Chapter Text
“Syd, Richie, could I talk to you for a sec before service?” Sugar asked after Richie gave his usual pep talk.
“Sure thing, Sug,” Richie grinned and strolled behind her, all long limbs.
Syd felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. This couldn’t possibly be about the picture, could it? It had popped up on her insta feed last night while she had been indulging in her pre-bed doom scroll. She had a google alert set for The Bear, but she followed Sasha Kern anyway. She was a truly brilliant influencer, in the sense that her posts always managed to be not only timely but also a perfect mix of cute, sassy, and sexy. Not to mention that they were mostly about food. Syd usually let out a sigh when she saw her posts. What must it be like, to always say the right thing at the right time?
The picture from last night was neither the right thing nor the right time and when she saw it Syd had screamed and thrown her phone across the room and considered unfollowing Sasha completely. She really hoped this wasn’t about that.
Sugar ushered Syd and Richie into the office and pulled out her phone, scrolling for something specific. Syd felt her gut drop farther. This was definitely about that.
“Soooooo, have either of you seen this?” Sugar said, finally turning the phone around for them to see.
Richie squinted his old ass eyes and bent closer to get a better look. “I haven’t,” he said when he finally brought it into focus. “It’s a nice pic.”
“Read the caption you idiot,” Sydney ground out between clenched teeth.
The problem - well, one of many - was that it WAS a nice pic. It was actually a great pic. Sasha knew what she was doing. Syd had come out to the dining room to meet some not quite high level but not quite low level politician who had been seated at table 4 and wanted to compliment her on the scallop dish. She had been glowing at the compliment, and Richie had caught her on the way back to the kitchen.
“Well done Chef,” he had said, bending low so he could whisper directly in her ear. She remembered his breath tickling her skin, the smell of his cologne making her nose itch so that she scrunched it even as she smiled. It was a nice moment. A fantastic moment actually. It felt like the pinnacle of all they’d been working for - happy guests, good flow, synergy between colleagues.
And the picture captured that. Syd’s smile was caught just so in the light, and the angle of Richie’s jaw was perfect. They looked happy. Relaxed. There were so few good pictures of her that Syd actually had an album on her phone to save them. There were 4. She had briefly considered adding this one until she saw the caption.
The only thing better than the food and service at The Bear last night was watching these two cuties flirt! Only a couple this perfect could make the food this good!
Honestly, fuck Sasha Kern.
“Oh shit,” Richie let out a little half laugh. Clearly he thought it was nothing.
“Oh shit is right,” Syd seethed. “Now the entire internet thinks we’re the perfect couple!”
Richie shrugged. “So what? How many followers does this chick have anyway?”
“1.5 million,” Sugar tried to reign in her squeal of excitement.
“Oh,” Richie rubbed the scruff on his jaw. “That’s, a lot. I have 143.”
“I know the couple thing isn’t necessarily true,” Sugar said, bouncing on her toes.
“Not even remotely true,” Sydney cut in.
“But this is actually really, really good for us,” Sugar went on like she hadn’t spoken. “The fact that Sasha came here at all is great, and this post is blowing up!”
“Blowing up how?” Richie asked.
“It was posted last night and already has 5k likes!” Sugar showed him.
Syd let out something between a groan and a yelp as Richie squinted at the post again.
“This is fantastic!” Sugar promised.
“Not to like, burst your bubble or anything,” Syd cut in, “but people thinking Richie and I are a thing is not fantastic.”
Sugar shook her head vigorously, her earrings jingling. “Forget that part. The point is that we’re getting publicity! I just wanted to thank you guys for giving Sasha such a great photo op!”
“It’s not like she asked,” Richie muttered, rubbing his jaw again.
“Look, the point of this was just to say good job chefs. Don’t worry about it - it was just something I thought was nice.”
“Yeah, okay,” Syd said, very unconvinced.
“Well fine, go pout about 5k likes somewhere else then,” Sugar said, making little shooing motions with her hands.
The two of them left the office, Syd’s jaw and fists clenched and Richie chuckling.
“What are you laughing about?” She asked.
“It’s just funny,” Richie said. “I give you a compliment in public and of course some influencer babe turns it into a relationship,” he used air quotes on the last word.
“Yeah, sex obsessed idiots,” Syd rolled her eyes, starting to feel a little better.
“Oh I’m definitely at least one of those things,” Richie allowed, “but I mean c’mon, you an’ me?” he snorted. “You’re closer to Eva’s age for fuck’s sake!”
Syd felt every muscle in her body clench. “No I’m not,” she said tightly.
It was Richie’s turn to roll his eyes. “Well maybe not actually, but you’re still a kid.”
Syd swallowed. Did he really see her that way? “Actually I’m your boss,” she snapped.
Richie’s face lost its signature grin. “Well yeah of course, but – ”
“I’m so sorry you have to be bossed around by a child,” she snapped and stalked away from him.
“Hey I never said that!” he called after her. She didn’t want to hear it.
“You okay mamí?” Tina asked as Syd started chopping vegetables with much more violence than necessary.
“Yup, yup, I’m so, so good,” Syd promised, slamming the knife down again and again.
Richie watched from behind her, far enough away that she couldn’t see him looking. He desperately wanted to apologize, but he didn’t know exactly for what. Syd was a kid. Not like a kid kid, but a kid compared to him anyway. Anyone imagining them as a couple was obviously either taking the piss or couldn’t see straight. Fuckin’ Gavones. He tried to look at it from her perspective. What was she so mad about? Then it hit him like a load of bricks. The idea of her as a kid. That had to be it. That’s why she’d mentioned that she was his boss. She didn’t want the internet thinking she had gotten her spot as CDC because she was fucking the front of house manager, or that she was into some Daddy shit. She wanted to be taken seriously for the badass chef she was. No wonder she didn’t want to be called a kid. He shook his head. The internet was full of assholes, and he hadn’t acted much better. He should offer to beat up that stupid bimbo - what was her name? Sarah? Tasha? And he should apologize properly too. He jumped as Syd slammed her knife down on an unfortunate potato. Maybe now wasn’t the time.
Sydney did not want people thinking she got her job as CDC because she was fucking her front of house manager. She did not want people thinking she had some Daddy shit. But she also didn’t want Richie to see her as a kid. She started a bit. Why Richie specifically? Obviously, if Carmy or Marcus or Luca called her a kid she would be livid. But Ebra and Tina called her all kinds of parental forms of endearment, and even Cicero had called her kiddo a time or two, which she didn’t mind at all. Richie was way closer to their ages than hers - why was he special?
Not special, she corrected herself. Different. Ebra and Tina hadn’t spent weeks mocking her and publicly humiliating her. Well, actually, Tina had. But that was still different, she told herself. Tina was a woman, and a woman of color at that. Having a white man, a white man who was her employee no less, thinking of her as a kid was a hard pass. He had compared her to Eva for fuck’s sake! Not cool, she narrowed her eyes as she continued chopping. So totally not cool.
Multiple guests that evening remarked that the mashed potatoes were particularly smooth. Probably because Syd imagined every lump as Richie’s stupid fucking face.