Work Text:
rody glanced at the money he had accumulated over the last few days of working at la guele de saturne. he raked his calloused fingers through his hair, chewing his lip as he attempted to calculate if it would be enough to win manon back.
bright and early, he stepped into vincent’s office like he had done many times, ready to approach vincent with his official leave notice. torn between excitement of leaving this sick bastard and anxiety of vincent’s reaction, he visibly gulped when handing the papers to vincent.
“hm, what’s this lamoree?” vincent mumbled with pushing up his glasses to get a better look.
“w-well you know, i was only supposed to be part-time, and i don’t really need the job anymore” the older man said while scratching his the back of neck nervously.
vincent chewed the inside of his cheek, in a bitter and sour fashion.
“very well then, this position will still be here whenever you need it.”
“thanks vince!” rody said, sighing with relief.
“i do have to ask, did you at least enjoy the leftovers i gave you?”
“eh not really, they were kind of bitter for me but thanks anyways, au revoir!” (“bye!”)
“..au revoir rody” (..bye rody”)
vincent crumpled up the letters rody had given him with frustration, immediately fishing out a cigarette to calm his nerves. all that hard work he had done for that man to get a job at a place like this, completely disregarded.
rody stood in the inside of a telephone booth, with nothing but his wallet and a dream. he took a deep breath before dialing manons number.
“hello, this is marianne vacher, i am unavailable right now, but i’ll call you back when i can, byee!”
a lump formed in rodys throat at her sickeningly sweet voice.
he called again and again, only to be met with the same prerecorded message.
“hello, this is marianne vacher, i am unavailable right now, but i’ll call you back when i can, byee!”
“hello, this is marianne vacher, i am unavailable right now, but i’ll call you back when i can, byee!”
hot tears streamed down rodys tanned cheeks as he realized no amount of money would bring his manon back to him.
he stood alone crying in the telephone booth, looking more of an idiot than usual.
suddenly, he heard a faint feminine voice chirp at him from the phone gripped in his hands.
“hello..?”
“manon, is that you?! you scared me, i thought you had died!-“ (click)
she had hung up on him. he stared down at the tears staining his clothing, and the wallet desperately gripped in his hands. this was almost worse than her actually being dead. at least in that scenario he would have thought she still loved him.
rody stumbled out of the booth, out onto the cobblestone streets of france. nearly blinded by his own tears, he went to the only other place he knew he wouldn’t be alone, vincent’s restaurant.
he climbed up the stairs leading to the apartment he had once slaved away in, knocking frantically like his life depended on it. it was so late, hopefully vincent’s insomniac lifestyle would come in handy.
“..rody?” vincent answered with a tinge of genuine concern, newspaper and cigarette in one hand.
the man he had just seen waltzing out of his office hours ago stood in front of him, soaking wet and looking up at him like a lost dog.
“-m sorry vince, i didn’t know where else to go, manon is done with me and i couldn’t be alone!” he rambles through his own sobs and hiccups
for a second, vincent pities the dumb man crying all over his doorstep.
“..sure, come inside.”
the pity ends as quick as it comes, as hits him over the head with a rolled up newspaper that was in his hands as rody shields his not so valuable brain.
“écoute la prochaine fois que je dis que cette fille ne veut pas de toi rody!” (“listen next time i say this girl doesn’t want you rody!”)
“d’accord, d’accord!! désolée vince..” (“okay, okay!! sorry vince..”)
he quickly dries rody off with a towel, much like he did when he first started working there.
he scoffed to himself while he wiped the larger man’s tears.
“you’re lucky i let you in here lamoree, you’re a mess.”
“..i know” he replied, his head slightly down like a dog who had just been told no.
vincent gripped rody’s chin, pulling it to face him.
“would you stop looking so damn sad if i made you some food?”
“as long as it doesn’t taste anything like your leftovers-hey, i wanted to ask why you were so curious about me eating them?” rody laughed to himself as he began to get his crying under control.
vincent raised his eyebrow. “mm, really? nothing was wrong with that tarte au citron rody, and the steak was perfectly fine, you’re just not used to fine cuisine.”
rody pouted in offense. “i guess..does this mean you’ll make me real food??” he smiled, making vincent frown with the idea of making the junk rody enjoyed.
“fine. but you’re only getting steak frites. no complaints.”
rody pumped his fist in the air to celebrate, hardly any signs of his previous breakdown at this point.
vincent served the older man his plate with a hefty serving of crimson wine, placing his hand on his chest in an intimate manner.
rody immediately turned three shades more red, quickly diving into his dish to avoid acknowledging vincent.
“merci vincent!!” (“thanks vincent!!”) he replied while shoving food in his mouth.
“i would’ve thought you would be less scared of me now that you came crying on my door step no? and besides, be polite and do not talk with my food in your mouth.”
he moved his hand to his hair, ruffling it harshly before going back to the kitchen to clean the dishes.
vincent returned shortly, seeing the entire glass of wine gone.
“who knew you had such a refined palate” he said, hardly hiding his smirk.
“gh-just a rough day today.” rody replied, slightly embarrassed.
“allons au lit alors, chéri.” (“let’s go to bed then, darling.”) vincent said dully as he put his arm under the larger man’s back.
rody hid his face with his hand, trying to ignore the fact that his practically evil boss was already calling him endearing names and dragging him to his bed.
he eased into vincent’s touch, despite the embarrassment he was feeling. sure it was gay to find your boss attractive, but he had a long day today and needed a break.
vincent suddenly stopped as he made a sour expression, discretely glancing at rody. he quickly redirected to the bathroom instead of the bedroom.
“w-huh? what’s this for?”
“you stink. shower now lamoree.”
rody sucked in his inner cheek in annoyance. “i do not..”
“are you going to have another fit? do i really need to do everything for you?”
rody always told himself he would never be naked in front of another man. yet here he was..naked, in his bosses bathtub, being cleaned by a man.
vincent harshly scrubbed his face with a rag, eliciting complaints from rody.
“ow ow ow vince!”
“stop your whining will you..” he said, running his cold thumb over the moles on rody’s face.
rody laughed awkwardly from the intimacy of the situation, trying to cut the thickness of the air.
vincent stood up, handing rody a towel. “get out eventually.” he quickly glanced down at him in the bathtub before meeting his green eyes again. “also, you look even better like this.” he said before shutting the door behind him.
rody swallowed nervously as he could feel heat rushing to his face. had his boss always been this way? or maybe he was too dumb to ever notice? he thought to himself, only to be interrupted by vincent again.
“i said get out eventually, not in a few days.” he scolded, while knocking on the door.
“sorry vince!!!” rody apologized while scrambling to get out.
rody changed into extra boxers and shirts vincent had in case, which happened to be his exact size. now that he thought about it, this man was kinda weird.
before he could think too deeply about it, vincent snapped his fingers like he was redirecting a dog, interrupting his thoughts.
“bed, rody.”
“ah right, sorry!”
vincent rolled his eyes as he watched him clumsily climb into his bed.
“thanks a lot again vince, but where are you gonna sleep??”
“here.” he said sharply before lying down next to rody.
rody could feel blush creeping up on his face again. now this was REALLY gay.
“um, are you sure you’re okay with this?” rody asked nervously.
“i know you’re hesitant to be this way with someone like me, but i think you’ve taken a liking to me whether you realize it or not.”
rody opened his mouth to defend himself, but promptly shut it when he realized he had no rebuttal.
vincent only smirked. “besides, would it kill you to have some company after your breakdown earlier today?”
“..i guess not” rody mumbled quietly. “c’mere vince!”
he pulled vincent against his chest, wrapping his toned arms around him.
rody was almost relieved that vincent was now the one blushing profusely this time instead of him.
“..je te déteste.” (“..i hate you.”) vincent groaned as the mixture of the warmth in his face and the man against him was almost too much.
as rody was almost entirely asleep, he felt vincent kiss both moles on his face sweetly, tightening his grasp on the younger man in response.