Title: Beginner's lesson
Author: Nekocin
Type: One-shot, Alternative Universe
Genres: General
Warnings: OoC?
Pairing: very mild mention of TakuyaKouji but not really.
Rated: G
Additional notes: very mild mention of shounen ai but not really.
Disclaimer: Digimon Frontier doesn't belong to me.
A bright smile can always change your mood in a matter of seconds. Especially when it's directed to you.
He hated his current job.
"I wanna hamburger with cheese toppings and extra cucumbers and ketchup and mayonnaise and a large fries and a large coke. Please!"
"Don't forget about your ice cream, honey,"
"Oops! Almost forgot. And an ice cream with sprinkles of Oreo cookies and M&M's too!"
"Good boy. You've memorized all your orders now, honey," the mother ruffled her chuckling child's head and turned to look at him; the soft motherly eyes all honed into icy daggers.
"Make it quick, buddy," she said in a not-so-nice voice.
He resisted the urge to sneer at her for making the OTHER people behind her wait--as if everyone wanted to know how fast--oh, pardon--how slow her son could memorize his orders. Who the heck teaches their sons in the middle of the blazing sun while creating a file of hungry beach visitors in front of his food tent? The mother had made her son repeat every article on the menu list more than who-knows-how-many times and then let the boy order his meal, interrupting only whenever he mispronounced his words.
"Of course, ma'am. Please wait for a while and I'll get right back to you," he bit out, trying to sound polite and scribbled down the orders on a small piece of sticky paper, before sticking the message on the wall behind his stand--the kitchen.
"FINALLY! I thought I was never going to get my turn!" a fat, half-naked man glared at the previous costumer and then at him. "Give me 5 burgers with extra chilies and six large cups of coke, 3 with mayonnaise and on with ketchup--and would you put some extra cheese on the last one!"
"Yes, sir," he answered just as obedient to the irate man, who shuffled to one side under the shade of the tent's parasol. Another annoyed costumer stepped forward and started complaining about the bad service and the long wait. Well, sorry for not having a large enough tent with ten more personnel to provide excellent fast food and snacks for everyone in a mere few seconds. He was just a helper--a good soul who chained himself during the school break to give his services to run a friend's snack tent in the middle of sweaty, fried and barbequed, no-good-bunch of annoying tourists and vacation seekers, who know nothing about keeping their mouths shut.
Yep. This was how he had to spend his school break--a job that made him want to lose his cool every time a costumer so much criticize his snail pace in taking orders, about the good, about the time, about everything! But of course, he wouldn't be so low to give them the pleasure to see that cool Kouji did have an uncontrolled temper equivalent to the dazzling sun above their heads.
With a huff he wiped the gathered sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and flexed his fingers for a moment. He should have cut his pony tail when his brother went to the hair dresser two days ago. As soon as the queue of waiting customers thinned away, the pressure of needing to sate everyone's hunger slowly disappeared.
"God! I thought the orders would never end. Do you know how hot it is inside that kitchen?" His brother shuffled out of the small kitchen, sweat matting his reddened face, arms hanging down as if they weighed a ton and dropped himself on the fold-out chair next to the order stand. He took off his chef hat to use it as a made-shift fan.
"Tell me about it," Kouji said, stretching his arms out in the air and bringing them down to tie his long messy hair properly; those sticky strands were annoying him to no end.
"I'm too put out to play storyteller, Kouji," his brother sighed and slouched in his seat. "How are you faring with our customers?"
A mirthless sneer pulled at the corners of his dry lips. "Never been better. Never been better, brother,"
His brother chuckled. "It's not that bad--I'm sure,"
"You think?"
"Yes! Beach life is all about the sea, the sun, the sky and of course smiles on everyone's faces," His brother threw open his right arm in a wide arc to show him said elements outside their tent. Kouji humored his brother, half-heartedly looking outside; all he saw was skimpy-clad people getting sun-burned that would result to cancer after a year or two. His brother was way too optimistic.
"Excuse me! Anyone in? Hello?"
Rolling his eyes, Kouji went back to his stand to find a little kid wearing a red cap and old goggles looking up at him, and his guardian-of-sorts, half naked down the waist, leaning on the wooden counter.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting," Kouji said automatically.
The guardian immediately pulled out the biggest grin Kouji had ever seen. "It's fine. We weren't waiting that long, were we Shinya?" He then directed his smile to the younger kid, Shinya, who agreed with an earnest nod, and turned back to Kouji with another ready grin. What's up with this guy?
"Can I have four cones of vanilla ice cream, please? And a small pack of fries as well?"
"Please wait for awhile while I get back to you,"
"Okay,"
Kouji scribbled down the orders quickly and passed the sticky to his still-slouching brother. "Get up, brother...,"
"All right, all right,"
"Good,"
Kouji stuck the sticky on his brother's right wrist before turning to stare off at the sea waves crashing forward in desperate attempts to crawl further on land. From the corner of his eyes, the idiotic smiling costumer was watching him with interest.
xxXXxx
By the end of the day both Kouji and his brother broke down their tent over their trailer and packed up for the day. Once they finished packing up, they decided to sit on the white sands of the beach, watching dark waves moving about the sea surface and drink the night away with cans of coke. A sea wind brushed past, putting their hair in disarray.
"It's nice out here at night," his brother said in a whisper putting down his can beside him.
"Aa," Kouji did the same. Thinking about the hard day he had to endure with his brother, made him feel very proud. He had survived one day of endless writing.
"Whatever happened to that guy with the kid and the goggles? Every time he came over to order something I hear you two talking,"
Kouji stiffened. His brother turned curious eyes to him. Silence.
"What's wrong?"
Silence.
His brother poked him with a slender finger. He poked some more. "Hey, come on! Spill!"
"... every time that idiot orders something with his brother, he smiles at me..." Kouji finally revealed.
"Seriously? You make it sound as if it's a bad thing," his brother commented.
"IT IS! He said he was going to be here tomorrow too!"
His brother gave him a strange look. "And that's wrong?"
"Don't you get it, brother? The guy has been smiling at me and everyone around him, but especially at me," Kouji shuddered. "It feels weird,"
His brother picked up his can and hid his amused smile behind it. "Just ask for his name next time and we'll see what happens,"
"Kouichi!"
The night was filled with his older brother's amused laughter and teasing.
.End.
TheNekoTalks:
I... got back to Frontier where I've left of and now I feel burning up for the Digimon fandom again. And this idea just popped out while I looked for a plot bunny who could handle Takuya's smile.
Thank you for reading!
.:Nekocin:.