Work Text:
Marcus was really regretting telling Syd that he would do this. As soon as he pulled his phone out of his apron pocket, his heart started pounding like he was on a rollercoaster.
Luca, meanwhile, didn’t seem to have noticed a thing, as he was completely focused on the tart with crème fraîche he was preparing. The tart with crème fraîche that was Marcus’s convenient excuse for Facetiming Sydney.
“Heeey, so, Chef, I was wondering,” Marcus began (his voice sounding weirdly strained even to himself, but he tried to ignore that). “Is it okay if I Facetime my friend Sydney? She’s Carmy’s sous chef and I think she would really… really like to see this dish.” (Oh, God, that sounded so wrong.)
“Uh, sure, that’s fine with me,” Luca said, barely glancing up from the plate. “Does she do desserts, too?”
Oh, shit! “Um, usually not, but she’s working on the menu for the restaurant and she’s really looking for inspiration right now. Especially like for…plating.”
“Ah, I see. Sure, call her up.”
Marcus clicked on the icon to Facetime Sydney, his thumb literally trembling a little as he did so. Only the thought of Sydney getting mad at him if he didn’t call gave him the motivation to keep going.
Sydney answered his call suspiciously fast, and Marcus let out a little huff of air in embarrassment.
“Heeey, Marcus!” Syd said. “What’s up? It’s the middle of the day there, right? Are you at the restaurant?” Wow, really playing it cool there, Syd, Marcus thought sarcastically.
“Uh, yeah, I thought you might want to see this…tart.”
Syd’s mouth squished up like she was trying not to laugh, making her look a bit like a Muppet (but a pretty Muppet). Marcus glared at his phone screen.
“Yes, please, show me!” Syd choked out.
Marcus hit the icon on his phone screen to make the camera flip, so that it showed Luca and the counter with the dishes on it, rather than his own embarrassed face.
“It’s a tarte tatin with crème fraîche and spiced apples,” Marcus added. Although he was describing the dish, his phone was aimed fully at Luca, instead.
“Oh, wooow, it’s…really nice!” Sydney said, sounding overly enthused.
“Hello!” Luca said, actually pausing in his work to wave in the direction of Marcus’s phone. “I’m Luca. Carmy’s friend. Marcus’s worst nightmare for the next few weeks.”
Marcus chuckled nervously. “He’s kidding. He’s super nice!”
“Hi, Chef, nice to meet you!” Sydney said in an overly sweet voice that Marcus had never heard her use except with finicky restaurant customers.
“This is my friend, Sydney,” Marcus said, probably unnecessarily, but feeling like he should facilitate some type of introduction. Facetiming was so awkward in the best of situations…let alone this one.
“I hear you’re Carmy’s sous chef? You must be good,” Luca said in the direction of the phone, smiling that cute little smile that made just the corners of his mouth turn up.
Sydney giggled nervously. “Oh, I dunno…I try…”
Marcus rolled his eyes, hoping Luca didn’t notice. So this was how Syd sounded flirting?
“Look, here’s the tart,” Marcus said pointedly, zooming his phone in to show the plate that was supposed to be his reason for calling.
“It’s beautiful. I love the apple garnish on top,” Sydney said. The golden piece of apple was sliced so thin it was almost see-through, glowing like translucent stained glass. Marcus had almost cried in frustration learning how to slice it thin enough to look good, but not so thin it collapsed.
“Thank you,” Luca said. He turned the plate back and forth, showing all sides of the dessert with quiet pride.
“You know, I think Sugar should see this, too!” Sydney suddenly blurted out.
Marcus felt his eyes bug out. “Sugar?” he echoed stupidly.
“Yes, definitely! Here, let me go find her.” A rustling racket like Sydney was getting up and moving around came out of his phone speaker and Marcus winced.
“Sugar?” Luca questioned quietly.
“Uh, Carmy’s sister. She’s a partner in the restaurant,” Marcus said, not adding a reason to explain why Sugar would need to see a tart, because there wasn’t one! This was getting out of hand.
“Syd, what are you doing?” Sugar’s voice echoed out of the phone.
“I’m talking to Marcus!” Sydney said cheerfully. “And he has something to show you…”
Marcus sighed and aimed his phone in a way to show both Luca and the dessert counter to best advantage.
“Oh, wow, that is…something!” Sugar exclaimed. Marcus snorted. Wasn’t she married? And pregnant? He could tell by her tone of voice that she was not reacting to the dessert.
“Yes, it’s a tarte tatin…made by Carmy’s friend, Chef Luca,” Sydney narrated.
Luca waved at the phone casually and thankfully didn’t comment.
“Hey, what are you doing, hon?” Marcus gawked as he recognized the voice coming out of his phone speaker now. They did not need to add Tina to this situation.
“Apparently we are Facetiming Marcus…and his new friend,” Sugar said.
“Ah…nice!” Tina commented. Her “nice” was a little too enthusiastic, but she thankfully didn’t say anything more than that.
Marcus looked down at his phone screen and saw that now Sydney, Sugar, and Tina were all crowded together around Syd’s phone, staring raptly at the screen as Luca continued to prepare the desserts. Their eyes were huge and they looked quite hungry.
“Uh, ladies, I think we need to go now. I need to keep helping with this,” Marcus blurted out, trying to cut the call short.
“You call what you do helping, huh?” Luca teased without looking up, and Sydney laughed overenthusiastically at his mild joke.
“So, I’ll talk to you all later, nice to see you!” Marcus continued desperately. He could almost taste the relief of ending this awkward phone call.
Just then, Fak’s face appeared over Sydney’s shoulder. “Hey, what’s up? What are you doing?” Fak brayed.
“Um…” Sydney began.
“Whoa, who’s the hot chef??” Fak exclaimed, so loudly that it echoed throughout the kitchen.
Sydney made a sort of snorting, choking sound. Sugar’s mouth dropped open and she squeaked out, “Neil!” Tina laughed so loud that the speaker on Marcus’s phone crackled.
“I think we had better let you go now!” Sydney squeaked out.
“Very well, nice meeting all of you!” Luca said, his voice perfectly calm and cordial, but Marcus could see that the corner of his mouth was twitching up and his eyes were sparkling with mischief.
The women hung up without any further farewell.
“I…I’m sorry about all that,” Marcus stammered out.
“So…’hot chef,’ huh?” Luca replied. Marcus reluctantly met his eyes…and Luca winked.
Marcus’s heart literally skipped a beat.
“I think we should get back to work now, yeah?” Luca said gracefully.
Marcus nodded silently, trying to pretend that his cheeks weren’t burning hot.
Stupid hot chef!