Okay, here's what's happening for this week. I am super busy because I have projects up to my knees that I must complete and homework to the nines. I'm going to give you guys this chapter but don't expect an update till this Friday or later XP Hope you enjoy this chapter though! It's late because of homework and writer's block. And I realized today what a big undertaking writing a fic for this AU is, but I'm going to keep working on it! Hope you enjoy chapter 3! X)
Chapter 3: First Dinner Service
Jack stared at the sinks. There were two, the left one full of clean water and a drying rack on the side.
He looked again. No dishwasher.
"Um. Sandy?"
Sandy looked up.
"No dishwasher?"
Sandy smiled. He pointed to the first sink then seeing Jack wasn't going to get what he was saying right away, he got his ladder and walked up so he could be at Jack's height. First he stared the water in the sink that was empty. Grabbing a soap bottle and pouring it in to the foaming water he held up a dirty cup that he just finished drinking from. He put it in the first sink and swished it around, brought it back out, wiped it with a sponge, then put it back in the soapy water. He took it out afterwards and then put it in the clean water. Swishing it around again, he put it on the drying rack behind Jack. He gave a thumbs up and pointed to all the areas to put the plates and cups, some of which were outside by the serving area for quicker access. Then, without a word smiled and walked into the kitchen, shaking his hands dry even though Jack was still confused and shaking his head. Sandy had only pointed and gestured so Jack understood almost nothing. The washroom was bi-connected to the kitchen, only separated by a door and Jack could hear Sandy washing his hands from the other side. There was also a swinging door behind him for the servers to put the dishes down. He thought it over and though he had the right process in his head but he supplemented some of Sandy's "directions" for the way he washed dishes at home.
"This doesn't seem too hard." Jack said to himself. "I'll pay off Emma's hospital bills really quickly if I just keep doing this! And maybe even get a little extra for mom's doctor visit."
At first there were only four or five people that were seated at the diner. Then, as more and more customers walked through the door, orders started pouring in and, after about an hour or so, so did the dishes and cups and silverware. Jack's hands were flying in and out of the water as more and more dishes were piled up against the tray before the washing area. His hands were raw from all the scrubbing he was doing and he was putting the hardware into the yellow dish rack at lightning speed, but he was taking up time by cleaning every plate spotless (to the point he could see his reflection). He always did this at home anyways so that Emma would have the least chance of getting sick.
It was only into the tenth dish that Jack realized his dad's shirt was getting wet. His dad was currently on a business trip (like usual) and Jack had taken one of his favorite shirts to use because A) it was for the interview (which didn't matter anymore) and B) To serve customers (which he thought he was going to be doing before he was sent on kitchen duty). It was surprising that the shirt fit him nice enough, even though his dad was two sizes bigger. But now was NOT the time to be thinking about that! When his dad saw the shirt wet he would undoubtedly question why his son brought his shirt to the aquarium job he recommended. If that happened and Jack said he was fired, again, he was screwed.
He yelled "Shoot!" and started taking off the shirt, exposing all the muscles he had acquired from cleaning the tanks at the aquarium spotless. And then someone walked in.
"Hey Jack? How are you doing I heard somethi-! EEP!"
Tooth smacked her hands over her eyes.
Oh no! Nononononononono! I know you're awesome and everything Tooth but you could NOT have worse timing skills! Tooth felt her face heat up to the level of the earth's core
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm going now!" she stumbled out and closed the door behind her and breathed out through her nose. Then she took a couple of seconds to compose herself, trying to forget about Jack's abs…..When that didn't work she hit her head with her palms. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose.
Alright Tooth. Think. What was that last order? Jack's abs popped in her brain. NO. NOT THAT. IT WAS... ABS. SHIT! NO. Then Sandy tapped the bell. She saw a scrumptious looking golden pie in a small white bowl. Oh right, it was pumpkin soufflé, yeah, okay. Breath. Just keep walking. Tooth looked around the door and picked up the soufflé going to table 7, just not completely forgetting about Jack's six pack.
Jack in the meantime took off the shirt completely, he had too. It was just going to get more stained if he kept it on. He would have to iron and wash it when he went home anyway, if he got it dirtier it would be more complicated trying to get the stains out. He stood there for about ten minutes washing the remaining dishes, shirtless, when Bunnymund opened the door. A bunch of plates almost dropped out his hands when he saw Jack standing half naked in the dishwashing area.
Jack didn't hear him and continued washing until he heard the clatter of more plates being pushed onto the table. He jumped.
Bunnymund almost laughed. Almost. He saw Jack glance at the ridiculous and expensive shirt he had worn to his two second interview.
"I can expl- Geez. I really can't explain can I? That's my dad's shirt… And if I get it dirty, he'll shoot me and have me for breakfast."
Bunnymund just stood there, then gave a controlled smirk. Jack raised one of his eyebrows.
"Yeah, I was wondering why Tooth wasn't coming in here and giving the dishes to me. Want a shirt…..you know what, I don't care. I'll get you a shirt."
Jack just stood there, plate and sponge in hand until Bunnymund came in a second later and basically gave him a dishrag. An old washed out sleeveless brown shirt that looked like it was from the 1700s.
"This is a shirt?"
"You need clothes in my restaurant. End of story." And he walked out. But not before Jack could mutter a "Thanks".
When Bunnymund closed the door he smiled.
"I guess Tooth was right about him working hard...those dishes were spotless and he learned quickly. He's still a nutcase though."
He saw Tooth walking around the corner carrying some dishes she was no doubt going to give to him.
"Hey Tooth. You can go in now. He's clothed."
Tooth gave Aster a grateful look and withdrew the dishes she was about to give him. "Thank you" was written all over her face. Even though she wouldn't have minded seeing Jack without his shirt again (loll) she couldn't keep walking in on him without blushing and probably embarrassing Jack. Not even that. She would probably just start fainting after about two more visits. And how could she work thinking about his beautiful pale skin stretched over those really tight muscles and how they were kind of attractive and...sexy. Oh my god... NO TOOTH! NO! JUST NO! STOP. NOW. Pushing with her back against the door she walked in timidly and almost mustered up the courage to look at him. His back was turned and he was putting away the dishes. He heard Tooth's footsteps and started to turn around but Tooth jumped, shoved the plates onto the tray, and practically ran out the door.
"Oh my god! I'm not going to be able to look at him straight in the eye after this!" She served the customers what they were waiting for, trying to conceal the blush on her cheeks by feigning to be overly excited about what they were talking about, until she heard a loud clatter from the wash room.
She turned her head and her eyes widened. What was he doing? Tooth looked back quickly to the customers. She held up one forefinger and laughed nervously, one eyebrow twitching.
"Excuse me a moment please."
When they nodded she took off to the back. She took a deep breath before entering the dish washing area, trying to forget Jack shirtless long enough to talk to him for a good five minutes.
He was muttering curses under his breath as he was trying to figure out how to keep up with the stack of dishes piled up at the dish tray. Tooth had to rub her eyes to realize that Jack was washing them wrong. He was making sure each one was absolutely spotless rather than just clean and he was completely missing the part where you would put the dishware in the sink a second time. Instead, he was just using up the clean water by using the faucet and draining the other one spewing water everywhere and getting his clothes wet.
And to top it all off he was wearing Bunnymund's car cleaning shirt, an old one that he didn't wear anymore and used to scrape the gunk off his car. Evidently it had been washed recently (Aster wouldn't let a dirty shirt touch his plates) but it looked like it was digested in the stomach of some animal that threw it up along a road that hadn't seen humans in decades.
"Shit, what am I supposed to do?!" He turned just as he was putting a plate away. "Ack! Tooth!? I'm um, doing fine?" The plate he was holding almost fell to the floor but Tooth caught it.
"Okay no I'm completely clueless, help."
Bunnymund rounded the corner.
"What are you doing in here Tooth? We need you to serve!"
"Okay okay, give me a minute! I just need to help Jack for a second!"
His eyes narrowed and he shook his head. Then more customers came through the door. He ran out of the washroom. Tooth rolled up her sleeves, turned to the sinks, corrected everything Jack had messed up and started to wash some dishes at warp speed. She was just about to finish with her 5th plate when she saw Jack looking from her to the bell being rung. He was walking outside.
"I'll guess I can take care of that?"
"Jack, no!" He was almost out the door.
"What? Don't you need my help?"
"Don't worry Jack! I'll take the dishes to outside tonight!" She said as sweet as possible.
"Okay, thanks but why?"
"You're wearing Aster's car cleaning shirt? I would rather not have people looking at you like you just blew in from the road. "
"Wha-?"
"Now, quickly, since Sandy didn't explain it to you well enough. Sorry about that by the way you'll get used to it later! But anyways you put the dishes here in the soapy water, refill it if you have too! Don't be shy about it we use a lot of soap, and then just keep putting plates in the soapy water rather than just letting them stack up like this, so the soap can soften up the things you can't scrape off. And scrape into the garbage over here-" She pulled up a garbage can near the sinks. "-the leftovers. Then, when the tray is clean as possible, or the sink is full, whichever comes first, then you clean off the plates quickly with the sponge and put them in the clean water understand?"
Jack nodded his head, staring intensely at the dishes and memorizing the process just like he remembered weather patterns. He was studying to be a meteorologist at school, so memorizing which plate went where was much easier than memorizing which wind belt was affected by the Coriolis Effect. Tooth continued.
"After you have the plates in the clean sink, you take them off and dry it with a towel. They do have to be clean; they don't have to be clean enough that they reflect the rays off the sun-"
Bunnymund came in again, interrupting her.
"Oi, Tooth! I can use a little help out here!"
"On it!" She called. She gave a general point to where the dishes went. "You put the dishes where you think they should go, if they don't fit there, leave them on the drying rack, I'll come in every hour or so. You good?"
"Yeah, I think so thank-"
"Awesome! Now go! I got to serve stuff!" She said looking at the customers who were still waiting for their orders. She rushed out the door and Jack went down to business, cleaning the plates much more efficiently this time.
The rest of the night went without much incident, Bunnymund and Tooth served as they normally did and Sandy cooked up the orders at a fast pace. The only thing that was different when they said goodbye to the last customers was that Jack cleaned all the dishes and it freed them up which was why Tooth crossed her arms at Bunnymund who was trying very hard not to laugh. Jack was standing behind her, his dad's shirt back on, equally pissed. Sandy had already left for the night. He said he was extremely busy and needed to make more sauce for the restaurant at home. Of course he affirmed that he would smack Bunnymund later.
"I can't believe you Aster. Jack could have walked out to our customers in your shirt you use to clean your car!"
He cracked up. "I'm ha-ha- sorry! It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up~!"
Bunnymund laughed and waved his hand at her.
""It's not like anyone saw him, Tooth!" He laughed. Tooth bit the inside of her mouth.
"They were about too!"
"Well nothing happened, so I'm not going to take it into account. Pfffttt I can't believe that you actually screwed up something as easy as dishes! Haha! And you actually took off your shirt too! And all this on your first day!" He continued laughing.
"Aster, enough! Jack worked hard and dishes aren't that easy, remember? I think you owe him an apolo-"
"No, no Tooth its fine." Jack came up behind her smiling. "If the kangaroo is gonna laugh then the kangaroo is gonna laugh, I'll just keep this shirt as commemoration for my first day. Let's go Tooth." Tooth picked up her bag in silent celebration for Jack as Aster stopped laughing. Nice comeback she said mentally. As they were leaving Jack couldn't help calling back,
"Oh! And I was considering calling you Bunnymund! But the shirt incident got you the nickname "Bunny" for life mate! And with that, see you tomorrow!"
He moved his new car washing shirt onto his shoulder and caught up with Tooth outside, laughing. Once Bunnymund was out of sight Jack looked at the shirt and smiled.
"I almost feel like hanging this up and framing it. It was a fun first day!"
Tooth put a hand over her mouth and giggled as Jack held the shirt up to the light given off by the lamppost. It showed off all the grease stains and the water and soap that had soaked in it through the years. It was actually kind of pretty in a weird way. They were waiting at the bus stop for another 10 minutes before the bus came at 11:34, giving Tooth another chance to think about the day's events.
"Oh and bring a t-shirt tomorrow! Nothing fancy."
"Haha! Yeah, don't want this happening again!"
Once she waved goodbye to Jack at his stop, Tooth thought of him and his six pack again. She smacked her head into the window and blushed deeply until she got home.
"Oh! And I was considering calling you Bunnymund! But the shirt incident got you the nickname "Bunny" for life mate! And with that, see you tomorrow!"
Bunnymund groaned outwardly but was still smiling on the inside. He looked at the sparkling clean dishes all lined their perfect places as he locked up. Evidently some of it was Tooth's doing but Jack must have done most of it.
"You're not too shabby Frostbite. Not bad."
He was still chuckling to himself when he got into the car.
I hope you enjoyed and thank you for your lovely comments/wonderful favorites/ awesome follows! P.s. Some of my stuff might be a little bit different from Sifberg's concepts but i'll mainly stick to her stuff and include it in the story so check out her tumblr! And with that, I am gone! (I'll try to update asap!)
