestly don't even need the extra money, but it's nice to have a backup plan, I suppose."

"Mmm. We should probably hold a seminar on fiscal responsibility. But only if the waiters don't share any of the ideas from it with our customers."

He chuckled again. "Hey, if they have the money to spend, who are we to judge?"

Nina smirked. "Now you're talking like a waiter."

"I think I need a seminar on how to make friends now, I suppose."

Suddenly, Nina burst out into a low chuckle. "Ohohoh, ohhh, that's a tough seminar. Yeah. Step one: Have friends." She pursed her lips, making an effort to sober back up. "Yeeeah. Well, on the bright side, you're not the only person here to want them. You might want to think about spending more time up in this room. You can meet people when they're relaxing."

He pursed his lips. "Maybe. I'm not typically great at just talking to people out of the blue for no reason."

"Bring food."

"And get them to talk to me. Hmm. Makes sense. I can make a mean fish and chips."

"It's the strategy I used in college, basically. Except less fish and chips, more thin crust pizza. People loved it. And they ... you know, reasonably liked me, so that worked." Nina smiled. "The point was less for them to come to me for food, more for me to get to meet them and start talking to them. Only got one or two friends out of it, but you only need one or two."

Baron finished off his sandwich. "That's a lot of stuff to think about. But, thank you, Nina. I... I think that helps me out quite a bit, actually." He took a drink of water, then paused, and looked to the Bibarel. "Are we friends now?"

"Acquaintances, I think," Nina said mildly. "I'm just going to be totally honest with you here: I don't think I'm the kinda person you want for a really close friend. You strike me as a really nice, mild-mannered sort of specimen, and if you play it right, that's a winning personality for making friends. But my personal life is its own big beast." She paused. "That being said, if you need any more help, hit me up sometime. I live here too."

He thought for a second, looking off to the side. He then got a smile and chuckled, "Hey, maybe all it takes is a pizza or some fish?"

"And social skills."

"Hmm. I'll have to work on that one a little, I suppose." He finished off his bag of chips and checked his phone. "Hrm, should probably be headed back pretty soon," he said mostly to himself.

"Yeah. I gotta set up for it." Nina swallowed the last of her wrap, the jumped down onto the floor, taking her empty dishes with her. "See you in a bit, yeah? As Ms. Xavier, that is."

He nodded. "Mmhmm. I'm... a little worried for the next part of this, honestly." He stood up as well with his dishes, following her to the sink.

Nina glanced at Baron over her shoulder as she put her dishes on the countertop nearby. "Why?"

"I think I'm just a little worried for what the 'hands on' section is going to have."

"Nothing you wouldn't be paid to do," the Bibarel said, smiling cheerfully as she headed out.

He stood there and watched her leave. He grimaced to himself, cleaning off his plate before putting it in the dishwasher. He made his way back to the classroom on his own, walking in with a couple minutes to spare. The rest of the waiters were there, but Nina was not yet. He figured she was probably waiting until the clock struck two.

Sure enough, when the clock above the door hit 2:00, the Bibarel walked right in. She was already wearing her silver-rimmed glasses -- the persona of Ms. Xavier was back on. She smiled radiantly at the assembled waiters. "Welcome back! I hope your lunch break was pleasant. Now, we have a lot of work to handle in the next three hours, so let's dive right in and start with that list of dos and don'ts I promised you..."

Baron got his phone out and opened the app he was using to take notes. Very quickly, he noticed himself starting to get tired. His meal was settling in his stomach, and his body just wanted to digest. He made it a few minutes into Ms. Xavier's dos and don'ts before started to catch himself slipping. He felt himself keep nodding off for a few seconds, and did his best to fight it off. After a minute or two, he thought himself successful.

THUNK

Baron yelped, nearly falling out of his seat. An apple had nailed him directly in the forehead. It had landed on the desk, and was rolling towards his lap. He looked around, seeing the chuckles of various other Pokemon. Ms. Xavier did not look so amused.

"Mr. Baron, if you would please be so kind as to stay awake in my class, I would greatly appreciate it. This is the part of the lecture that everyone has been gathered here for."

Baron stopped the apple from rolling off the desk, his brain still processing what happened. He set the apple to the side and picked his phone back up, continuing to take notes as before. Maybe he should have had some coffee for lunch as well.

The lecture was significantly more complicated now than it was before. During the morning, the material had included a lot of basic, general information about human bodies and Pokémon typing and that sort of thing. Now Ms. Xavier was talking about all the different shades of consent: verbal consent, consent through physical action, when it was safe to be proactive and when not ... it wasn't simple. But the way she talked, it was like every little permutation of the lesson had been inspired by some waiter sometime doing something wrong.

It only got more complicated when she began talking about mind-altering effects. Everything from alcohol to berry cocktails to psychic powers to Salazzle pheromones: the things that could impair a person's judgment, whether they were a guest or a waiter.

"Ms. Xavier?" The Mienfoo raised her paw. "Isn't that one of the reasons we serve those things in the first place though, so that customers start feeling more loose and want to take a waiter to a bedroom?"

"Yes. And legally, there's nothing stopping an intoxicated person from giving consent. But they must continue giving consent -- consciously and deliberately -- through the whole process. Some substances run a greater risk of interfering in that consent than others. And, of course, the customer must consent to being exposed to the substance in the first place. There's a reason why we require a written agreement before a customer drinks a berry cocktail."

Throughout Ms. Xavier's lesson on consent, Baron didn't really think he'd need to worry too much about doing something a customer didn't want, considering how boring he typically was. But, he took good notes anyways and paid as close attention as his tired mind would allow him to.

An hour and a half later, they took another short break. Baron quickly used the restroom and grabbed a drink of water before returning to the classroom. He hoped there wouldn't be too much more talking, because his phone was sitting at 20% battery.

When Ms. Xavier walked back in, she pulled up a chair off to the side of the desk.

"Okay, class. It's time for the third and final part of today: the paws on section." She smiled to the other Pokemon, taking a seat in her chair.

"...So, let's begin with a volunteer--"

"Me!" exclaimed the Wartortle Christoph, before anyone else could even begin to react.

Ms. Xavier stared at him blankly for a moment, then continued. "... alright, we have a volunteer. Chris, you're now our customer. Your role now is to choose a waiter and go from there." She looked at everyone else. "And by the way, if you're worried about not getting your turn -- we'll hold one-on-one lessons after today, but right now it's important to show everyone."

Christoph giddily made his way to the front of the room. He eyed each and every one of the other waiters there. A few of them averted their gaze, but another few looked fairly excited. Baron fell very much in the former group. He turn his head downwards, trying to hide behind the giant, hanging hair that came down past his face.

"Baron! I choose Baron!"

Fuck. He looked up, feeling his heart start to thump heavily in his chest. He had a contingency plan for this, though.

"I uh, I'd love to, but I'm... well, I'm straight." He sat confidently, knowing this smooth move would get him out of this.

"Have you ever even experimented before with guys?" Nina asked, giving him a grin.

"Well... no."

"We can't force you, but maybe think about it. And, this applies to everyone here who is gay or straight: you're taking a big fraction out of your client base when you leave one sex out of the conversation. About a third, going by our customer demographics."

She did have a point. And, he was in this for for the money.

"...Fine. I'll do it." Baron said as he placed his phone down on the desk and slowly started to get up.

The eyes of the Wartortle lit up; he seemed awfully excited for this. Baron walked up to the front of the room, swearing that the rest of the Pokemon in there could hear his heart rate. He looked around, and every single eye was looking to them. He gulped, looking over to Nina. She was still sitting in the chair, one leg crossed over the other. She had a very professional look on her face. He then looked to Christoph, then back to Nina.

"Now what?"

Nina pushed her glasses up with her paw. "Christoph will now pretend he's a customer. He's going to hire you for the night, and you're going to do your very best to accommodate his needs. Remember the golden rule: always make sure the other person's having fun, and you'll do your job just fine. So have fun, you two!"

He turned back to Christoph. The Wartortle was eyeing him very noticeably in his sheath. Blood rushed to his face, and noticeably not to his privates. Chris, on the other hand, had a small slit in his shell noticeably parted by the tip of his penis. Baron was having second thoughts now.

Christoph started to slowly approach Baron, "I will have no problem having fun! I love canines, and I love their toys." He licked his lips, never taking eyes off of Baron's sheath.

Baron instinctively started to back up, before catching himself and holding still. He needed to play the part. Or, he had to try to, at least.

"Y-yeah, there's lots of fun to be had!" It sounded more lewd in his head, but it instead came out really dorky. Chris chuckled.

"Baron, if you could just get comfy for me? I'll try not to do anything to make you uncomfortable."

"Take note, class, that this is not something most customers would do for you," Nina said. Baron didn't know if he liked having this session commented on by the "teacher." When he thought that, he realized that this was probably not the first time this sort of scenario had been played out in this room.

Baron shivered. He looked around for a second, before scooting back and hopping up onto the desk like Nina had when she first started the class. He leaned back a little bit onto his paws, legs dangling in the air below him. Chris eased up to him, stopping when he stood between Baron's legs. Christoph was just tall enough where his head came up to about Baron's belly button.

Baron shivered once more when he felt Chris's claws rest on his thighs. He closed his eyes and looked up, focusing on breathing evenly so that his breathing wouldn't be so loud.

"Baron, if you're that uncomfortable with this, we can stop. Otherwise, try not to look like you're being tortured here." Nina's voice came from behind him. He clenched his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. He could do this.

"N-no, it's fine. Sorry." He opened his eyes and looked down to Christoph. His head was inches away from his sheath. He waited, and Baron gave him a small nod. He watched as the Wartortle leaned in, his tongue sticking out and giving Baron's sheath one small lick. Baron grunted quietly, his right leg giving a small twitch.

Chris took Baron's sheath in his mouth and started to suckle gently, chewing softly on it with his lips. Another, louder grunt came from Baron. He reached a paw down and rested it on Christoph's head, giving it a rub. Christoph seemed pleased by this, and Baron could see a blush forming on his blue cheeks. He let out a soft moan as he felt the tip of his sheath open up, his sensitive tip poking out into the Wartortle's mouth. He moaned again, failing to catch it before it slipped out into the room.

Baron's toes curled up and he sat up, using both paws to stroke the feathery ears on Christoph's head. They had a strange texture to them, but they were quite soft. This time, he actually heard a soft grunt from the Wartortle; the ears must have been sensitive. He continued to stroke them, moaning occasionally as the Wartortle sucked on his still growing cock. After a little longer, Christoph had to pull off to stop from choking. When he did, Baron's fully grown member popped out of Christoph's mouth, and he heard a shared, "Oooh," from the class, and a gasp specifically from Tilly.

He had completely forgotten about them, and looked out into the class. All the males had erections, and a couple of the females were crossing their legs. He thought he saw the Mienfoo rubbing herself. He heard Tilly say, "It's so big..."

He ripped his attention away from the rest of the class, focusing back on his partner, who was awing his erection with just as much affection as everyone else. Chris took a step back and admired his work in the form of the large, wet canine cock hanging in front of him.

"That is wonderful," he said, licking his lips. "Now, I want you to fuck me in the ass."

Baron almost visually panicked. He figured he'd get a blowjob and that'd be the end of it. And honestly, Christ was quite good at the act. But, he did certainly not sign on to fuck a Wartortle in the ass.

...But, he was already erect, and he had already come this far. He could feel his decisions being guided not by his brain, but by the lust that was starting to build up. His cock was squirting a little bit of precum onto the floor in front of him, twitching each time. This was fine. He could do this.

"Of course," Baron said as he hopped off of the desk. He thought for a moment how the best way to go about this would be. The thought struck him, and he motioned Christoph over. Chris obliged, walking up to Baron, who quickly picked him up and laid him on his back on the desk. Baron pulled up a chair, standing up on it so that he had the height needed to reach.

"Resourceful," commented Nina from across the desk. Baron didn't notice though. Now, standing over Christoph, he could see the Wartortle's surprisingly long penis laying across the ventral side of his shell. It was long, pink, and had a very large swelled head. Baron didn't like it, but that was fine. That's not why he was here.

He flopped his penis next to Christoph's, making sure he could fit all the way before diving in. While not quite sure he'd be able to fit all the way, he still that his partner was stretchy. He took his cock in one paw, the other resting on the desk to help balance, then placed the tip of his cock -- which was still squirting precum -- at the entrance of Christoph's hole. Baron let the squirts lubricate the entrance a little bit and rubbed his cock over the puckered skin. He watched Chris's face contort in pleasure, obviously loving this.

Baron pressed forward with his hips, a paw still guiding his shaft as it eased against the entrance to the Wartortle. He felt it give and his tip pressed inside. The soft moan from the watching crowd went unnoticed. He was completely focused on the "client" in front of him. He let out a quite loud groan as his cock slipped halfway into Christoph and felt his cock twitching and squirting precum inside, readying the inside walls for his full length. Baron sat for a second before pulling himself out most of the way. Before the tip slipped out, he pressed back in, feeling the inside warmth reach further up his shaft than the first time. One more time for good measure, and Baron found himself hilting the Wartortle all the way up to his already swelling knot. His last thrust was accompanied by a long, pleasured moan, verging on a growl. This Wartortle was deep.

The insides of Christoph's ass were noticeably different from his only other reference point: the insides of a female Vaporeon. It wasn't as soft, but it was immensely tighter. Holy fuck it was tight. As Baron started to pull out once more, he moaned again from Christoph's insides squeezing him the entire way. His breathing was starting to speed up, his chest's rising and falling becoming noticeable.

Finally, Baron started to pick up speed, finding a nice slow motion to start out. Christoph was just tight enough where each of Baron's thrusts was met by a wonderful squeezing sensation, but not too tight where it might have been a little painful. He looked down and saw the Wartortle's claws gripping the edges of the desk. The long, pink cock laying against the shell wElwas flexing and rubbing up against it. Baron thought to himself whether or not he should give the Wartortle a paw. He was already miles past his normal limits, so would that really be a big deal? He was here to play the part, after all.

He decided to wait, since Christoph seemed to be having plenty of fun for the time being anyways. Baron's paws gripped the sides of Chris's shell, holding him steady as he begun to pick up speed by a significant amount. Christoph started to moan consistently every few thrusts. Chris's voice, while still distinctly male, was unusually high pitched -- particularly now. That was a good thing for Baron. The moans drove him to pick up his pace even more, and he could start to feel that familiar burning sensation building up.

He was lasting longer than he thought he might, which was good, but it was starting to build up faster and faster. He needed to make sure that Christoph got off as well, or he'd be failing his client. He reached a paw over and began to stroke the Wartortle's long shaft. Baron found the feeling very odd, and quite a bit different from rubbing himself. It was softer than his cock was, and the surface had a strange texture. Due to the size, he had to use his other paw as well to stroke it because it didn't have the rigidity to stand up on its own.

He and Christoph moaned together, the sounds of Pokemon cries and wet, slapping noises echoing off the walls of the classroom. Baron was glad when he heard Christoph's voice start to rise in volume and pitch, because he was having to clench to stop himself from cumming. He felt the long cock in his paws start to twitch, and decided to ask before he let loose himself:

"Knot?"

"Fuck yes!"

It was done. Baron watched as the large head of the Wartortle's shaft grew even more and started to spew a thick, white river over his own shell. His own cock slammed up against Chris's ass, pushing as hard as he could until his very swollen knot finally popped inside. Baron let out a loud cry as he felt his sack tense up and the first couple of dry twitches gave way to a torrent of his own cum deep into the Wartortle's insides.

Christoph was nigh yelling, his cock pulsing out shot after shot of cum. Baron felt the walls around his cock squeezing and milking him, constantly begging for just one more drop of his seed. Baron drained himself inside Christoph, who then drained himself on his own chest, his face, and all over the desk. It was very, very messy.

A few seconds after the pair finished, the haze over Baron's mind started to slowly dissipate. He was panting very heavily, watching the pink cock in his hands start to retreat back into its containing shell. The realization struck Baron once he went to rub his face with his paw out of instinct, and found a long streak of the Wartortle's cum now across his muzzle.

He crossed his eyes, "Oooohhh god!" He said, trying to wipe it off and only managing to rub it deeper into his fur.

He heard a chuckle in front of him, looking up to see Nina -- or Ms. Xavier, with her glasses still on. She hopped down from her chair, leaving a large, glistening wet spot on the seat.

He blinked. Looking out to the class, he noticed that all of the other people in the class had been not just watching, but also masturbating the whole time. In fact, Raptor was still going.

The Sandslash was stroking his cock between both pairs of claws. Baron saw him look to the tied spot between him and Chris, biting his lip and letting out a soft grunt as his cock shot several rounds of his seed across the floor. Several of the other students watched intently.

"C'mon, Raptor, did you have to finish after them?" said Tilly, who was huffing at her desk, licking some of her own juices from one of her arms.

"It's called endurance!" he replied, slumping in his desk, chest rising and falling quickly as the last few oozes of cum dripped from his tip.

Baron began to pull out of Christoph, but then quickly re-discovered that he was knotted. He grunted, standing there and feeling helpless. He had certainly had fun, but he was also really starting to regret his decision. He just unloaded a huge amount of cum into another dude. He grimaced.

"I uh... I'm stuck," he said, looking up to Ms. Xavier with a pathetic look.

"Well, your knot is doing its job," the Bibarel pointed out gently. "Just let it subside on its own. I think the most important lessons today have all been taught by now."

Baron looked to Christoph, who was still panting on the desk.

"This might be a little bit. It can take a while for it to die down, depending."

"T-that's perfectly fine~"

"Can uh, I get a tissue?" he asked to Nina. "I'm not a fan of this whole cum on my nose thing."

"It's not like I was going to take a photo of you now for your new menu entry." Despite her commentary, she still walked over and fetched a paper towel from one of the counters, fiddling with the roll briefly to break off a piece. She folded it into quarters before handing it over. When Baron got it, all of the corners were thoroughly damp, despite that she hadn't run the towel square under a sink.

"Here," she said, smiling.

Baron grimaced once more, "Thanks, I think." He decided Bibarel juice was much better than Wartortle semen. He wiped his nose off, then attempted to get it off his paws as well.

Christoph wiggled a little bit on the desk, causing Baron to grunt in response.

"Hey Baron, can we do this again sometime?"

He gave Chris an unamused look. "I think one time was enough for me, but thanks."

"Did you not have fun?"

"That's not the point!" He turned his head away, blood rushing to his cheeks again. Luckily this probably helped divert some away from his knot. "As much fun as I had, I think I can still say that I'm not gay."

"Speak for yourself there, because I think you made me even more gay," Chris responded with a chuckle.

The teasing and blushing sped up Baron's unknotting process by a lot, and he finally felt himself shrink enough where he could pop out. It was an audible sound, and it was accompanied by a great amount of seed oozing out of the Wartortle, drenching the bushy tail and floor beneath him. Baron quickly hopped down from the chair, immediately retreating to the roll of paper towels to clean his member and crotch off.

Ms. Xavier turned to the assembled waiters with a smile. "I figured you'd all enjoy this part," she said. "Let's go around real quick. What do you think Baron did to make his customer feel satisfied?"

Immediately, Tilly called out, "He gave him a pawjob!"

"Alright, that's one thing." Ms. Xavier nodded. "Anything else?"

Everyone was quiet for a second. Baron didn't know how he felt about everyone judging his performance like this. At least Ms. Xavier hadn't asked people to point out what he could've done better. That surely would've made a long list.

Raptor raised a paw, then said, "He did everything the customer asked him to do."

"Yes, yes he did," the Bibarel said, smiling meaningfully at Baron. "Let's keep going with that."

The next Pokémon to speak was the Frogadier, the one named Bubbles. He'd been silent for much of the class today. The floor underneath his desk was covered in a slowly growing puddle of white, fed by a slow drip from the desk's underside. He looked completely blissed out, and continued looking that way as he spoke. "I think ... he did a really good job by listening to what Chris asked him to do. I bet being straight was an advantage. Meant he didn't presume."

Ms. Xavier blinked, seemingly in surprise. "Well. That's a quite well-stated idea. Now, of course, some customers prefer a more active waiter. Particularly those who are more submissive: the dominant role comes with increased initiative to act. But that's a good insight. Anything else?"

Chris cleared his throat. He said, "I know it's not my place, but ... as the customer here..."

"No, keep going," Ms. Xavier urged him.

The Wartortle was talking with his back still on the desk, with a slow trickle of gooey fluid running out from between his legs. He had to turn onto his side a little to address the teacher, and the class in the same motion. "Well," he began, grunting laboriously as he moved, "Baron paced himself really well. And, uh... I dunno, I think it went really smoothly. Canine knots, am I right?"

Baron ignored that statement as well as he could. His cheeks were as red as could be under the white fur, though.

"Very good." Ms. Xavier beamed at him -- positively beamed. Then she glanced up at Baron and said, "Now, with the paws-on portion coming to a close, I have a couple concluding statements, but I know you're all very worn out by now, so they won't take long. You might want to get back to your seats."

Chris rolled off the desk and landed on his feet, trudging back to his desk. He left a trail of white droplets on the floor behind him.

The Bibarel came back up to sit on the front of the desk. She glanced down at the mess Baron had left towards the edge. After a moment, she ran a paw through the fluid and licked it clean, nodding in approval. "So," she said, focusing once again on the class. "This brings an end to our lesson on waiter behavior. You're not being graded for your participation today, but the way you implement what you've learned today will impact your job performance. The most successful waiters at Cafe Plaisir are the ones who understand what their customers want. And if you can solve that puzzle, you might just be able to grant them their wildest dreams after all."

She paused, then added, "If you have any other questions or comments, now's the time to share. Otherwise, you can go enjoy the rest of your evening off."

All at once, the Pokémon hauled themselves out of their chairs and started on their way out of the room. Nobody seemed to have any questions or comments after all. Ms. Xavier waited for a few seconds then pulled off her glasses and walked out after them.

That left Baron at his desk. But after a moment, he realized he wasn't alone. Chris was still sitting there too. He walked up, looking off to the side a little bit.

"So uh... when I asked if you had fun, you said, 'That's not the point.' Well, I uh... I was going to make pizza tonight, but I'm never able to finish a whole one myself. If you want, you can totally come hang out at my apartment and we can share. I have an Xbox we could play, too." Chris smiled up at him hopefully. "How's that for a point?"

Baron looked off to the side for a second, his lips contorting in thought. This was certainly not how he expected this day to go. He closed his eyes, considering his options. Finally, he sighed and looked to Chris.

"Sure. Why not?"

"That's what I wanna hear. C'mon, let's go clean up and then we'll take the shuttle into town. My apartment's pretty close by the stop." Chris started walking towards the door, still smiling cheerily over his shoulder. "This'll be fun!"

"Yeah, I need a shower, then I need to grab my phone charger. Meet you in the main bar in a little bit?"

"Works for me!" Chris skipped from the room, leaving Baron on his own in what he now was noticing to be quite a musky smelling room. The cleaning mice were going to have their paws full with this one. The more he thought about it, that pizza move seemed a little similar to the story that Nina had told him earlier. Did he...?

Maybe. Baron pondered the idea as he went to take a quick shower. Earlier, Nina had told him: "I don't think I'm the kinda person you want for a really close friend." And maybe she wasn't.

But then who was? Baron had expected all kinds of new and bizarre things in his life at Cafe Plaisir, but somehow, he'd never considered that one would be 'a boyfriend.'