Luke's, Monday

[vdistinctive]

The kitchen staff had the freezer door open, with fans blowing the cooled air across the kitchen floor. The cook had a frozen turkey, the dishwasher a push broom, and the busboy had a mop. Eliot barely even glanced up from his paperwork when they walked by.

"No curling in the kitchen until you're off the clock."

The kitchen staff exchanged glances, sighed, and went to put everything away again.

Today's specials
Bulgogi
Mu saengchae
Bukkumi

Luke's was open and OCD free.

Comments

[heroic_jawline]

"Inspired by the Olympics?" Steve guessed, looking at the specials.

[vdistinctive]

"Inspired by not lettin' my staff put the turkey they been pushing around on the floor with old brooms on the specials menu," Eliot said. "So . . . Yeah, pretty much."

Also, he liked putting together Korean menus these days.

[heroic_jawline]

"Is that the one with the brooms and the screaming," Steve asked, "or have I missed watching a sport that really uses a frozen turkey?"

There was a sport that involved skiing backwards on purpose, so anything was possible.

[vdistinctive]

"Nah, that's the one. They ain't got a damn clue how it's actually played, though. They just like pushing stuff around the room and yelling a lot."

[heroic_jawline]

"Do they do it in other languages?" Steve asked. "The Russian lady was especially...shrill."

[vdistinctive]

"Well, the dishwasher's Kazakh, so every now and then he curses in that one, but nah, mostly it's in English. They think 'hurry hard' is funny."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve smiled. "Well, they're not entirely wrong."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shook his head. "Man, see, talkin' like that's just gonna encourage them."

[heroic_jawline]

"Well, they can some encouragement. But for their non-working hours," Steve said.

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah, they ain't real good at fine distinctions like that."

[heroic_jawline]

"'If you're playing with a frozen turkey, you're not gettin' paid?'" Steve offered.

[vdistinctive]

"You try tellin' them that. They don't even listen when I threaten to fire 'em."

He really never should have let on that he didn't kill people anymore. That was clearly where he'd lost their respect.

[heroic_jawline]

"Kanan once told me that my Very Disappointed face made him feel like crying?" Steve offered.

[vdistinctive]

"As I recall, it mostly just made me want to punch you in the face," Eliot said. "I mean, I reacted to most things like that when I was seven, but still."

He hadn't changed that much since he was seven.

[heroic_jawline]

"That was not an unexpected reaction to me at seven, either," Steve admitted wryly. "Think I spent half my childhood with a bloody nose."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot laughed. "Skinned knuckles for me. Didn't tend to lose a lot." Not until he got into the army, anyway. And then he learned to be the best all over again real quick. "Got enough stitches and broken bones from being where I didn't belong to make my mom despair anyway, though."

[heroic_jawline]

"Mine was a nurse," Steve said with a smile. "I gave her lots of practice."