Avoiding the silence of the car ride from the farmer's market, Beyond plugged his phone into the USB deck on the van. Light flinched slightly expecting to be blasted away with loud and angry music. Shutting his eyes tightly in bracing himself for the onslaught. The young stage's eyes flew open with deep chords of a piano reverberated into his ears. Followed by a woman's voice. 'Lay it, lay it down, let me see your hand, show me what you got.' Deep bass pulsed behind her mesmerizing lyrics. 'Some days I'm built of metal. I can't be broken. But not when I'm with you.'
Light glanced at the enigmatic chef, as if he had just peered a little deeper into the latter's soul. Carmel eyes widened when met with an almost saddened glance And flash of crimson as the chef jetted his eyes away. The lyrics struck Light a little harder than he was sure they were intended to. 'Are you afraid of me now?'
The brunette nibbled on his lower lip as he tore his glance from the chef. 'I was not expecting something like that. Such an eerily sad song. Combining this with what Annie said… he's lonely.' He watched the city flash by as Beyond's phone played more hauntingly sad songs.
Arriving at the docks, the stage glanced back at the silent chef and opened his mouth to speak. The raven chuckled. "Wubba lubba dub dub?"
Light raised his eyebrows in confusion and tilted his head. "Have you gone mad?"
Beyond smiled in relief. "Oh, good. Not a Rick and Morty fan. But, I recommend it. It's witty and smart. And not above a well placed fart joke."
Wincing slightly while crinkling his nose with disgust the younger sighed. "Think I'll pass." The elder chuckled as they opened the doors. Light crinkled his nose as the fishy aroma reached his nostrils. "Ugh. That's foul."
Beyond smirked coyly. "No. chicken is fowl. This is fish." Groaning loudly at the play on words, Light hung his head and followed the chef from the van. The view of the docks came into view as they climbed a small hill leading into fresh fish vendors stalls lined the streets on both sides with stores behind them with gigantic refrigerator systems. "The butchers are on the other side of the refrigerators. So we can be done with the majority of the running I needed to do today. We still have to get you back to the restaurant to clean up your mess."
The stage sighed and hung his head in defeat, secretly hoping Beyond would have forgotten about that. His voice whined slightly. "Yes, Chef."
Nodding at the sudden sullen expression of the younger male, the chef started towards the docking area. "This has been nicknamed the wharf. Fisherman come here to drop their goods and sell to vendors to be transported to stalls and markets. I don't give the middle man time to mark up my prices. I buy directly from one fisher. Jim Hathaway. He's a good and honest man. That and I play an advertising role for him. Most merchant I deal with I advertise for. Makes them look good, when I look good."
They approached a rickety old boat, nets hanging from large metal traps that clung to the side of the vessel. A tall and slender man tying up to the docks, securing his boat down tightly. He wore grey overalls, blue plaid shirt with a brilliant red cap and black galoshes. He turned to see Beyond. He gave a happy wave and a brilliant smile. With what few teeth were still in his mouth. "Thar' yee are. Lil' scamp! I thot yee weren't ta be by today! Got some good catches this weekend!"
Beyond waved pulling himself up the concrete steps, skipping several for safety reasons. They seemed to be crumbling in their spots, dropping small pebbles off them in the chef's wake. The raven turned and held his hand out for Light. Grabbing the chef's hands he internally smirked at his thoughts. 'His hands are freezing… I wonder if they're always this cold.' Light's cheeks flushed instantly when Beyond pulled him close and whispered into his ear. "Don't stare at his eye. He's got a glass eye. He's surprisingly subconscious about it." He poked Light aggressively in the chest with ever next word. "Do. Not. Fuck. My. Deals. Up."
He brunette swallowed hard at Beyond's harsh glare before it broke and flashed a chipper smile. Which startled Light slightly. "Who yer frien'?"
Glancing back at the brunette, "My stage. Whatcha got, friend?"
"Ah. Right here! This trout! Ain't they perddy?"
Beyond glanced into the box before lifting a large sixteen inch speckled fish up. "Yeah. That's the stuff, look how clear their eyes and how pink those gills are. How much you want for them?"
Jim shrugged and gestured to the chilled cooler, "Yee always pay fair. 'Bout 160 pounds there. So, whate'er yee want to pay a pound."
The chef set the fish back into the chilled bucket. "Wow. That's way more than I need. General servings is about 8 ounces." He scratched his chin with his clean hand. "Well… That might not be so bad. You've got 160 which would be approximately 320 servings… Yeah. What about if I took 100? For…" Flitting his crimson eyes to the sky for a moment as he did some mental math. "€6.65?"
The fisher smiled and stuck his hand out. "Got yerself a deal. Need it delivered?" Beyond shook his head then smelled his hand after Jim had turned around.
"We've got the van. I'll just need it hauled up." Light watched the two talking before allowing his eyes to wander around the deck. His eyes wandered back to the enigmatic man he'd been traveling with. Light couldn't help but find himself checking the chef out. 'I mean… just because he's my boss doesn't mean I can't look. Just can't touch.' His eyes traveled up the slender but semi-muscular form of Beyond.
Meeting eyes with the raven, Light instantly could feel his face flush as his caramel eyes widened. 'Oh no… what if he saw me checking him out? I need to start remaining as professional as possible.' Flashing his golden eyes up with determination, he quickly caught his own breath when Beyond was within inches of his own face. Piercing scarlet possibly only six inches away from him, causing his breath to shudder slightly. "Wow. You're close."
A devious smirk came across the shapely lips of the chef as his ebony bangs fell over his intense vermilion irises. "And you need to mind where your eyes wander and how you look at people. Most would take that as an invitation."
Light hastily looked away from him, nodding in silence before timidly chirping. "Sorry, Chef."
Carelessly shrugging, Beyond sighed quietly. "I didn't hate it. Come on, let's get back. The red meat is always delivered."
Getting back into the van Light kept his eyes trained away from the mysterious man that he was secretly becoming somewhat infatuated with. The music on the phone took a quick turn to orchestral pieces. Beyond fumbled with the phone before dropping it and groaning. Light lifted the phone and handed it back to the other. "I like it. It's peaceful. Even at the crescendo."
A tiny smile creeped along the chef's lips. "Then I suppose we'll listen to it. It's normally what I listen to when I'm in the kitchen."
Light smiled and closed his eyes with a small smile himself. The song flipped to Canon in D. "I especially love this piece. Do you mind if I look at whose playing? This is beautiful."
Beyond's voice was low and almost bashful. "It's me."
Snapping an eyelid open, before sitting up and staring at the raven in disbelief. "No way." He lifted the phone before seeing a picture of Beyond on the cover of a musical album cover on the screen. The album read; 'Piano and Violin covers.' Light grinned at the driver. "Why didn't you ever stay with music? You're amazing."
A faint hue of pink covered the porcelain cheeks of the older male as he blinked his sanguine eyes rapidly. "Because, I'm much better at cooking. Do you know how freaking hard it is to get a damned job in that market? You basically need to be Bach reincarnated."
Chuckling slightly Light sighed happily. "You know. I know I haven't worked a dinner service with you, yet. But, so far, I haven't seen any reason to dislike you."
Beyond faux gasped and placed his hand over his heart. "Be still my beating heart. He actually likes me? Let's see the garbage disposal refute that! B: 1 Garbage Disposal: Like, 26."
Light bursted out into laughter. "Cut it out. Sure, you have your moments that get under my skin a little. But for the most part. I think you're something special. Maybe after this whole intern thing is over… We could be friends?"
"You know what, Light?" Beyond paused for a moment, leaving the stage hanging onto his every word. "I'd like that. I have maybe two actual friends in the whole world. So, a third would be pretty nice." The raven chuckled slightly as they pulled back into the restaurant's drive.
Mello stood outside the back awaiting their arrival. "Took you dicks long enough. The hell did you guys do? Stop for ice cream?"
Beyond hopped out of the truck and flicked the blonde off. "Screw off, I had to get my strawberry fix. That and, you of all people know how Annie likes to talk."
The prep chef let out a deep laugh. "Did she hit you up again?"
The raven rolled his eyes as he handed a crate of vegetables to Mello. "Of course." He reached into the truck to grab the second crate of greens to hand it to Light. Light stood awaiting the heavy container but raised an eyebrow when Beyond suddenly stopped and stared at him for a moment. The stage cleared his throat, successfully snapping the chef from his trance. "Sorry. Got lost there for a second."
Taking the perfect opportunity Light grinned evilly. "Oh my. Chef BB did you get lost in my eyes?"
Beyond stared at his eyes a moment longer. "I did actually." He gave a wicked grin when Light turned three different shades of red before snatching the box forcibly and retreating into the back of the kitchen.
Mello came around the corner smirking. "You're mean. Shouldn't flirt like that with him."
The chef let out a throaty growl and a mocking whiny voice. "Don't do this B, you can't do that B. Stop being so depressing B, stop flirting with people B."
Mello was staring at him unamused with little emotion on his face, his left eyebrow seeming to twitch with annoyance. "Shut the fuck up and help me lift this." They lifted the crate of fish. "How much freaking fish did you freaking get?!"
Beyond smirked as they hauled it into the kitchen and hoisted up onto the steel counter, "It's not fish. It's the last prep chef's body who bitched too much." Light chuckled quietly as he swept the flour off the floor.
"Hey Chef? I meant to ask while we were out. But, my mom is still here, her flight leaves tomorrow at 2pm. So, I was wondering, if it was alright if I saw her off to the airport?" Light clutched the broom handle tightly, his knuckles starting to turn white from the grip, as his timid request was being processed.
Beyond rolled his neck to crane and look at the stage. "Are you always going to be a pain in my ass?"
Light bashfully glanced down and nodded quietly with an adorably small smile. "Probably."
The right corner of the chef's mouth twitched upwards for a brief moment. "Sure. Whatever. Just make sure you're here by 5. If you're a minute late I'll ride your ass the whole night!" He pointed accusingly towards the younger male.
Mello bursted out with a chuckle, "Is that a promise or a threat?"
Light snickered as he finished cleaning up the mess on the floor. "I mean, if it's a promise, I might be late on purpose. Don't threaten me with a good time."
Beyond closed his eyes and hung his head, nodding with a lame smile. "Alright. Alright. I walked into that. In all seriousness. Miheal. Finish your damned prep list. Raito. Get this place cleaned up."
They both nodded and responded quickly. "Yes Chef!"
Beta read by: BenjaminBirthday
