[Fic] Tartaruga Rouge Part 2 - Birthday Fic

[aya_magic]

AN: And Part 2...

--

Jin rolled over in bed, burrowing further into his silky smooth sheets and fluffy pillows. The light peeking in through the curtains made him groan in pain.  Perhaps those final few drinks hadn’t been the best idea.

“I wonder if Take would be willing to take over again today.” He found his phone tucked under his pillow and prayed he hadn’t been drunk dialing once he got home. He had to pause. How had he gotten home? He hoped he hadn’t driven, until he remembered hailing a taxi for both him and Kame. “It’s already nine, damnit. I’m calling Take.”

A promise not to let the restaurant fall into complete chaos later, he fumbled through his bedside table for some painkillers. He hoped Kame was in just as much pain at the moment, if only for not stopping him when he knew they both had restaurants to run. He chose to ignore the fact that he could’ve stopped them both from drinking more than they should have.

Soon enough, he was groaning again, but this time not from pain. His memories had been slowly filtering back in: light chats about their families, what they wanted to do now, and finally his babbling about opening a restaurant together and wine collections. He rolled haphazardly around his bed, berating himself for suggesting such a thing to someone he had just met again. Doubtless Kame was wondering how he’d even been friends with such a forward freak.

He had to call and apologize. He opened his call history, sighing in relief upon seeing his last call had been the day before to the restaurant to check in on things, long before drink had gotten the better of him. He fumbled through the list, the glow of the screen making him want to close his eyes and hide from the world for another hour or two.

He was relieved when an exhausted “Hello, Jin?” answered his call. He took it as a good sign that the other was even answering his calls.

“How are you feeling?” Jin asked quietly, hoping to minimize the spiking pain Kame was no doubt feeling.

“I could be better. I'm not going into the restaurant; I wouldn’t be of any use. Something makes me think that now we’re talking again, that might be happening more often.”

“I’m sorry about last night,” he quickly answered. “I shouldn’t have let either of us drink so much.”

“It’s not just your fault. I could’ve stopped us too,” Kame admitted with a sigh.

“I’m not just apologizing about that.” He bit his lip, forcing himself to bring up the topic. As much as he loved the idea, he didn’t want to be the genius who pushed his newly regained friend into it.

“Then what could you possibly be apologizing about?” Kame paused. “Unless you’re apologizing for trying to get the other patrons to sing a song with you, because that was kind of…”

“No it’s not… I did what?” His eyes widened and he just wanted to bury himself until Kame’s laughter snapped him out of it.

“No, you didn’t do that, I’m joking. Now, what are you freaking out about?”

“The whole restaurant thing. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have tried to talk you into something like that while we were both drunk. I should have known better.” Jin began to babble. “I completely understand if you just want to forget the whole thing happened.”

He winced at how that would sound to anyone who didn’t know what they’d discussed, and he hoped that Kame did remember this and didn’t think he were talking about anything else. Oh, he’d dealt with the morning, or sometimes afternoon, after plenty of times before, but he’d never had to apologize about propositioning the other to open a restaurant.

“Oh.” The pause lasted longer than he felt comfortable with. “You’re having second thoughts then?”

“I’m assuming you’re having second thoughts,” Jin emphasized.

“Why would I be having second thoughts? It’s not something that we can just walk into after a drunken night of discussing it, but I don’t think we should rule it out as an idea, unless you don’t want to do it, that is.” Kame’s tone held the slightest hint of worry, and Jin smiled.

“I wouldn’t have suggested it, tipsy or not, unless I wanted to at least try,” he mumbled.

“Good. We should meet up to start discussing it then,” Kame suggested.

“I guess we should at least try to get some of the basics down,” Jin hummed. “How about later today? No alcohol, I promise. I’ll personally see to it.”

“Let’s go somewhere that doesn’t serve alcohol then. I think somewhere with great coffee would be for the best. There’s this little café by Sweet--they have the best coffee and scones. What do you say?” He could hear Kame tapping out a rhythm to something in the background.

“Perfect. Can you message me the address?”

“I will. How about three? I think by then we’ll be alive enough to start working out the details.”

“I’ll see you there then. Talk to you later.” He hung up his phone and smothered his grin with his pillow.  Even with no one there to comment, he knew he must look like an idiot in this moment.

--

Kame paused to wipe his forehead with a towel; the heat in the kitchen was slowly becoming more unbearable as the night went on. Dinner service had only started two hours ago, but  already he wanted to turn all the vents up to full blast to help relieve the heat, even just a little.

Glancing at the orders Tadashi was calling out, he realized that they were managing to get every plate out with perfect timing, which allowed him a moment to think. The meeting four days before had been simple enough. All they really had been able to do at that point was make a basic business plan and  start work on funding. They could easily procure a loan of the right amount should they need to--with the capital from their restaurants and their savings it would be simple enough. However, both had agreed that it would be best to get financial backing in other forms.  They’d both had enough offers in the past, Their success coupled with profits from their restaurants had ensured several generous offers from wealthy sponsors to fund another restaurant.

It would just be the task of finding the right sponsors willing to fund a joint venture between the two of them, and while it might sound simple enough, they knew a restaurant that was a mesh of Bordeaux and Tuscan cuisines might be an odd sell.  However, Jin had been confident enough that their sponsors would, if little else, believe in the two of them as chefs. They had parted late that afternoon, after countless scones, muffins, danishes, and mugs off coffee on the terms to speaking to those who had made recent offers for funding.

He’d gotten a few messages a day, normally asking how he was doing and other fairly commonplace questions. The active attempt to keep him in the loop always brought a smile to his face, and he made every effort to return the gesture whenever possible.

He was brought out of his musings by a literal rush towards the doors into the dining rooms. Apparently while he was lost in a daze, one of the waiters had come in to announce something, and was still looking pointedly at him.  All he could do was dumbly tilt his head back in question, silently asking for a repeat of the announcement. But while he waited, he took in the utterances of those closest to the windows.

“That really is him. What is he doing here?”

“You know, it’s kind of unfair he really does look like that in person. Always assumed it was altered pictures…”

“Who is that he’s with? I can’t see. That stupid pillar is in the way.”

“Who is here?” Kame finally asked when the waiter still failed to answer his narrowed eyes.

“Akanishi Jin of Yellow Gold is dining here it seems,” The young man answered. “No one seems to know why he’s here other than for a simple meal, it seems. He’s with someone else who had a reservation.”

“Get back to your duties,” Kame called out, glaring to ensure all his employees went back to their tasks. “We’re still in the middle of service, if you don’t remember!”

A satisfied smile flitted across his face when everyone scurried back to their places to catch back up with orders.

“Kamenashi…” The same waiter that had announced the other chef’s presence tried to gain his attention as quietly as possible.

“Yes?”

“They’ve requested to see you at their table so long as you’re not too busy.”

Kame sighed, and he glanced into polished steel to ensure he looked presentable. Once he was satisfied, he clapped a bit of powder off and walked out of the kitchen. Instantly the noise of the kitchen faded to the light music filtering through the dining room. The only thing that broke the sophisticated air was the excited waving of one particular patron.

He rolled his eyes and discreetly hit the man on the head. “Stop looking like such an idiot.”

Jin pouted up at him. “Don’t be mean, Kame!”

Kame huffed out a sigh, pretending to be annoyed. He took in the guest sitting across from Jin, a woman most likely in her mid to late thirties. The other had never mentioned a girlfriend, not even when discussing if anything particularly interesting had entered their lives, but he wouldn’t put it past the other to leave out some important fact like that. He had always been so sure Jin wasn’t into older women, but things like that easily changed. He ignored the slight twinge he felt at that thought, easily pushing it off as annoyance at not knowing something so important.

“Don’t be rude; introduce me to your guest.” He made an increased effort to hit Jin over the head.

“Stop hitting me, I was getting to that! Not even giving me a proper greeting,” Jin grumbled, his arms crossed in fake annoyance. “Kame, this is Mori Haruka. Haruka-san, this is my friend Kame, the one I told you about.”

“If you’ve been spreading useless gossip-” Kame began.

The woman hid a wide smile behind her hand as Jin waved his hands to stop the other.

“Why would I spread gossip about you? I don’t even have anything juicy enough to be worthy of it yet.” Jin’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Haruka-san and her husband have been regulars of Yellow Gold since it opened. They’ve brought in some of my most influential clientele because of their recommendations.”

“He told me about your upcoming idea when my husband and I were at Yellow Gold. When he says 'regulars,' he means it. We’re there at least twice a week.  When he mentioned you and Sweet, I told him I had reservations here for today,” She explained quietly. “I was shocked that he’d never eaten here before, especially considering you two are friends and considering going into business together, so of course I had to invite him along. I must say, my husband is very interested in your idea.”

“Besides, I haven’t eaten your cooking in so long!” Jin pouted even more. “And I wanted to eat it again.”

Kame covered his eyes, trying to convince himself he wasn’t having this conversation in the middle of his restaurant. “You should’ve just said something. And it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mori-san. I’m sorry if this idiot has imposed on you in any way.”

“Not at all.” She smiled reassuringly.

“Have you placed your orders yet?” He asked nicely, remembering exactly what they were here for. It was a restaurant after all.

“Not yet. I can’t decide what I want at all,” she murmured. “Do you have any suggestions, Kamenashi?”

Jin tapped his lips a few times. “Why don’t you choose?” He looked up at his friend expectantly.

He should have seen that coming. “If you don’t oppose, Mori-san?”

“Of course not. I know you’ll put together an amazing meal.” She delicately closed her menu with a smile.

“I’ll go start working on it then.” He quickly excused himself back to the kitchen, ignoring the cheeky grin flitting across Jin’s face. His mind was already formulating the perfect combination of courses with appropriate wine selections. He quickly requested a passing waiter to go into wine storage to pull up a few bottles for him to prepare for serving.

He surprised one of his line cooks by quietly requesting them to move to a different station as he began the most basic of prep work.

“What are you doing?” Tadashi sighed, taking a pause in keeping an eye on everything.

“The idiot will know if I don’t personally make his food,” he grumbled, even though he knew he was just covering up that he always enjoyed cooking for his friend. “He knows my signature habits, and he will never stop whining if I don’t make it personally.” He visualized Jin’s cheeky grin as he viciously chopped some apricots.

--

That dinner, a few months prior, had proved more fruitful than Jin merely getting to eat Kame’s food for the first time in years. What he hadn’t told Kame was that in the past, Haruka and her husband had offered to fund future ideas. Apparently the spur-of-the-moment meal put together by Kame had been outstanding enough to secure their support in the new restaurant.

With the initial hurdle down, they found it easier to find the support needed. Countless meetings, crammed in between both of them running their own restaurants and their financiers’ schedules, determined construction and design plans, and after a month, the more pressing decision was made: the menu had been finalized.  They were, however, still without a name for the restaurant, and they had been brushing aside the questions in every interview.

They had had little to do while construction was going on, remodeling the once strictly Italian restaurant to their exact specifications, and thus had instead focused on finding the perfect staff. Finding the perfect dynamic, as well as employees capable of handling French and Italian cuisine, would be the key to their success.

Once the staff had been handpicked and training was safely underway with their new sous chef and maitre d’*, a slightly plain, yet competent Nakamaru Yuichi and a pretty, but frightening Ueda Tatsuya respectively, all they could do was wait to be cleared to start business.

The wait didn’t stop both chefs from coming up with any excuse to meet and obsess over their new restaurant. The most used excuse was that of the name, with less than a month to opening, the press was dying to have a name for one of the most anticipated restaurants of the year. There was only so long they could skirt the question and hide behind the “mystery” excuse.

It was one such meeting, at that same izakaya they frequented, that finally procured a name.

Jin set down his cup. Both had agreed to stay away from any alcohol lest they agree on a horrendous name and release it to the press in a less than desirable way. “What did that instructor call us back in school? When we were made partners for the term.”

“Takki?” Kame looked up from where he had slumped forward onto the table in despair. He distinctly remembered the rather eccentric, but highly successful, chef had taken a liking to teaching, and they had happened to catch one of his rare courses at the institute. “He called us 'Akakame.'”

“Tartaruga Rosso*…” Jin hummed briefly. “That kind of has a nice ring to it.”

“It’s not just an Italian restaurant,” Kame huffed. He may not understand what Jin was saying at all, but he knew the other well enough to guess.

“Then what is it in French?” Jin raised his brows expectantly.

“Tortue Rouge*.” Kame stumbled briefly over the word ‘rouge,’ much to Jin’s pleasure. “It’s been a while, ass,” Kame muttered in response to his grin.

“Tartaruga Rosso... Tortue Rouge… Tortue Rosso…” Jin wrinkled his nose a bit as he repeated the words to himself. “Tartaruga Rouge…”

“That’s not half bad.” Kame perked up a bit.

“Really? I was just putting them together randomly,” Jin mumbled. “Tartaruga Rouge… you know you’re going to have to conquer the word 'rouge' if you want to use it in the name.”

Kame stuck his tongue out. “That’s easily solvable. I’ll leave the pronunciation to you.”

“And what will you do then?” Jin rolled his eyes.

“Look pretty for the interviews. Now let’s call the designers so they can start drafting the design for the name.” Kame instantly pulled out his phone.

--

Kame exited the pastry kitchen, carefully separated from the noise of the main kitchen for fear of delicate pastries being affected. He was satisfied that their two head pastry chefs*, the slightly odd combination of Tanaka Koki with Nishikido Ryo, had all the pâte à choux* prepared to perfection that he could ask for.

They were to start their first service any minute; they had opted on concentrating solely on dinner service for their opening day. He wrung his hands, trying to think of what he had to do next to prepare, before he finally realized what that odd noise he thought he’d been hearing was. Safely tucked inside the pastry kitchen, he hadn’t been able to hear the noise of the main kitchen. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Before him in the center of the kitchen stood Jin, with a whisk in one hand and a ladle in the other, in a mock attempt at conducting their whole staff, waitstaff* included somehow. He imagined Koki and Ryo would have been roped in had he not detained them briefly.  Music pumped through the kitchen, from where he couldn’t immediately identify, and apparently Jin was using the whisk and ladle in some bizarre attempt to conduct. But somehow it was working and almost everyone was belting out the song, along with Jin of course, and a few doing a little dance in place.

“Wish I could shut my playboy mouth, how’d I turn my shirt inside out?*” Jin sang loudly as the dance beat continued to pump through the kitchen.

Kame groaned. No wonder the staff was actually joining his idiot of a business partner in singing an English song. It had been popular enough that almost everyone knew the lyrics, himself slightly included. As he continued to watch, Jin danced, bounced, and literally twirled while directing sections of the staff, often by calling out a specific station.

“Ok, line cooks, sing with me!”

“Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance/Dance, dance, just, j-j-just – When I come through the dance floor checkin’ out that catalog/ Can’t believe my eyes-“ And possibly even further to his horror all the line cooks did follow his lead to start singing and dancing with him.

“What the FUCK are you doing?” Kame shouted to be heard over the music, Koki and Ryo peeking out from behind him.

Jin quickly shut off the music, Koki groaning out, “But that was the best part, and I just came in!”

“I’m obviously building team morale!” Jin cheered, waving his arms at Kame’s peeved expression. “You know the best way to do that is singing, right, Kame?”

“Jin! We start our FIRST dinner service in less than 20 minutes, and you have all of the staff in here singing and dancing with you! We’re not even ready to open! The press, and critics, our sponsors, and so many influential customers have reservations for tonight!” Kame resisted the urge to wrest the whisk from Jin’s hand to hit him with it.

Jin quickly hid the whisk and ladle so Kame couldn’t use them against him; he had learned his lesson years ago. “Kame, why don’t we take this out on the floor, so they can go back to work?” he suggested weakly.

“Be productive,” Kame requested before literally dragging the taller man out of the kitchen. “Care to explain why you’re trying to raise my blood pressure?”

“First things, sit.” Jin pushed him into a plush chair. Kame noted he was glad they had chosen these chairs, as they were extremely comfortable. Jin carefully massaged Kame’s shoulders, trying to calm the other down enough so that he wouldn’t be killed. “All the tables are set up perfectly, our wait staff are all trained and experienced, and Ueda will discreetly kick their asses if they even come close to screwing anything up. We’ve had everything we can prep ready for over ten minutes now. We are set for opening, and everything will go perfectly. Now breathe slowly in…” he prompted, “and out. Good, good. Now say it with me: everything will go perfectly.”

Kame batted Jin's hands away from his shoulders, even if the massage had been relaxing. “I will say that with you after everything has gone perfectly. Until then, fix your damn hair. All that bouncing around has messed it up. I refuse to have my picture taken with you.”

“Kame, tesoro.” Jin unconsciously pulled out the old nickname and he felt Kame perk up at the use of the term. “Tesoro mio, if you don’t start to calm down your food will absorb all those ill thoughts, and we can only have happy thoughts being absorbed!”

--

“Did he just call Kamenashi what I think he did?” Koki whispered from where they were trying to listen through a crack in the doors from the kitchen.

“I don’t know, I can’t completely hear them,” Maru whispered back.

“It’s like… Akakame!” A young line cook practically squealed.

“Shut up or they’ll hear you,” Ryo hissed. “Besides, I bet Kamenashi doesn’t even know what it means.”

--

“All right… By the way, Jin…” Kame tilted his head back so he was looking right up at Jin.

It had never bothered him before, the nickname that Jin had taken to calling him years before. He hadn’t expected the habit to stick, not after so many years of silence. He had never asked what it meant before, assuming it was some term for 'friend,' but he knew the actual Italian word for friend, because it was similar enough to the French word, and that wasn’t it. It was probably some Italian term of endearment, not that he’d probably ever find out without asking the older man, but just hearing the term seemed to calm him down, at least to a certain extent. It almost worried him, how such a simple sounding word had that effect on him after so many years.

Jin hummed and tilted his head as he looked down at him, a small smile tugging at his lips upon seeing the almost peaceful look on the younger’s face.

“Never mind.” Kame smiled. He didn’t need vocal confirmation that they were slowly becoming best friends again, though maybe it hadn’t taken any time at all. Almost immediately upon hearing the other’s voice and meeting him again it felt as if no time had passed. He didn’t need to know that Jin was using the same friendly term with him, as opposed to the truly teasing nickname it could have been, from years past to refer to him.

Jin hummed lightly to himself, just resting his hands on Kame’s shoulders.

“Oh, where was that music coming from anyway?” Kame mumbled, finally remembering one detail that had eluded him.

“The sound system, obviously.” Jin shrugged. “Remember there’s a separate one from the dining room in the kitchen.”

“Why would we do that?” Kame furrowed his brows.

“Because…music is awesome, right, tesoro?” Jin tried.

“You know what,” Kame sighed, thinking he might come to hate that nickname soon enough, “forget it. I don’t care, so long as you don’t turn it up that loud during service, and if I tell you to change the song, you have to.”

“Anything you say. Now go check your hair in the mirror--it’s going flat. We have to look great for the opening photos, which are in five minutes.” He always did love how that nickname made Kame less hostile.

Kame gasped and immediately rushed over to a decorative mirror. “My hair is not going flat, you ass!”

Jin chuckled. “Well you certainly aren’t freaking out like a few minutes ago. Ueda, hit the lights will you? I do believe it’s time to start the show!”

--

Jin walked back into the kitchen after spending a few minutes examining the dining room. He’d been discreetly checking on the progress of meals for two of their employees. Isamu and Kohaku had both been hired as line cooks, and seemed to make the cutest couple. Jin always loved teasing them over their lovey-dovey antics, but today he wanted to make sure their meal went perfectly.

“Are Kohaku and Isamu still here?” Kame wiped some flour from his cheek, missing a streak that went down to his jaw.

“Mm, it looked like they were almost finished with their entrées.” Jin reached forward and wiped off the rest with his thumb.

“Good. Can you get Ueda to flag down their waiters? As soon as they’re ready, I’ve prepared some special desserts for them.”  Kame ducked down and pulled out a torch.

“Getting sappier as you get older, Kame.” Jin went back to see if he could spot Ueda in the dining room, but stopped and turned around. “I don’t think you need to finish those desserts,” he said, biting his lip.

“They already left?” Kame looked up from where he was about to turn the torch on.

“Kind of. I just saw Kohaku throw her wine in Isamu’s face before storming out. I don’t think dessert is an option at this point.”

Kame blinked. “Tell me you’re joking.”

“I wish I was. They were looking perfectly lovey-dovey just a few moments ago.” Jin rubbed his forehead. “This is going to affect their work, isn’t it?”

Kame’s eyes snapped to his. “Don’t even say that. We’ve only been open a month, Jin. If we already need to try and hire new staff...The time it could take to catch them up to speed…”

“Kame, stop thinking about it. We can’t freak out before anything’s even happened,” Jin placated him.

“Right, right, they’re both very professional,” Kame reminded himself.

--

Kame watched over the staff as they began their meeting, Jin bringing the last dishes out from the kitchen with Maru's help. When his fellow chef finally took his seat next to him, he tried to call the attention of the staff.

“Try this, new recipe.” Jin quickly scooped some of his new risotto onto Kame’s plate. “Oh, and I just pulled this bread out of the oven ten minutes ago.”

Kame rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored him. “So as you all know, Isamu and Kohaku have both left us, permanently. We’re hoping to have replacements within the next week, so just bear with us a bit longer on this issue.”

“Never did think they’d make it, but I didn’t think they’d end up arguing in the middle of the dining room before quitting…” Koki mumbled. “Their arguments were sudden.”

“Mm, like something kind of brought it on. It didn’t start until they had dinner here on their day off,” Maru continued and then laughed. “Ne, you don’t think it was the restaurant that broke them up, do you?”

“You guys, stop talking about it like that. Ta-ta-ru isn’t some magical restaurant or anything,” Kame sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“'Tataru'?” Ryo arched an eyebrow.

“No, 'Ta-ta-ru,' it’s the nickname.” Jin mumbled while quietly ladling a bowl full of soup to place next to Kame’s plate.

Ryo rolled his eyes at Jin’s antics. “You nicknamed the restaurant something that sounds like ‘to curse*’? Did you even think about that?”

Kame blinked, replaying 'ta-ta-ru' versus 'tataru' in his head. “Oh shit, we hadn’t even realized that.”

“Too late to change it. Some of the regulars are already using it, and it’s been used in a couple magazines.” Jin waved it off. “Don’t worry too much about it. So let’s see… we have a couple events coming up on the schedule.”

Kame reached out to take a sip of water and finally took in his plate piled high with an impossible amount of food, accompanied by a few bowls of fruit, soup, and pasta. “Jin, what the hell?”

“What?” Jin looked up from the schedule to meet Kame’s glare.

Kame gestured to all the food surrounding him. “You said two weeks ago you weren’t going to do this again.”

“Yeah well… you need to eat more. You’d think as a chef you’d have a better appreciation for eating, but nooo. Besides, I wanted you to try the new recipes.” Jin grinned.

“You’re going to do this at every meeting, aren’t you?” Kame sighed in defeat.

“Yup, even if you threaten me with bodily harm.” Jin flashed a peace sign before going back to the paperwork. “Right, so because of the whole incident, we’re enacting a new rule: no dating between staff members.”

“Right, none at all,” Kame confirmed. “We can’t afford to take the time to hire and train new employees in the event of another nasty break-up…”

“Especially if it’s because of the restaurant,” Ueda hummed.

“The restaurant isn’t cursed.” Jin sighed. “Though that would be kind of cool…”

“Jin.” Kame hit him. “Don’t encourage them.”

Part 3