Two Weeks

by SukiNora

The guys work at Aussie Times, and Australian themed restaurant. Heero, Wufei, and Trowa are cooks, and Duo is the top server who is selected to train the newest Aussie-server Quatre. Heero secretly likes Duo, who has just put in his two weeks.

1. Chapter 1

Two Weeks

By: SukiNora

Disclaimer: Don't own em.

Summary: The guys work at Aussie Times, and Australian themed restaurant. Heero, Wufei, and Trowa are cooks, and Duo is the top server who is selected to train the newest Aussie-server Quatre. Heero secretly likes Duo, who has just put in his two weeks.

A.N. Guess what restaurant I work at : ) An australian themed steak house! Many of the things occurring in this fic are based on work experiences. Hope you enjoy : ) There will be 14 chapters, one day at work for each of Duo's last two weeks.

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"Well, Quatre," Sally said, patting him twice on the back as she gazed around the empty dining room. "I'm sorry to tell you that you have kind of a long day ahead of you. We need to get you on the floor by wednesday so we're going to have you learn both opening and closing today. It should be slow since it's monday so I'm sure you'll be fine. We've got our best server training you today, and he agreed to do an open to close, so you'll be in good hands."

Quatre nodded slowly, feeling a little anxious. He'd served before, but being in a new town, in a totally new restaurant kind of put him on edge. Especially since he had to wear this stupid flight shirt. He'd been given a dijon mustard colored one.

"Oh, there he is now," Sally said a smile appearing on her face as a tall, well built man sauntered into the bar area with a giant blue icee. His faded blue jeans hung low on his hips, slightly exposing his lime green boxers, his black t-shirt hanging loosely on his chest. He carried a bright red flight shirt, and black slacks in the crook of his arm.

"Hello, Sally, you're looking lovely today, as usual," he said, taking a long slug of his drink and raised his eye brows, before chucking it into the garbage can behind the bar.

"Yes, yes, Casanova," she chuckled. "This is Quatre, he's the new trainee. Quatre this is Duo."

"Oh," Duo said happily, a big grin appearing on his face. "Nice to meet you sir," he held out his hand for Quatre to shake.

Quatre automatically felt better once he met his trainer. He just had this kind of laid back attitude that automatically put him at ease. "Nice to meet you as well."

"Well boys," Sally said, patting each of them on the back as she walked past them. "Get to work!"

The two watched Sally disappear into the lobby and Duo let out a long sigh, and flashed Quatre a big a smile. "Lets get started, shall we?"

Quatre nodded. "Absolutely."

"Great," Duo said. "Follow me."

Duo led the new guy into the kitchen happily. He'd trained some pretty stupid people in the past, but he had a good feeling about this new guy. He didn't look like the type to get scared easily.

"Okay," he began as they made their way into the kitchen. "First off, we need to go get the left overs from last night. They're in the walk- in."

He gestured with his head towards the back end of the kitchen. "So, Quatre right?" He asked. Quatre nodded, following him into the walk- in and watched as Duo pulled out a big plastic bin that contained multiple metal containers that were covered with plastic lids.

"Yeah," he replied, holding the door open as Duo exited with the leftover toppings.

"Cool name," Duo said. "You ever served before?"

"Yes," Quatre replied, helping Duo unload the metal containers into crevices next to the expo window, where the food was trayed up. "But I'm a little nervous."

"Oh don't worry," Duo smiled brightly at the newbie. How cute, he was scared. "You'll be safe with me."

The two made small talk as Duo showed Quatre all the things required to open. "Now, usually you wont have to do this by yourself, since we have two openers. But since you're here I told Zechs not to worry about coming in until we open."

Quatre sighed a breath of relief, he wasn't sure he'd be able to remember everything that needed to be done by himself.

"Hey, Duo, you got custody over the newbie?" Quatre turned quickly at the sound of the noise, blushing slightly at his new nickname. Duo smiled and leaned down a bit to stare past the metal partition which separated the cooks from the servers.

"I sure did, Trowa. This is Quatre," he said, pointing his thumb towards the blushing blonde. "Make sure the other guys are nice to him."

The cook smiled back at the two servers, his hair covered with a light green bandana. "I'll do what I can, but you know I can't vouch for the them. You know how they are."

Duo chuckled, winking at Trowa. "Come on, you know y'all are just softies at heart."

"You really think that don't you," came a new voice. "Too bad you don't realize that's the exact opposite reason why we're stuck in the back and not on the floor. We aren't equipped to interact with the actual customers."

Duo rolled his eyes, a smirk finding its way to his face. "Whatever, Wu-man, just be nice to him."

"I've told you multiple times, you braided ignoramus, my name is Wufei! You'll remember that if you want your food to ever leave this kitchen!" He emphasized his annoyance by clicking his tongs at the braided server who had momentarily paused in his introductions to button his flight shirt.

"Hn," another cook snorted, his back turned to the others as he prepped the grill.

Wufei sighed, glaring at Duo who suddenly looked oddly smug. "You're lucky you've got Yuy on your side," he growled. "God knows why," he trailed off.

Duo laughed and pointed to the cook with his back turned to them. "That's Heero, he's the grill cook. You get in good with him, and you're good with all the cooks. Since they're all terrified of him," he added quietly.

"Don't fill his head with false hopes," Trowa laughed out. "You know you're the only server Heero can even remotely stand."

He shrugged. "What can I say, I am pretty awesome."

The other two cooks rolled their eyes as Duo laughed and led Quatre out of the kitchen into the dining area.

"Ohhh," Duo said happily, dragging Quatre over to a table that had been sat with two older ladies. "Looks like we're open."

Quatre felt a bit nervous as Duo led him to their first table. A little further along the wall of booths another server with long blonde hair pulled into a low pony tail was taking a young couples order. Quatre raised an eyebrow as Duo introduced them both, finding it strange that both Duo and another male server had such long hair. Sally must be a very liberal manager.

"Hello, ladies," Duo said happily, passing a coaster out to each of the women at the table. "My name's Duo, and this here is my trainee Quatre. We'll both be serving you today. Can we get you started with something to drink? Coke products, iced tea, or are you thinking about heading to margarita- ville today?" He finished, raising his eye brows suggestively at the elderly women who giggled in response.

"No, no, dear," the first lady responded. "I think I'll just take black coffee."

The second lady nodded. "I'd like coffee as well, but I'd like cream."

Duo nodded. "Fair enough, I'll have these drinks right out for you."

As Duo led Quatre back to the kitchen, he placed his hand on the newbies back, leading him over to the coffee machine. "Now, I know you've said you've served before. But let me give you a few pointers. First off, old people fucking love coffee. Even if they initially start out wanting water, if you let the word coffee drop you've got another two bucks added to their tab. And when you suggest an aussie- tizer, always go for the shrimp. For whatever strange, wacked out reason, old people inhale shrimp."

Quatre nodded, taking in everything Duo said. "Seriously?" He asked. "Shrimp?"

Duo nodded enthusiastically, throwing some creamers into a small bowl. "Oh for sure! I'm telling you, old people love shrimp! But who doesn't honestly, that shit is delicious. Ain't that right Heero!?" He called as the two carried the drinks past the expo window. Quatre finally got to see the mysterious cook as he nodded his head. He had a black hat on backwards, pulling his messy hair off his forehead. His blue eyes looked amused as he watched Duo exit the kitchen with his new trainee.

It was true that Duo was the only server Heero could remotely stand. All the rest of them drove him insane, and he had no problem showing it, or taking his aggression out on their food. Oh how he loved being a cook, he could make the entire restaurant crash and burn if he wanted.

Heero had started off as a prep cook at the same time that Duo was a busser. It was his first job and he quickly found himself somewhat intimidated by the other employees, all of whom seemed to not even realize someone new worked there. Except Duo that is. On his first day when he couldn't find the onions in the walk- in, Duo paused in his collecting of lemons for the bar, and showed him around. Ever since, Heero had secretly been infatuated with the braided man. As their friendship evolved, so did his feelings, but he found himself much to nervous to make a move.

"You make me sick, Yuy," Wufei mumbled under his breath as he pulled three plates and laid them out in the expo window. "The second you let a server think we like him, and it's all over. Suddenly they want us to do all these favors for them, make sure their food comes out perfect, help them steal shit for their tables. I blame you for this."

Heero snorted, and flipped a piece of salmon on the char grill. "Duo's not that kind of server. He's not Relena, and you know it."

"We'll see," Wufei grumbled, placing a steamed vegetable bag on the appropriate plate as Duo came into the kitchen laughing hysterically and exclaimed "What did I tell you?! I've got a grilled shrimp coming back!"

The two made their way to the computer and Duo showed Quatre how to punch in his food. The other blonde server was on the computer next to them, punching in his own order but ignored the two as he did so. "And thank god old people love shrimp. That appetizer just saved the bill for that table." Duo nudged the other server. "Splitting a six ounce. Gotta love mondays."

The other nodded and rolled his eyes. "At least you don't have a 14 year old couple. I didn't even know high school let out this early."

"I guess so," Duo laughed out. "By the way Zechs, this is Quatre, he's the new server."

"Ah," Zechs said, holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you. Glad to see the cooks haven't scared you off yet." He ducked his head to avoid the lemon that was thrown at him.

"Shut your insolent mouth, Merquise," Wufei exclaimed. "Your grilled onions are at my mercy."

Heero emphasized the threat as he sprayed more oil than necessary on the onions, producing a large cloud of smoke and a particularly violent hissing sound.

"Fucking cooks," Zechs mumbled under his breath as he stalked out of the kitchen with an iced tea.

Duo laughed. "They really aren't that bad," he assured Quatre, who was beginning to look a little pale in the face. "You just got to know how to get into their hearts." He turned his backs to the cooks, and quietly whispered to Quatre. "Go ask if any of them want something to drink."

Quatre looked back at him incredulously. It couldn't be that easy.... could it? As though he could read his mind Duo nodded, tilting his head towards the expo window.

Taking a deep breath, Quatre turned and leaned down so he could see the cooks a bit. "Um," he stammered. "Do any of you need something to drink?"

All three cooks stared at him in silence, blank looks gracing their faces. Trowa spoke first. "What did you say your name was?"

"Quatre."

"We'll be sure to take care of your tickets. I'd like a water, please."

Heero rolled his eyes and smirked as Quatre poured the three waters. He stifled the urge to laugh as Duo ripped them from his hands when he realized the new guy hadn't put nearly enough ice in them. How easy the other two fell at the hands of helpful servers. None of the cooks particularly liked going on the other side of the partition, especially not to get a drink. They weren't experienced in getting them fast and efficient, and to leave the back line meant getting in about seven different servers way and causing a long line at the soda machine. Heero had to give Duo credit, he did know how to get on a cooks good side.

"The new guy might not be all bad," Wufei conceded. "At least he's not stupid enough to get us water without a ton of ice."

Trowa nodded, taking a long drag of his water, and stared at the blonde who was frantically trying to keep up with Duo, who was trying to show him how to ring in their orders.

The night progressed slowly, but Quatre was a quick learner, and after only about three tables Duo felt confident enough in Quatre's abilities to let him take his own table while he shadowed him.

As more and more people came to the restaurant, Quatre found himself being introduced to more and more of the serving staff. After the initial meet and greet Duo would take Quatre aside and let him in on the real insights of their personalities.

"Make sure you don't actually tell Dorothy anything you don't want every employee of the restaurant to know. Don't get me wrong she's a nice girl, but she had no concept of the term secret. And that one, Relena, if you ever see her run food to your table, on the rare occasion that she might run food that is," he added under his breath. "Be sure to check back and see what they need because she won't bring it and will oh so conveniently 'forget' to tell you what they asked for."

Quatre nodded, learning their faces and matching them with the descriptions Duo had given him.

"If you remember that, you'll do just fine here," Duo said happily as Quatre filled up two glasses of coke for their table.

"And if you don't get around," Zechs mumbled from behind them.

Quatre felt his eyes bug out of his head. "Excuse me?" He asked.

"Sad fact of the restaurant trade, everyone sleeps with everyone. So be careful who you sleep with. The only reason Duo's lasted so long is because he can keep it in his pants."

Quatre turned wide eyed to Duo who nodded. "It's true. Drunken flings happen to the employees here way more frequently than I'd like to admit. I mean damn, I think Wufei's slept with the entire female waitstaff by now."

Wufei leaned down in the window, raising his tongs. "Twice," he said, suggestively licking between the metal prongs and gestured to Relena who huffed and stalked out of the kitchen. The waitstaff erupted into laughter.

"Come on, Quatre," Duo laughed out, grabbing his trainees arm and one of the cokes. "Lets see if table 6's bill is ready."

The two made small talk as they made their way out of the kitchen, briefly checking on their other two tables before picking up a check at the last one.

"I will be right back with this," Duo said lightly, picking up the book and clutching it under his arm.

"Oh no, you're all set there," the woman said, smiling brightly at her server. He reminded her of her son that just went off to college, so friendly and full of life.

"Thank you very much!" Duo smiled brightly. "You folks have a wonderful night, okay?"

As the two walked away from the table Duo passed on some more serving advice. "I always make sure to tell them I'll be right back with their change, because it's kind of rude other wise. Oh perfect timing," he said, pointing to Relena who was walking over to her table.

As the two walked past her they could hear to ask "Do you need change back?" The table had a slightly awkward look as they said yes.

"See, that's just stupid," Duo explained. "Always assume they need change. It's not like you're this amazing server who deserves all their change. Plus it just makes people feel awkward when you," Duo was cut off as he leaned back to avoid a piece of broccoli that was flung from the expo window.

"Come on, guys! Stop I just need some extra alfredo sauce!" Dorothy whined, multiple vegetables hanging off her flight shirt.

Trowa glared at her from the sauté station with his arms crossed. "If they said they needed extra alfredo then you should have rung it in that way!"

Quatre went pale in the face as Duo chuckled at the argument that ensued. "Duo," he mumbled.

"Yeah, man?"

"I think I forgot to ring in that side of add on crab legs for table 5."

Duo shrugged. "Don't worry about it, it's your first day and their food hasn't been out that long," he said as he walked to the window, leaning down. "Hey, Heero!"

The grill cook turned around, first looking venomous to be distracted from his work, but when he saw Duo's smiling face in the window, he couldn't help the smirk that tugged on his lips.

"Can I please get an asap crab leg?" He asked, batting his eyes at the cook, who as if on autopilot, went to the chef cooler and pulled out the crab and put it in the microwave. "Three minutes," he called back as went back to the grill and Duo smiled triumphantly in the window.

Dorothy scowled. "Oh what the fuck!?" She exclaimed. "He gets his asap order out asap and I have to argue about tickets?! He didn't even send one back."

"Duo," Heero called from the grill. "Do you plan to send me back a ticket at some point tonight with a don't make on it?"

Duo nodded. "I sure do," he smiled, nudging Quatre in the ribs.

Heero turned and faced Dorothy, leaning down to glare at her. "You never send back tickets."

"Jesus, just make the fucking alfredo will you?!" She screeched. Trowa glared at her and very slowly proceeded to gather the ingredients.

"Asap crab," Heero called, throwing the plate past Wufei and onto the server end.

Duo quickly ran up and grabbed it, passing the plate to Quatre who quickly ran it to the table. "Thanks, Hee-chan!"

Wufei grumbled from the window. "Maxwell, you must be the biggest kiss ass on the entire face of the planet."

Duo leaned down and glared at the man plating food. "Um, you can suck my cock, Wufei."

"I'm sure Yuy's too busy doing that for me to even try," he shot back and the whole kitchen went silent in terror of what was sure to erupt. The whole restaurant was plenty aware of Heero's feelings for Duo, but the braided server was just a tad oblivious, even though they'd kissed on multiple drunken occasions at the after work party or after a night at the bar across the street. Despite these occurrences, everyone knew that it was one restaurant hook up that you did not talk about.

"Oh, yeah?!" Duo shot back, pushing back a fully plated table of food, almost knocking off the replacement plates in the process. "You want to talk about your drunken endeavors, Wu-Man? Because I happen to know of a certain higher up that you may have..."

"Fine, Maxwell!" He screeched, quickly cutting him off, his eyes wide and nervous. "You have made your point, I apologize."

Duo glared at him and left the food in the window, not ready to help the cook out just yet. "Damn, right you are," he mumbled as he left the kitchen in pursuit of Quatre.

The second the braided man was out of the kitchen, Heero accidently spilled some hot steak juice onto Wufei's arm. He yelped and glared at the cook, but it was nothing compared to the fire that Heero had behind his eyes.

"What the fuck, man," he growled, throwing the steak down on one of the make up plates.

"Oh, come on, Yuy," Wufei grumbled. "You know shit would be a fuck- ton easier if you'd just tell him."

"He doesn't want to talk about it," he replied sharply. "So, we aren't going to talk about it."

"No you'll just make out every time you're drunk," Trowa chimed in. "That's a wonderful relationship."

The rest of the night was spent with way too much food in the window, as Duo was still mad enough at Wufei to not run as much food as he usually did. By the end of the night Quatre was exhausted, but felt like he was getting the hang of working at Aussie Times.

Closing went relatively smoothly, no late night assholes, and Quatre was thankful that he had Duo training him as it came time to actually interact with the cooks as they lugged all the containers to the dish tank to be washed.

As Duo was throwing out left over mashed potatoes, Heero came up next to him and he unloaded his grill equipment into the dish tank.

"Are you head wait?" He asked, surprised to see Duo there so late.

"Nah," Duo replied, smiling lightly and motioned to Quatre. "I pulled an open to close to train him."

"Oh," Heero responded, trying to mask his disappointment. He loved nights when Duo would head wait and stay after their shifts to help Sally with the books. An unfortunate fact about being a cook was that you were usually the first to arrive, and the last to leave. But on days when Duo was head wait, they'd talk at the bar as Heero did inventory and then usually car pooled to where ever people had decided to hang out that night.

"You're going to Friday's right?" Duo asked as he hurled the metal tin onto the metal ledge of the dish tank.

Heero nodded. "Yeah, I just have to do inventory and then I'll be there."

Duo smiled. "Awesome, I'm bringing Quatre tonight too. We'll save you a seat."

After working a shift at Aussie Times, the tradition was to go get at least a little tipsy no matter what plans you had for the next day. After dealing with special instruction orders, and the tables that gave them, it usually wasn't hard to convince someone to drown their sorrows in a bottle of liquor.

By the time the rest of the cooks showed up, Duo was already a little tipsy, and Quatre was in deep conversation with one of the slutty hostesses. He had no desire to be talking to her, but was so mortified by what she was saying and the fact that she wanted to hang out with the servers and cooks that he could not turn away.

Heero smirked and walked up behind Duo, who was talking to one of the bar tenders, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Miss me?" He asked, smiling larger when he saw a fresh jack and coke in his hand.

"You know I did," he replied, laughing and leaning into Heero's side.

Despite the fact that he knew that a relationship based completely off alcohol wasn't a healthy one, Heero couldn't help the smile he got on his face whenever he saw Duo with a drink. Tipsy Duo meant boyfriend Duo, and really, that's all he cared about.

After getting his own beer and slinging his arm lazily over Duo's shoulder as he led them back to the long table that pretty much the entire staff of Aussie Times occupied, Duo stopped him and pulled him aside. "Lets go somewhere alone," he said, pulling Heero towards a more secluded table in the corner of the bar.

Heero complied, but was a little shocked to be taking this route so quickly. He wasn't even tipsy and Duo seemed to only be on his second drink.

The two laughed as they watched the cooks interrogate Quatre, pulling him up to the bar to get him another drink. "Well, he's going to have a wicked hang over," Duo laughed out. Heero nodded in agreement, pulling the server closer to his side.

Duo let out a long sigh. "I'm sure going to miss it," he mumbled, taking a sip of his drink.

"Miss what?" Heero asked, chuckling as Quatre had been coerced into doing jello shots.

"Everyone. It's hard to believe this is all ending."

Heero raised an eye brow. "What are you talking about?"

Duo leaned back from Heero's grasp and turned to look the cook in the eye. "Didn't I tell you? I got a real job. I put my two weeks in tonight."

Heero felt the color drain from his face. "A real job?" He asked. "As in, you won't be working at the restaurant anymore?"

Duo shook his head. "Not after two weeks."

Chapter 1 End

A.N. Okay, sorry I know that was a lot of introductions. And if anyone is confused about the server lingo then let me know and I will explain it in the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed : )