That Stupid Little Waiter

Chapter 11 - Stardust in Our Steps

"What in the actual fuck guys?"

Normally Vincent would be the one yelling at one of his employees while Rody and the rest of the staff avoided entering his vision, but it was different today-with his back facing everyone else, Vincent had his face buried his hand with the other one propping himself on the counter next to him all the while Rody tried to reason with his coworkers, if that was even possible at all.

Not being embarrassed easily was another one of his signature traits, or perhaps to say it more accurately, it was one of the arts he had mastered over the many years he learned of what people were capable of-if they couldn't find a single trace of dirt in his pristine, sparkling track, then they would leave the dirt themselves. In this journey to fame, to say he had dealt with a lot of children in adult body would be an understatement. One brief look at his history and you would be able to dig up so many incidents involving many public tantrums, false accusations, framing and anything in-between, but what you would not find is Vincent showing a single ounce of care in what was thrown to him. Whether it was people spilling things on him, screaming at him for literally just standing in front of them or straight up filing false reports on him or his restaurant, any attempt of public humiliation on him failed so badly, his lack of embarrassment was the thing embarrassing them in return.

What was the secret, many had asked themselves that question, along with whether he actually felt embarrassed. His answer would be yes, but he was also aware of the fact it was his reaction that they were after for their hot, trendy deadlines or juicy gossips amongst their peers, and he decided that try as they might, claw it out of him even, but their petty desires to see him fail were so despicable, he not only wasn't going to let them have that satisfaction, but he was also going to use their attempts as leverage as stepping ladders up his way to success. Reading their angry words filled with childish tantrums on the newspapers as their last attempt to bring him down after their plan backfired was one of his favorite morning activities for a long time. Sipping on his black coffee, he relished in their misery when they saw he wasn't the one suffering instead, and so that was how he gained his reputation as the one who seemed as though he had not an embarrassed nerve in him.

Yet, right now he was embarrassed just because someone was too impatient to wait for them to be completely private, and that same person was now trying to bluff his way out of this mess that he had put both of them in. As he buried his face deeper into his palm, he sighed while listening to Rody's flustered stutters, clearly making extremely poor attempts at explaining the situation.

He was trying so hard as though there was any good reason why he was pinning his boss down on the counter, kissing him, nearly ripping his shirt off and whispering dirty things into his ears.

"I-I was-uh-t-teasing him, yeah!"

Oh for fuck's sake, Rody, Vincent slammed another hand over his face while muffled, unintelligible sounds of embarrassment escaped his lips. As much as he was bewildered how Rody thought that was even a passable excuse for them getting down on each other like they were lovers-not that they weren't lovers though-Vincent figured this was what he had signed up for the moment his mind without his knowledge that the "short-lived crush" he had on Rody was, in fact, not short-lived. When he fell for Rody, he not only fell for his wild yet beautiful ideas of what love was, his smiles always filled with optimism and his adorable green eyes, but he also fell for the less than favorable side, the side that told him cycling really fast under the pouring rain would help dry him as he went. And even with a few scolding words, Vincent would happily dry him every time, just like he did so many months ago.

Plus, Vincent couldn't blame Rody for being overly agitated like a starving beast when that was Vincent's intention the moment he pulled Rody into his office. Perhaps he should have seen this as an unexpected side effect.