Chapter Text
Sydney Adamu could hear the whirl of her rangehood exhaust fan running before she even opened the door to her home.
She immediately assumed she had hastily left it on as she rushed to The Bear for the longest shift of her life early today.
It was the very first without Carmen in the kitchen with her. Now he was officially retired. And it had been more taxing on her soul than she had even predicted. The Bear didn’t feel right without him – she had even felt herself leaving space for him in their kitchen, despite knowing he would not show.
Sydney was not surprised by the nightmares she experienced the night before as the dread grew to almost unbearable. Maybe she had been so tired she hadn’t even heard it running in the dark this morning as she locked up?
But when Sydney went to open her door, she realised it wasn’t even locked. And that was definitely something she did that morning, every morning, regardless of what was on her mind or how little she had slept.
So her mind jumped immediately to the only logical conclusion it could make – OFCOURSE today is the day I get broken into – could not have picked a WORST day to fucki-
Slamming open the door with more anger than she thought her tired limbs could master, she instantly was confronted with the smell of caramelizing sautee onion and she realised that whoever broke in was still in her place.
But they were… cooking?
Carmy, all wiry and perpetually messy hair pottered around her kitchen wearing her old permanently stained cooking apron, and didn’t even look up at her abrupt entrance.
Sydney inhaled a deep breathe and watched him as he worked, stirring the a pot she recognized instantly as the first pot her father ever gave her when she moved out of home. He looked so much like he did when he got lost in his cooking at The Bear.
Focused, driven, where he was meant to be.
But this time, he wasn’t at The Bear, but in HER kitchen.
A concept that caught her breathe a little.
Despite not hearing her attempting to break the door off its hinges, he did seem to hear her breath hitch, and Carmy blinked out of his focused trance to look up at her direction. He looked momentary surprised to see him, and her mind blasted back at him Why are you surprised, this is MY Kitchen!
“What are you doing?” she asked him, the anger in her body making the words a little gruff sounding, and his expression turned slightly sheepish. Instead of answering, Carmen turned the stove off and gently poured a silky onion puree across the plate, which she can see housed generous size pan-seared scallops. He did it although he wasn’t even paying attention, glancing up at her every few moments.
Why is he looking at me like that? To check that I am still here?
That can’t be right.
And yet the sauce topped the meal in a manor that showed his years of honed experience.
“I thought,” he paused a moment before continuing, “that you might need some food after today.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Sydney had big plans of eating some frozen bread as she sat on the floor of her shower. She had not determined if she had enough energy to undress herself. Food that she didn’t have to cook sounded honestly amazing.
Sydney remembered faintly loaning him her key a few months ago.
She probably needs to take him that off him.
He clearly can’t be trusted.
But instead of asking for it back, she said nothing more and walked over, dragging the bar stool out and sitting down.
She had practically nothing in her kitchen at the moment, every meal she eats is at The Bear these days.
Carmy had clearly taken the time to go to the shops to buy what he needed.
There was planning evident here.
This was not a last minute decision.
But she was too tired to deeply analyse it any further.
Carmy pushed the plate towards her and turned his back, starting to soaking the pot in her sink, and giving her the chance to her to focus her attention only on the plate before her.
The smell of his cooking consumed her, and she knew immediately that it was one of the loveliest meals she had seen from him in quite some time. A delicate balance of textures and colours swirled in front of her, begging to be enjoyed. Sydney had scrapped a tiny bit onto the fork and in her mouth before Carmen had even stepped away from the sink, and it was as delicious as she knew it would be.
Carmy was wiping his hands on the tea towel and grabbed his keys, before Sydney realised what that meant.
“You aren’t eating?”
He shrugged, not replying. That shouldn’t surprise Sydney really – since their confrontation in the back ally of The Bear, less than usual words had been shared between them. Silence as a response from Carmy was very on brand for him at the moment.
And yet, he did eventually respond. Hand on her doorhandle, he turned back.
“I wanted to let you rest.”
“Thanks,” was literally all she could say.
His lips barely twitched, as though trying to smile but unable to get it out through all his hidden thoughts.
“Was today… Okay?” he reluctantly asked, looking like he was almost halfway out the door before he could get the question out of his lips.
Today was a lot of things and Sydney was sure okay was probably not the right word. But in this moment, with this delicious food and feeling that she wasn’t alone, she didn’t feel like it was too much of a lie.
“Today was okay.”
He was out of the door before she could even check what how those words effected him.