☆^ Love At First Bite ^☆

Rody's First Shift

DISCLAIMER
Maybe some spoilers for Dead Plate (for the ones that haven't progressed far in it the game yet), it depends on if I feel like changing up the story that's in my head rn.
I will also be using most of the lines said by Vincent and Rody with slight changes made to them.
Alr, I won't bother with a long disclaimer any longer, so have fun reading!

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Rody was making his way to his first shift at 'La Gueule de Saturne' on his worn-out bike - which was probably the second most expensive thing he owns after his barely working television - after seeing a position for a waiter open on a catalogue he bought, and Rody wanting to spoil his ex-girlfriend, Manon, so that she would get back with him after cutting ties with him for being too self-sacrificing in the relationship and always lacked of taking proper care of himself in any way.

His ginger hair flew in every direction as he cycled through the fair weather, passing by people giving him odd looks as they looked him up and down, judging the state he was in. Rody paid no mind to any of the bystanders, and soon enough, he reached the restaurant with his untied tie loosely hanging around his neck surprisingly still there and not lost in the wind somewhere.

Rody stumbled into the restaurant, the rich and exquisite atmosphere feeling a bit overwhelming for him, the dim lights and jazz music subtly playing in the background helped a bit but also matched the rest of the vibe of the ravishing restaurant making him stand out in his ratty state.

"Oh, wow. You actually bothered to show up.." Came a cold toned voice, and right after that, Rody felt two piercing eyes looking him up and down like a hawk carefully examining its next prey. "Let's skip the formalities since I'm sure you must've read about the job offer. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here in the waiter's uniform already. Ahem, here's what we're serving today, thoroughly read through it so that you know what you're serving to our patrons. I'll be in the back if you need anything.." Rody stared up at him, quite expecting this kind of welcome from what he read about his new boss, Vincent. "Ah, okay, thank you." Rody replied subtly his gaze following Vincent as he strode away into the kitchen, opening the double doors and emitting the noise of a bustling kitchen before it died away and Rody was left alone standing beside the entrance inside.

Two hours had gone by with Rody walking all about the place, writing down orders, giving the orders to the cooks, and serving the food to all the customers. From time to time, when he passed by the window to the kitchen, he could hear agitated yells coming from no other than Vincent. Before he knew it, some customers cleared out, some kind enough to give a tip for Rody's services, and the time flew by, now nearing the closing time of the restaurant.

Once all customers paid for their meals and left, he flipped the open sign over to the other side with the word 'closed' engraved on it and turned off the front lights. He figured the bin must be full from the cleaning he had done a bit earlier and strolled into the slightly chatty, open kitchen as the cooks started packing up, saying their goodbyes and leaving till another day of cooking. Walking past all the now cleaned stoves and counters towards the bin brimming with the assortment of tossed away food that the consumers hadn't finished.

He loomed over the bin, peering into it before tying the bin bag up, grabbing it by the knot and heaving it up and out of the bin. He was about to head towards the door with it before something sharp poked out of the bag, causing a small rip in it and slicing the side of Rody's index finger. Rody subconsciously dropped the bin bag from the shock, hinting with the slight spike of pain that hit him off guard. The bag landed on the floor with a squash, the rip becoming more large and visible, allowing the waste to spill out onto the floor. "Ow!-" Rody yelped the cut on his finger, now beginning to sting, making him inhale sharply before realizing the mess he made on the floor and Vincent towering over him with broaden eyes, seemingly waiting for an explanation from Rody.

"Ah, it- I'm sorry, there's something in the trash, I think it may have ripped the bag open when I dropped it -" Rody uttered frantically, feeling Vincent's eyes on him. "I think it cut me- I swear I didn't throw away anything I wasn't supposed to! At least I don't think..." Rody went silent. Looking up, he met eyes with Vincent, who was still glaring at him. Rody thought the problem was him still kneeling on the floor, so he immediately stood up at the thought before frantically trying to help his situation. "I-I can clean up the mess, I'll just need a second-" Vincent shut Rody up with a hard slap to his face, hostility visible in his eyes. He clears his throat, relaxing his eyes and posture, leaving Rody clasping his right cheek with his unscathed hand and staring with a puzzled look.

"...You don't need to worry about that, someone else will clean up the mess." Vincent spoke as if nothing had just happened and looked at Rody with worry hinting in his unbreaking gaze. "Hm, wait here." Vincent ordered, leaving for the first door that's there when you come through the kitchen, Rody guessed it was his office, and he was correct. Vincent reappeared with a roll of bandages clutched in one hand. "Here, let me see your hand." Vincent held out his hand, awaiting Rody to place his hand in his palm. Rody did just that, and Vincent took no moment to hesitate and get to bandaging up the cut on Rody's finger. "You can't be serving to customers like this- Try to be more careful in the future," Vincent muttered as he worked away, being precise with his careful placing. "...Right." Rody exhaled. Realizing he has been staring at Vincent for the past few minutes, he at once tried to take his focus off of him and look elsewhere. He found it rather weird that he had found himself subconsciously staring at Vincent but brushed it off when Vincent's voice brought him back to reality. "You! Come here and clean this up!" As he should've expected, the calm atmosphere soon changed as Vincent yelled and ordered around the remaining cook. "Ah, no, really, it's fine! I can clean this up." Rody interfered, it was no use though as Vincent blocked out his insistence and the poor cook started cleaning without chance to protest, well it wasn't like she really could anyways because God knows what Vincent would do, the worst outcome would probably be firing her but maybe there was something else that Rody didn't know Vincent was capable of doing which was far worse than getting sacked and Rody still had yet to find out..

This is the end of chapter/part 1, I wanted to thank everyone for reading and being patient with my slow updates! See you all in the 2nd chapter!