Fast Food
"Mr Bakura, you are late."
Ryou rolled his eyes as the restaurant doors swung open to reveal the greasy-haired, tatty-apron wearing, owner of Domino City's Burger world restaurant. The man's hands were on his hips and his expression was one of intense displeasure.
"I'm sorry Mr Hirikato, I was held up in traffic."
The manager snorted. "Were you hell. You don't even have a car." The man sighed and ran a hand through his greasy hair. "Look kid, you may live on the other side of the city but that doesn't mean you can waltz in here whenever the hell you feel like it!"
Ryou glanced at the clock. 8:32. Two minutes late.
"Shape it up!" The man barged back through the swinging doors to the kitchen, grumbling about teenagers and punctuality.
Ryou hung his coat in the closet and wrapped his apron around his waist, retrieving his order book and pencil from Mr Hirikato at the serving window. He tucked them into a pocket and grabbed a clean-up tray.
There were only a few customers in this early in the morning so Ryou worked his way around the restaurant, wiping down the tables, filling the condiment dispensers and writing the daily special on the menu boards at each table.
The daily special was, bizarrely, not a burger but a chicken dish with a French-sounding name.
"Hey, miss! Another coffee please love!"
A balding, but kind-faced man in a smart, grey suit waved an empty mug at him as he bent over a nearby table.
Ryou inwardly groaned as iyet another/i customer mistook him for a teenage girl. Sometimes he really hated his pretty face.
Forcing a pleasant smile onto his pale face, Ryou nodded towards the old man.
"Right away sir!"
Ryou trudged back to the serving window and grabbed the gently bubbling coffee pitcher. He ignored Mr Hirikato's amused snickers and walked back over to the man, refilling his mug.
"Ah, thanks love."
Ryou smiled grimly.
"Coffee!"
Ryou turned to see a man sitting in the far corner, only the tips of his sandy blond hair visible over the top of his newspaper.
Grabbing a clean mug, Ryou made his way over to the man.
"Would you like anything to go with that Sir?" Ryou set the mug down on the table and filled it.
A caramel hand waved in dismissal. Ryou ignored the man's rudeness.
"I'll pay for it now. I won't be here long." The newspaper dropped, along with Ryou's jaw.
The man was, well, gorgeous!
The golden skin was flawless; sandy blond hair framed his face perfectly, where it wasn't spiked in chaotic organisation. The man's most striking feature though, were his eyes. A glittering, pale lavender, accented by heavy kohl, flicked down at the bottom corners.
The man stared at him pointedly, one eyebrow raised as a prompt.
Ryou jumped. "Oh, I'm sorry! That'll be, um, oh, 295 yen."
The man dug around in a pocket and flicked a 500 yen coin to Ryou.
"Keep the change." The man sipped at his coffee and went back to his newspaper.
Ryou walked over to the till and marked the transaction.
"RYOU! Quit dawdling and get your ass back to work!"
Ryou sighed. 'Another good day then.'
"They're asking questions again. We need to do something."
The tanned man didn't glance up from the papers he was reading.
"Relax. The boss wants them taken out. You're going in tomorrow."
"Going in? I can hardly walk in there with a machete in my hand and expect to inot/i get my head blown off!"
The man lifted his head and smirked. "That's why you're going in undercover, dumbass. This is a rather tender operation so we think it requires a more, subtle, approach."
A deep laugh.
"Why are you sending me in then?"
Another smirk. "Good question."