AFTER HOURS; carmy berzatto

↳ THEN - 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐆𝐔𝐄𝐒.

AUGUST

13 DAYS IN

"All I'm saying is," began Luca, following him out the side door that led to the alleyway where his co-worker took his smoke breaks. Carmen braced himself for the rest of that sentence. "Maybe you should give him a chance."

He whipped his head around to scowl at Luca in disbelief. The latter leaned against the restaurant's brick wall and crossed his arms, blankly staring back at him.

"You gotta be shitting me," he said without hesitation, patting his pockets. Finding his crumpled pack of cigarettes. "Why would I do that?" with shaky hands, Carmy struggled to light one.

Luca shrugged as if it was obvious, fumbling in his own pocket for a granola bar he'd brought. After unwrapping it, he sat down heavily on the side door step.

"It worked for us," he pointed out before taking a bite of the snack.

That was true– but then again, Luca hardly ever lied. He was the realest guy Carmen had ever met in his life, which is why the initial competitiveness between them upon starting at Ever ended quite quickly (though some might say it never actually began). Sure thing, the first week had been tough –particularly for Luca. He'd considered himself to be the best of the best –an idea that immediately died after seeing Carmen work for the first time.

« "Hey", he said upon entering the kitchen and finding someone else there. 

It was 4:49 AM and Carmen was reading with his elbows resting on a cold, impersonal metal counter; one of his hands was holding what seemed to be a cookbook and he was writing on a small notepad with the other.

The very first thing Luca noticed about him was the piercing blue eyes, the strong nose, the firm set of the head on the shoulders. Berzatto appeared to be in his twenties and wasn't particularly tall, but wasn't short either. He had a somewhat muscular stocky build, as though he exercised regularly, something Luca could relate to. Under the fluorescent lights, the bags under Carmen's eyes, sunken and purple, stood out. He looked up from the colorful pages and acknowledged Luca with a nod. 

That day Luca watched the American very closely, paying attention to his economy of movement as he moved around the stations. For hours Carmen shifted gracefully through the steps of preparing multiple dishes at once. The two were both relatively new and at similar points in their careers at that time; however, there was a certain effortless wisdom to the way Carmy did things, and Luca couldn't help but feel inspired by the tender attention he paid to the art of cooking. Looking back, Luca knew that he'd probably had a bit of a crush on Carmen back then, but that was a story for another time.

Over the previous ten days Luca had slowly tried to get closer to Carmy. The two started sharing their breaks; at first in complete silence, but then exchanging words here and there until finally managing a decent conversation. Small talk, of course, generally work-driven topics, but still. They talked. 

Carmen would never admit it, but he was somewhat curious to see where their budding 'friendship' --if it could even be described as such. Either way, hanging out with Luca certainly made things easier for him. It gave him other stuff to focus on. 

Everything changed when they realized that, perhaps, they had been too focused on themselves, blowing their own horns, to notice other people's talents. Enter: Milo Sachiet. The latter had missed a few days due being sick, so he met Carmen and Luca later that week. 

The atmosphere shifted from boredom to celebration as soon as Milo walked into the kitchen, followed by Chef Terry. The latter seemed to inject energy into the room; all the cooks stood up straight, with shoulders back and moved with alacrity as she strode through the stations stopping, tasting, prodding, poking, firing away indications here and there. She didn't stay for too long though.