A/N: I'm gonna try to update this weekly and hope i keep up with it bc i have a bad habit with multi-chapter fics, sorry DP. Hopefully i got their characterizations okay haha. Will try to update this every thursday and if not, then friday.
Friday had been uneventful so far. Yang had an early breakfast with her father and sister like always before heading back to her apartment to get ahead in her reading once more. She showered and showed up to work a few minutes early, coming in through the back. Laughter and other sounds of conversation bounced around the walls of the hallway as she walked through.
Must have been busy in the afternoon.
Yang made her way to the server area and noticed a party of eight people sitting and chatting at a table in the middle. Most of their plates were put to the side but others were still moving around bits of their remaining food. One man was looking over the check. She reached the server area and saw Sun already prepping the shift's supplies as usual.
"Hey Sun."
"Hey Yang!"
She noticed red hair out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at her good friend.
"Hey Pyrrha. Been busy all day or just now?" She leaned against the wall as she spoke.
"Hi Yang," Pyrra gave her a tired smile. "Just now. Everyone came in during the last thirty minutes of the shift but most of them have paid already. We were just waiting on that big party."
"That big party must have been nothing for the best server in the restaurant and her sidekick, though, huh?" Yang grinned slyly.
"Did you forget Jaune's not working already?" Pyrrha raised her brows at her.
"'Course not! I know for a fact-" Yang quickly looked up at the front and saw a brown ponytail, "-that Violet, is...She really...yeah ok, I did forget." Her apologetic smile turned into something more mischievous. "So how was working without your cruuush?"
"Shush!" Pyrrha hissed, her face turning a bright shade of red. She looked around to see if Sun had heard anything but he didn't seem to notice. She turned back around and tried to playfully push Yang away but Yang laughed and managed to dodge in time. Her lips formed into a shit-eating grin.
"You're so easy to tease."
"You're so lucky you're not interested in anyone right now, Xiao Long," she fired back with a smirk. "Hasn't your shift started, by the way?"
Yang glanced at the clock on the wall. 5:01 pm.
"Ha ha. Nice change of subject. See ya later, dork."
She started walking up to the front but then noticed the man at the big party had finished looking over the check and left his credit card resting on top of it.
"Hello, sir! Would you like me to take that up for you?" She asked brightly, pointing at the bill.
"Oh," the man glanced down at the check, "I was going to bring it up but since you're offering, yes, thank you!"
Yang laughed, "No problem." She nodded and grabbed the check off the table, heading for the front. As she got closer, she gave a small wave once she made eye contact with Violet. They chatted for a few minutes about Jaune, the new shift changes, and being unable to count the register as it was really busy at the end of the shift. Violet rang up the check then handed it back to Yang.
"Do you think you could take this back while I finish counting the register? I haven't worked the lunch shift in a while so I forgot how busy it could get," she said sheepishly.
"Yeah, of course! Take your time. I'm here, right? So I can help seat people if they come in and you can keep counting."
Velvet gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Yang."
Yang walked back to the table and gave the man his check, being stopped to chat a bit more. He mentioned how this was the first time their family and friends had eaten at Winchester's and the service and food had been amazing. Yang bragged a bit about Pyrrha and Violet and cracked a few jokes about food, making the entire table laugh. A few people showed up at the front so she bid the party farewell and went up to seat them.
Velvet finished counting the register, thanked Yang once more, then said goodbye. As she turned the corner to go into the hallway to clock out, Neptune rushed in, almost slamming into her. He apologized and quickly looked around to see if Cardin had arrived, a look of relief passing his face when he realized the boss's son was also running late. Neptune proceeded to clean up the remaining tables before walking to the back to chat with his best friend, Sun.
Having Neptune as the busboy was a double-edged sword. The customers definitely loved talking to him and some would even come back another day to talk to him about something else that happened to them that week. Sometimes he did his actual job well in addition to keeping customers entertained and sometimes he didn't. Tonight was definitely the latter.
"Thank you, have a nice night!" Yang repeated for about the fiftieth time that night. She grabbed the customer's receipt off the front desk after they left and turned around to input the tip into the credit card machine.
"So, it's pretty busy tonight, huh?" Neptune casually slid into the host box to sit on the cabinet and talk to her. His eyes wandered from booth to booth.
"Yeah, busy for me. Especially since the busboy isn't really doing his job," Yang turned to roll her eyes at him.
"What?" he asked breezily, waving his hand as if to wave away her comment. "Says who?"
"All the tables I've had to clean up while you've been chatting away with the customers. And if you're not with the customers, you're talking to Sun," she gave him a pointed look.
"Ok, maybe I have gotten a bit distracted with certain individuals," he glanced at a particular young lady sitting in Russel's section, "but hey, Cardin's here and he hasn't yelled at me yet."
Yang facepalmed. Did he not hear what she just said?
"That's because I clean them up before he or Russel sees." She gave an exasperated sigh. "C'mon Neptune. You know you're on your second strike. Don't let Cardin give you a third because of one dumb salad plate that wasn't picked up in time. You know he doesn't need a legitimate reason." Her frown lessened.
At this, Neptune's carefree expression changed into a more serious one. "You're right, Yang. Sorry. I'll do better." He smiled apologetically before walking back to the dining area, picking up several dishes before placing them into the bus tray in the back. Once he made sure no one else needed anything, he chatted up two strangers in Cardin's section. After a few minutes, he picked up some more plates then walked over and laughed along with an entire family in Sun's area.
Yang watched him for a bit, amused at how easily he could make conversation. Neptune and the customer could have nothing in common but he'd be there talking for ten minutes without the conversation feeling at all forced. He was just that charismatic, she guessed. Not that it helped him when she first started working here.
He had definitely tried to hit on her, to no avail. It didn't help that he had just tried to hit on another girl in the restaurant a few minutes before. Yang chuckled at the memory before turning to watch the front door through the reflection in the waiting room. She finally relaxed, knowing Neptune would do his job much better after being reminded of the stakes. Or should she say, steaks.
Whatever. No one was even around to hear her awesome pun.
So far, Saturday wasn't too busy, thankfully. It had been steady but nothing unmanageable. These were the kinds of shifts Yang liked. The ones that were steady enough to keep busy but not too busy. The ones where there was enough time to walk to the back for some kind of snack or drink and chat up someone that wasn't Cardin or Russel before needing to go back up to ring someone up or seat them. Not all shifts happened to be like this, but when they were, Yang definitely couldn't complain. Saturdays themselves were also pretty cool for one particular reason.
The phone rang as if to prove her point. Yang glanced at the clock across from her and smiled. It was around six o'clock. This was around the time she would call. She picked up the phone, hoping it really was her. Yang wanted to test her memory.
"Hi, this is Winchester's, thank you for calling. How can I help you?"
"Hello, I'd like to place a takeout order."
Yup. Yang knew exactly who was calling. She recognized the voice on the other end of the line. This was the couple that ordered food every two weeks. The Belladonnas. She smiled. She had been waiting all week for this.
"Yeah, totally! For Kali, right?"
"Yes, that's right!"
"And that would be the prime rib, cooked medium rare, one baked potato with everything on the side, two seafood combos, one baked potato with everything, one with fries, and three salads with ranch, honey mustard, and blue cheese, right? One with no carrots and extra honey mustard and lemon." Yang grinned, feeling very proud of herself as she wrote everything on the to-go notepad.
She knew their order by heart now and tonight was finally the week to prove it. More to herself than anyone. They had been ordering the same thing since probably before she had started working there. When she was new, she had dreaded the order since she was still trying to learn the ropes. But now? She could handle it easily.
"Wow, you've memorized the whole order? I guess this means we might be eating there too much," the woman laughed.
"I'd like to think that maybe I'm just too good at my job," Yang bragged with a small chuckle, letting herself have this one before adding, "Um, seriously though, was that correct?"
"Yes it was, I'm very impressed." Yang pumped her fist in the air.
"Alright, cool. Your order should be ready in about 20 minutes."
"My husband Ghira will be picking it up like always. But you probably remembered that too." Yang heard a hint of a smile on the other end. It wasn't much, just getting a food order correct, but Yang felt like it still brought enough joy to make a difference in someone's life, albeit a small difference. The voice continued, "Thank you!"
"No, thank you. Have a nice night!" Yang hung up the phone, smiling at the notepad. Then practically skipped to the kitchen window. She dropped the order in and proceeded to make the sides and salads for the order, thankful that the restaurant had slowed down enough for her to take the time to do so. Once she got everything ready, she placed the items in a plastic bag and waited for the cooks to let her know when the actual meals were finished.
She rang up a few customers and seated others, following the rotation as best as she could. She helped Neptune by clearing off some plates while he was distracted but it wasn't as bad as the day before, thank god. Once Neptune noticed, he picked up his pace without a word. As Yang finished setting the utensils for a recently-seated couple, she heard a ding echo through the dining area. That meant the takeout order was ready.
She walked back to the kitchen, checked to make sure everything was correct, added the extras, and placed the meals in another plastic bag. She looked up at the front. No one needed to be seated or rung up. Nice.
"Is that the order you've been waiting for since last week?" Pyrrha's voice rang out from behind her. Yang turned around, her expression cocky.
"As a matter of fact, it is. Looks like I'm gonna give you a run for your money, Pyrrha. I memorized their entire order, no sweat."
"And it only took you, what? Four months?" She teased.
Yang's expression faltered as she responded, "Uh, five months."
"Sorry, I didn't catch that." Pyrrha moved her hands behind her ears and cupped them in a very exaggerated fashion.
"I said five months," she laughed, "I know you heard me! For such a nice girl, you can be such an asshole sometimes." She put on a dramatic flair and placed her hand on her heart. "I can't believe you're one of my closest friends."
"Hey, you're the one that started it." She raised her eyebrows at Yang, knowing she couldn't dispute the facts. "Let me know when you memorize their orders in less than two weeks, maybe then you'll have me on the run." She clicked her tongue at her with a wink. "Plus, this is payback for all the teasing you've done to me the past few days about...Jaune," she trailed off and her face flushed with the smallest hint of red.
Not one to miss out on any good opportunity, Yang cupped her own ears and imitated Pyrrha's earlier actions, "Sorry, didn't catch that!"
Pyrrha laughed and pushed Yang away towards the front. "Go take the order up front already!"
Seeing this as a win in the end, Yang gave Pyrrha a haughty wave before bringing the two bags up front to the table behind the front desk. She totaled up the bill, knowing exactly what the total would be already. She just wanted to make sure her memory (and math) was correct. Yep. $64.02. Yang stood behind the register and waited for a familiar silhouette.
The Belladonnas were one of the constants of the restaurant for Yang, along with a handful of other regulars. Every two weeks they would order the same thing, a family meal, she guessed, since there were three orders and only two of them. Once she started recognizing Kali's voice over the phone, her husband Ghira left her an extra couple bucks. Not many people left tips for the takeout orders so, to Yang, this was pretty cool.
Their order also meant an extra five bucks every two weeks even though they really didn't need to leave anything. She didn't want them to feel obligated to leave anything. She just really liked how happy people would get over something so small like remembering them or their voice.
She seated a couple of people in Pyrrha's section, then Russel's, then Cardin's, following her rotation. A few minutes later, a large, dark haired man appeared.
"Ghira!" She gave him a wide grin, "I have your order ready."
Ghira returned the smile, "My wife said you memorized the whole order. She was very impressed."
Trying not to look too pleased with herself, Yang described the order once more, pointing out the items in the bag when mentioned. Her eyes twinkled the entire time from excitement over getting the order correct.
Ghira's eyebrows rose, "Now I'm impressed."
"It only took me five months," Yang laughed, "but I'm getting pretty good at remembering orders from regulars now. Oh, it'll be $64.02."
Ghira grabbed the two bags. He handed over some cash and two pennies, "Keep the change." He smiled and walked out.
"Thanks!" Yang managed to call out before he had completely exited the restaurant.
She started counting the money. Twenty, fourty, sixty, seventy…...seventy-five oh two? Yang's eyes widened. Had Ghira really just left her an extra six bucks? Eleven dollars total as a tip? No way, that was way too much to tip every two weeks. Hell, it was way too much to tip for this, she thought. She'd have to say something in two weeks when he came back otherwise she'd feel guilty. She pocketed the money, still in disbelief, with a dumbfounded smile on her face.
A couple hours passed and the night started slowing down around 8:30 pm. Cardin had told Russel and Pyrrha they could start on side work so Yang took that as her cue to cash out their tips. She grabbed the money from the register after she totaled up the tips and walked to the back. Yang walked over to Pyrrha and gave her the money. She then walked over to Russel who had been watching the entire exchange. He knowingly held out his hand and just nodded when she gave him his money as well. As she was about to walk back up to the front, Cardin's voice rang out.
"Hey cash me out actually, so that lazy-ass Neptune can leave too. I don't know why we keep him on, we should just fire his ass." Russel snickered at his words while counting his money.
Yang didn't acknowledge she heard him and simply did what was asked of her. She gave Cardin his money without a word, somewhat brusquely. He glared at her before looking at how much money was in his hand.
"Thanks." He didn't even count his money before grabbing eight dollars. "Hey Neptune, better walk over here if you wanna get tipped out."
Yang rolled her eyes as she walked away, already knowing Cardin was going to rip Neptune off but what could she do? Nothing, as long as he was the boss's son.
As her shift came to a close, Yang hoped the next few days would pass without too much work.
A/N: Sorry no Blake this week but soon™.