"Where in hell is the cook?"
Sephiroth didn't raise his voice - didn't need to, his tone carrying the gentle query of a thrown concrete slab. It was coincidence that most of the prep areas were facing away from the door, but everyone took advantage of it, even Vincent suddenly interested in sharpening one of his already razor-edged blades on the edge of a claw.
Sephiroth shut his eyes, pressing the chilled glass momentarily against his forehead, reaching in his pocket and tossing two antacids on the nearest table. He slammed his glass down with enough force to crush both, and with enough skill not to lose a drop of his drink. One brisk, precise sweep threw the powdered mess into the glass and he downed it in a single swallow, expression still cemented comfortably between homicidal and genocidal.
"Your Zack vein is twitching, boss." Reno said, without turning around, lifting a fork out of the soapy water to inspect it, blithely disinterested in how close he was to eating it.
Elena quietly slid the reserve bottle of vodka across the table - judicious use of alcohol not the only reason she was the sous-chef, but the one that usually kept the manager from multiple felonies before the night started. It was New Year's Eve at the 'Masamune', one of the more promising high-profile restaurants in the city - and tonight was the night, the party that would prove if that promise had any lasting value.
If the cook showed.
"Don't we open in twenty minutes?" Barrett Wallace rumbled, carefully flicking a baton coated with molten sugar back and forth over the large dessert centerpiece, too busy with his fragile creation and the calculations of being a pastry chef built like a linebacker in a rather small space to care about his imminent doom.
Sephiroth answered him by pouring himself two more shots, drinking both in a single elegant move. All his moves were elegant, even when he was holding Reno's head in his own dishwater.
At least most of the prep had been successfully completed, nothing spoiled or the wrong color or 'accidentally' touched by any part of Reno. Vincent had spent the last half hour cutting practice cucumber rolls for the Wutainese busboys while Aeris and Tifa chatted in the front, tidying up what was already spotless. Tseng was printing out the final wine list for the evening, a few rather pricy vintages 'discovered' at the last moment, probably off the backs of various trucks, traded for the favor of his momentary disinterest. Business as usual.
"Fifteen minutes." Cid said, trailing smoke through the rear door. He saw Sephiroth's expression, turned on his heel and went right back out the door, lighting a new cigarette off the end of the old one. Elena grimaced, one hand firmly on her stack of towels as the manager's grip tightened on the neck of the bottle. From outside, Cid let out a shout, unintelligible but one of only a possible few four-letter words.
"Hey, sorry I'm late." Zack rushed in through the back door, not sounding at all sorry, using the momentum of his entrance to badly conceal the man he had tucked under an arm - more of a headlock, really. "Everything set?"
Zack loosed his hostage, shedding his street clothes just as fast, uselessly thumping at a uniform made entirely of wrinkles. Tseng usually posed as the head chef whenever Sephiroth required a the photo op, the sommelier one of the only crew he allowed in the front of the house.
The fresh kill Zack had dragged in stood frozen in the center of the kitchen, blinking and bewildered - they'd been introduced to most of Zack's friends this way, and in a few moments most of the kitchen staff were back to their prep work, only Sephiroth left to study him. Young and scrawny, with wide blue eyes that made him look even younger and blond hair that stuck straight up, an alarming pale shadow of Zack's own. God help the universe if there were two of them.
"What's your name?"
Wide blue eyes nearly looked through him in panic – a blue so bright and clear it could have been bottled and set on Tifa's back shelf at the bar. The kid's throat worked, but he didn't manage to make a sound, and after a moment Sephiroth thought he'd have to Heimlich him just to get an answer.
"Name's Cloud." Zack said briskly. "Cloud Strife. He's your new waiter."
"Tonight."
"We lost one last week, didn't we? Or he's an extra. We can always use an extra."
"Tonight." Sephiroth repeated, Elena reaching around cautiously to refill his glass.
Zack blew out a breath instead of answering, quickly going over his station, as if Sephiroth was the one inconveniencing him. Cloud hovered behind him in half-steps, like a duckling, trying very hard not to look at anyone, especially not Sephiroth. Zack unrolled his knives across the table in one smooth motion, ignoring Sephiroth entirely as he leaned back to bellow out the front door into the dining room. "Hey, Aeris!"
She peeked around the door, letting out a little coo of delight at the sight of Zack's newest acquisition - a pair of magpies, the both of them.
"Find him a spare uniform? You're probably going to have to tuck it in all over."
"You bet."
No one could resist Aeris. She could stop parking lot brawls and crying children with nothing more than a polite smile and a gentle request, and it was simplicity itself to sweetly wrap one of Cloud's arms in both of her own, giving him a bright smile full of confidence. He continued to stare blankly, finally managing a weak smile of his own as she pulled him out of the room, and Sephiroth heard Tifa squeal in excitement from the other side of the door - no one in the restaurant not fully dedicated to making his life a living hell.
"Zack." Everyone gave them a wide berth, the head cook the only one who ever argued with the manager - in this together, nearly from the beginning, although there were plenty of days like this one, where it all seemed inexplicable. "You do realize who's going to be here?"
"The money, yeah Seph, I got that. The culmination of all our hopes and dreams and car payments. Well, your car. And the money I owe you for the new windshield."
"We can't afford mistakes, not tonight, and we already employ Reno. Somehow."
Reno lifted a hand in a lazy salute, drops of soap flicking off his fingertips in directions he hadn't even moved.
"The kid doesn't have anywhere to go." Zack said suddenly, in a low, private tone, keeping his eyes on the knives as he quickly assembled the slapdash insanity that he called a mise. "He would work the night for the cost of a back-house meal, and he'd be grateful for it."
"Where did you even find-"
"Please, Seph." Zack lifted his eyes. "As a friend. I don't ask you for a lot of favors."
"Fifteen in the last six days. Not counting sick days and dead grandmothers."
Zack grimaced. "Okay, I ask you for a lot of favors, but I swear this is one of the good ones. Please."
Sephiroth didn't move, or even blink for a long moment, but finally nodded slightly. "He'd better be quick."
Without another word, no interest in the curse of gratitude, Sephiroth took three quick strides and disappeared through the front door. Reno wasted no time, dripping water everywhere as he sidled up to the edge of the table.
"So," he purred, a voice full of felonies. "Another rent boy? What's that, three this month?"
Zack made a face. "So did they figure out what STD that was the last time, or did the next one just devour it?"
Insults rolled off Reno, along with tact, taste and cleanliness, leaving no mark.
"I bet you got him off the corner with that flickery street light."
"Shut up."
"You think he'll steal all your stuff like the last one did?"
Zack smirked. "Everything I have left is here. Especially these very sharp and pointy knives."
Reno was nonplussed. "You have that shot glass collection."
"You broke those and stole the other half."
"Good times."
"Oh my god," Elena blurted, taking a step backward in shock. It took a lot to pull her away from her last-minute preparations, especially on a night as important as this. The new rentboy in a dress, that was a good start. Bracketed by Tifa and Aeris, Cloud still managed to make quite an impressive picture in the full waitress uniform, even if his face looked a bit more like a tomato than before, and one hand furiously tugged on the hem of his unmoving skirt.
"We kind of ran out of regular uniforms." Tifa said, the apologetic smile fooling no one. Aeris was humming happily to herself, fluffing Cloud's hair and straightening the trim of lace around his collar.
"Good legs on him, with no ass and all."
"Shut up, Reno." Zack glared at Aeris and Tifa. "You couldn't man him up a bit?"
"We manned him up."
"Is that rouge?"
"Shut up, Reno." Zack and Aeris both, that time. Cloud did his best to hide behind a menu until Tifa pried it out of his hands.
"Three minutes." Barrett called from behind several layers of cream and angel food cake. Meringue-topped cupcakes sculpted into chocobos were scattered around him in a tiny, decorative flock.
"So..." Zack said, obviously coming to the realization that they'd run out of time to put Cloud in pants, even if said pants could be found. "You ready then?"
"Buh?"
"Just hand out menus, write down orders." Aeris said soothingly, pressing a pad of paper and a pen into his hand. "Everyone's going to be bombed soon anyway, and we've got a special menu, so it shouldn't be that hard to keep orders moving."
"Yeah," Zack said, quickly heartening. "We won't need you for the live lobsters for at least another hour."
"Feh?"
"Oh, and don't get too close to the coat check girl if you have anything in your pockets." Tifa said brightly. "Kisagiri's a total klepto, but Sephiroth got to use the parking lot behind the restaurant - it belongs to her father, and to pay him back, he had to hire her."
"I can't imagine what he must spend in bail money." Aeris chimed in.
"She'd probably rub you all over just for the hell of it." Zack added.
"Mergh." Cloud whimpered.
"Good times." Reno drawled, drying a spoon in the most suggestive way possible.
Sephiroth pushed the doors back open, and slammed his empty glass down on the table at the same moment he caught sight of Cloud. No one moved. Tseng smoothed a crease in the label of a bottle of Chardonnay he planned to sell at a 200 percent increase.
Slowly, carefully, the manager let his hands fall to his sides, composing himself. Only moments left, for a last few precious words to inspire the troops. Sephiroth cleared his throat, gazing at each of them in turn.
"I want you all to know... I have a gun."
He turned on his heel, and left the way he came. Zack grinned, clapping Cloud on the shoulder.
"All right kid, let's make the magic happen."