Chapter Text
If Nico held onto this cigarette any longer, it was going to burn his fingers, but he was so desperate to maintain the calm he felt outside of his kitchen that he would hold onto that moment - and his cigarette - as long as he possibly could.
“You know those things will kill you, right?”
Never mind.
Nico groaned and tipped his head back against the brick wall behind him. He looked down the steps to where some tall, blond man was standing, grinning up at Nico like he was so proud of the way he was harassing Nico in that moment. The thing that stuck out about him most, though, was the bright white lab coat he was wearing over his business-casual clothes.
“What the fuck, is there a fucking convention in town?” Nico snapped at him. So much for all that calm he was feeling. “You’re like the eighth doctor that’s come by and bitched at me for smoking today.”
The man frowned, his head tilting to the side in a way that Nico might have thought was cute if this asshole wasn’t going out of his way to irritate him. “Uh, yeah? There’s a surgical convention here this weekend. I would’ve assumed they would tell their kitchen staff about something like that.”
Nico glared - he was not kitchen staff, he ran the kitchen, but he wasn’t about to waste his breath telling this guy. Instead, he spat, “And do all doctors tend to walk around the backs of hotels to bother the kitchen staff?”
The blond was back to grinning now, though it seemed a little more tense than before. Nico smirked to himself internally. Two could play at this game. “Some of us like to get our exercise in,” he said sweetly. “It’s healthy, and we get to enjoy some fresh air. You should try it sometime.”
Nico’s nose scrunched in frustration, and he flicked his cigarette filter at the man’s feet. He turned on his heel and ripped the door open with more force than was necessary, heading inside. He had dinner to cook, and he didn’t want to look at another pair of blue eyes like those ever again.
While his restaurant didn’t open until four in the afternoon, Nico was always there by noon to make sure the kitchen was clean and ready to serve. Sometimes the process took longer than others, so whenever he found himself with a lighter day, he would take his break at the receptionist’s desk.
Hazel was behind the desk, just as Nico suspected she would be that afternoon, and Nico made himself comfortable sitting on the back counter. He took a long pull from the takeout coffee cup in his hand, itching for a cigarette but hoping the caffeine would suffice for now.
He watched as a cluster of doctors walked through the lobby on their way to the connected convention center, and he groaned. “I can’t believe those assholes are going to be here for another five days. Like, who’s...running the hospitals!”
Hazel looked back at him, barely concealing her laughter. “There’s more than one doctor in a hospital.”
Nico huffed. “I just want one fucking cigarette without getting yelled at by some hot doctor, is that too much to ask?”
Hazel spun around at that, her eyes alight with joy. “Oh? You’re getting yelled at by hot doctors?” She leaned in. “Which one? Is he here now?”
Nico rolled his eyes before scanning the room, quickly locking on Tall, Blond and Handsome. “No,” he lied, but his eyes didn’t move except to follow one specific doctor through the room.
“He is!” Hazel exclaimed. “Ooh, which one is he?”
“He’s not here,” Nico insisted, then hurried to correct himself with, “I mean, there’s nobody--”
Hazel clasped her hands together under her chin. “Aw, you have a crush! You should totally ask him out.”
“No, absolutely not,” Nico told her. He jumped off the counter, downing the rest of his coffee and then throwing the cup away. He started counting off on his fingers as he said, “One, I don’t have a crush. Two, even if there was somebody - which there’s not - then he’s only here for the conference anyway, so there’s no point to starting anything. And three, I...sort of yelled at him, and probably pissed him off, so even if he was interested, there’s no way he is now.”
Nico started to walk away, but Hazel blocked his path. “Okay, but there’s a super easy solution for that!” She grinned at him once more. “Apologize!”
Nico cocked an eyebrow. “No.”
“Yes, Nico! And after you apologize, you can ask him out, and if you’re lucky…” Hazel poked him in the stomach, and Nico swatted her hand away. “He might be local! Or maybe he’s from, like, Evanston, or something. That’s totally manageable.”
Nico folded his arms. “It’s not gonna happen, Haze. Sorry.” Calmly, he stepped around his sister and made his way back toward the kitchen.
Why did some people think it was okay to pull a chef out of his busy kitchen just to compliment him? He thought that was something that only happened in movies, but no. Apparently, rich old men liked to see who was making their food, and became much less excited about meeting the chef as soon as they saw the first hint on ink on his arms.
Fuckin’ old people.
So now Nico was left to fight through the crowded dining room to get back to his kitchen, grumbling under his breath about wasted time. He’d zig-zagged around tables and waiters, forced to go slightly out of his way and drawing his eye in a new direction - towards a familiar blond sitting a few tables away.
Nico’s feet moved on their own accord, and his hands plunged into his pockets. He walked toward the table, catching the blond’s eye from across the table before he stepped around. Nico cleared his throat once he was standing at the man’s side, and held out a business card from his pocket.
The man only stared at him, stunned.
Nico huffed, barely restraining himself from rolling his eyes. “I’d like to apologize for the way I acted yesterday, so. If you need anything while you’re in Chicago, I’m...around.” Still, the other man didn’t move, only flickering his gaze between Nico’s and the card in his hand. Nico couldn’t stop his eyes from rolling any longer. “Are you going to take the card, or not?”
The man unfroze and slowly took the card from between Nico’s fingers, a soft smile blooming on his lips.
Nico had to turn on his heel and walk away right that second before he did something even stupider.
He ran back to the kitchen and ducked into his office before anyone else could see him, and had to take a few minutes to cool down. He tossed himself into the chair behind his desk and scrubbed his hands over his face, tugging at his hair as he grumbled, “So fucking stupid!”
Nico blocked it out for the rest of the night. He let himself get lost in his kitchen and the monotonous chaos of cooking another hundred meals before the restaurant closed that night.
It took him another forty-five minutes after closing and cleaning up to get back to his apartment, and he’d been too tired to even check his phone on the Red Line. It wasn’t until he was laying in bed, plugging his phone in and about to leave it on his bedside table that he saw a text from an unknown number.
[From: Unknown; anything I need, huh? Is dinner a possibility? -Dr. Will Solace ;) ]
Nico frowned, and started to type.
[To: Unknown; if you’re asking for a free meal, that’s not really what I meant]
He kept his phone in his hands for a few more moments, watching and waiting for a reply, or even just to see if Will would start typing, but nothing changed. He went through the process of adding Will to his contacts, then set his phone aside.
Nico would not let himself lose sleep over a guy. He did enough of that in high school.
He forgot to set his alarm, so he was just getting on the train around noon. Rather than twiddling his thumbs and wishing the train would just skip a few stops, Nico slipped his phone out of his pocket.
He had a text from Will.
[From: Will; I assumed I would pay, since I’m the one asking you out and all. But you can pay if you really want to ;) ]
Nico’s heart jumped in his chest. He’d tried not to let himself get too hopeful - because why on earth would Will be interested after Nico had behaved like a child? - but now Will had asked him out. He shouldn’t make a big deal out of it. Surely, it was just a casual thing. Will was just in town for some conference! It wasn’t like they would really get the chance to go on more than a single date. And dinner… No, Nico couldn’t do dinner.
[To: Will; Dinner won’t exactly work for me since I have to work]
No, wait, that sounded like he wasn’t interested! Quick, think of something else!
[To: Will; But I could do breakfast tomorrow]
He stared down at his phone until he reached his stop, and when he still didn’t have a response, he slid his phone into his pocket and forgot about it. He was stressed all through the dinner rush, wishing he had time to check his phone while knowing there probably wouldn’t be any response anyway.
Even as the kitchen started to slow down, Nico was rushing around like his life depended on it. He tried to force himself to stay occupied even as the orders stopped coming in, right up to the point when the kitchen closed. Finally, once the other cooks had started cleaning up, Jason set his hands on Nico’s shoulder and insisted he take a break.
“You’re obviously stressed,” he pointed out. “Step outside, have a smoke. Or maybe go to the bar and grab a drink. We can handle clean up tonight. I’ll come get you when everyone’s gone so you can make sure we cleaned everything right.”
Nico frowned. “I don’t do that.”
“No, you do,” Jason argued, “but I really don’t care. If you want to work overtime, that’s on you. But I’m not going to let you stress yourself into an early grave.” He gave Nico a gentle push toward the doors. “Now go drink yourself to death instead.”
“Fine.” He walked away, stopping when he had a hand on the door, and turned back to his staff. “Don’t fuck up my kitchen.”
He stepped out into the dining room. Most of the diners had cleared out, and the last remaining were finishing up their drinks and desserts. Nico made his way to the bar, stepping behind the counter and mixing himself a drink.
“Hey there, hot shot,” Will’s voice said from off to Nico’s left. “Are you some kind of master mixologist all of a sudden?”
Nico turned around and spotted the blond sitting on a barstool a few feet away, resting his chin on his hand and smiling Nico’s way. Nico set his elbows on the bartop and leaned toward Will. “No, still just a chef. Drinking’s more of a hobby. And you? Drinking alone this evening?”
Will chuckled and took a sip of his own drink. “Nah, I was here with a few friends, but they all turned in already. I wanted to finish my drink.” He nodded his head to the empty stool beside him. “Do you wanna join me?”
Nico glanced back at the doors to the kitchen, then to Will. “Sure, I think I have time.” He made his way around the bar and took a seat beside Will, staring down at the glass between his hands until Will bumped him with his elbow, and he looked up.
“I’ve been waiting to hear from you all day,” Will told him. “I was starting to think I’d...overstepped.”
Nico shook his head. “No, sorry, I’ve just been too busy to check my phone. Did I miss something important? Or--” He reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, but Will wrapped a hand around his wrist.
“No! No, nothing huge!” Will interrupted, quickly releasing his hand when he realized what he’d done. “Um. Sorry. There might be...just a couple of potentially embarrassing texts where I maybe come off as desperate. So you can go ahead and ignore those, and maybe just delete that whole thread while you’re at it.”
Nico raised an eyebrow and took another sip of his drink, content to watch Will make a fool of himself for a few moments. He was cute when he rambled, Nico decided.
“Are you always this suave?” Nico asked, finally putting Will out of his misery.
Will huffed. “Only in front of hot guys with a lot of tattoos.”
Nico smirked. “Oh, so you’re a fan of tattoos, huh?” he said as he pushed his sleeves up to his elbows oh, so casually. “Anyway, what were we talking about?”
Will’s eyes dropped to Nico’s forearms, eyes scanning over the tattoos there for a moment before he met Nico’s eyes again. “Hmm?”
Nico laughed, and Will’s eyes widened at the sound. “Are we still on for breakfast tomorrow? Or is that going to fuck with your conference schedule, Doctor Solace?”
Will shrugged. “There will be other conferences. But how many chances am I going to get to have breakfast with a chef?”
Nico raised his glass to his lips, saying, “Clearly you’re spending time with the wrong people,” before taking another sip.
Will turned his whole body toward Nico, leaning forward slightly as he said, “Alright, let me rephrase that: When am I going to get another chance to go out with you? I thought I already blew it once, so I don’t want to take any more unnecessary risks.”
“Are you kidding? I thought I blew it when I yelled at you.”
Will set a hand on Nico’s arm. “Let’s just both be grateful for second chances, yeah?”
Nico smiled, and raised his glass. “I’ll drink to that.”
Will reached over and tapped his glass against Nico’s, then downed the last of his drink. “I should probably head upstairs. I’m going to need all the beauty sleep I can get if I don’t want to look out of place next to you tomorrow. I’ll see you for breakfast.”
Nico ducked his head. “Yeah. See you tomorrow, Will.”
Will stood from his barstool, abandoning his empty glass on the bar and trailing the feather-light touch of his fingertips up Nico’s arm as he left.
As Nico drank the last few drops from his glass, Jason stepped out of the kitchen and came to stand in front of Nico across the bar.
“Hey, everybody’s just about cleared out,” he said, then nodded at the empty glass beside Nico. “Who was that guy you were talking to?”
“Just some doctor from the convention,” Nico lied, though he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.
Jason gave him a look that said he didn’t believe him, but was too tired to argue. Instead, he sighed, and straightened up. “Alright, well, the kitchen’s all yours. See you tomorrow, Neeks.”
“See you,” Nico replied. He waited until Jason had left the dining room before he pulled out his phone, finally taking a minute to check his texts. He was grinning ear to ear as he typed out a reply to Will.
[To: Will; you’re right. that was embarrassing]
The response was instantaneous.
[From: Will; :( ]