After sleeping for six hours and staying in bed for three, Tao finally decides to get out of bed. He slowly rolls off of his couch onto the floor, not caring that he just landed face-flat into it. He pulls out his phone and lifts his head to check the time. He has twenty minutes until his shift starts, which is plenty of time for him. He grabs his chef jacket hanging on the back of his apartment's door and heads out. He's still wearing his pajamas— panda patterned pants with a 'Keep it Real' panda shirt on— as he gets into his car and drives off to his chef duties.

Nobody in the kitchen really cares what Tao wears. Probably because they fear that he'll jab his cake knife through them, he always wears his chef jacket on his pajamas. Unlike the other chefs, Tao studied abroad in France to continue and grow in his pastry studies. There, he met his mentor, François Pierre. Both of them were stubborn but both of them cooperated well with each other. It probably was because Pierre cared for Tao as his own son. 

Moving back to Korea with his new pastry degree, Tao sought out through every restaurant hiring, much like Kyungsoo did.

One day when he was carrying some new kitchen equipment to his apartment, he bumped into a tall, handsome, young fellow. Tao quickly apologized and began to pick up his supplies. The other man looked at Tao and offered help. When they first faced each other, they were both intimidated by each other. Tao, having deadly eyes and a facial expression that screamed 'don't mess with me, punk' and the other, having such a stern face that screamed 'get out the way, , get out the way.' Both immediately became friends.

Soon after, Tao's new best friend, Kris, was able to open up his first restaurant as an entrepreneur, the Douze Bistro. Kris, seeking employees to hire,  went to Tao at once asking if he'd like to work at his restaurant. Tao accepted, and soon he was the pastry chef at his friend's bistro.

Although Kris saw him as a sweet and creative guy, much like his pastries, the other chefs thought differently. When Joonmyeon was the first one introduced to Tao, he stiffed up immediately. He was intimidated, which was obvious from his use of formal language with the boy four years younger than him, and scared for his life. Jongin, Sehun, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun were equally afraid of the tough looking chef. However, Luhan, Minseok, Yixing, and Jongdae didn't fear him at all. In fact, due to him being the youngest out of the five, they babied him. They checked up on him at his station, asked if he needed ingredients or tools. And, of course, they . A lot. The other five didn't dare mess with Tao's food, but Luhan and Jongdae had a particular liking to do so. One time, Jongdae swiped Tao's cherry with a cherry tomato that turned Tao's New York Cherry Cheesecake into a disaster. Tao was furious, but only threated Jongdae by stating that he'll pay for his actions in a matter of time. (Which scared the out of Jongdae, to be honest.)

Lesson learned, nobody messes with Tao's creations.

Especially mischievous guys named Jongdae.

✧✧♚✧✧

"Hey, Jongdae, could you get me some cucumbers in the fridge?" Kyungsoo asks as he works at Minseok's station.

"But it's soooooooooooo far away.." Jongdae whined as he plopped himself down on the counter beside Kyungsoo.

"It's right thereee," Kyungsoo hissed pointed to the refrigerator that was literally inches away from him.

"That still require movement," Jongdae protests. "I have to move my muscles to get off of the countertop, straighten myself out, turn to the left, walk five steps, turn to the right, face the fridge, open the fridge, grab a cucumber, close the fridge, and repeat everything in reverse."

"OH FOR GOODNESS SAKES, I'LL GET IT MYSELF," Kyungsoo roared as he went for the fridge.

Jongdae clapped and smiled at a job well done. Even though Joonmyeon assigned Jongdae to work and help Kyungsoo out in the kitchen, it ended up the complete opposite. Kyungsoo led the gazpacho vegetable preparations while Jongdae sat back and enjoyed not doing anything.

"Y'know, Jongdae, you COULD help out with the gazpacho," Kyungsoo offered as he began to cut the cucumbers.

"Hm.. I COULD but I'd rather not," he responded pulling up a chair and leaning it back against the counter.

Kyungsoo needed a way to motivate Jongdae to help out.. or perhaps something that will challenge Jongdae. "Yeah, it's totally okay if you don't help out," he said with a wide cheshire grin.

Jongdae looked up at Kyungsoo raising a brow and slowly nodded in confusion.

"I mean.. it's OKAY since you're not a chef and all."

That being said, Jongdae buttoned up his uniform, got up from the chair he pushed aside, and headed straight for the pantry to retrieve more ingredients.

"Wow, that's impressive. Nobody has ever been able to make Jongdae hyung work," Jongin said from behind.

In shock, Kyungsoo turned around to see Jongin a few feet away from him and his eyes dialated once again.

"Wow, your eyes really are huge," Jongin repeated as he gazed into them and walked closer.

"Um.. Thank you?" Kyungsoo replied scratching his head.

Jongin kept moving closer and closer to the big eyed boy, which made Kyungsoo more uncomfortable than he already was.

"Hey, Jongin! No creeping people out in the kitchen!" Luhan shouted as he came back from the storage room.

"I'M NOT FLIRTING!" Jongin protests.

"..I said you were creeping not flirting.." Luhan chuckled as he dragged Jongin by the collar back to his station. "Gosh, what are we going to do with you, Kkamjong.."

"I SAID TO NEVER CALL ME THAT EVER AGAIN!"

"Well, tough noodles! I'm using it!"

"Who the says tough noodles??"

"PAY UP!" Joonmyeon shouts, even though he's nowhere to be seen.

"Okay, I got the meat ready," Sehun shouts as he wipes his forehead at a job well done.

Luhan shoves Jongin to the cuss-jar and walks around the table to Sehun's station.

"Wow, it's clean and the cuts are solid," Luhan compliments. "Good job, Sehun." He pats the younger one on the back and heads back out to get more supplies. Sehun stands there for a moment and quickly grabs his phone and begins to type on his blog.

"And I thought I was weird," Jongin whispers from behind as he returns to his station.

"At least I didn't freak him out!" Sehun loudly whispers back as he carries the meat to Yixing's station.

"Puh-lease," diva Jongin scoffs as Sehun returns. "You've been after Luhan ever since we were hired. At least this is Kyungsoo's first day on the job." Jongin laughs a bit as he pulls a can of tomato sauce from the pantry nearby. "And Luhan isn't even interested in you. He's interested in Baekhyun."

"WHAT!" Sehun shouts as he slams his butcher knife on the counter.

The whole kitchen silences and stares at Sehun. Even Kris pokes his head in to make sure that nobody died or anything. Sehun lets out a small laugh and tells everyone to resume their duties.

"Where the did you hear that?" Sehun whispers, trying to not get Joonmyeon's attention.

"JOONMYEON, SEHUN CUSSED! HE SAID '!'" Jongin points out.

"Pay up!" Joonmyeon yells.

"You..." Sehun eyes his snickering friend as he makes his way to the jar. He comes back and calms himself down. "But seriously, where did you hear that?"

"Oh, Chanyeol told me," Jongin says, not looking in Sehun's direction. He grabs Sehun's butchering knife from across the table and holds it directly in front of him, hovering over the tomato sauce can. He gently but forcefully pokes a hole on top of the can and begins opening it up.

"Why does nobody in the kitchen use a can opener?" Joonmyeon remarks with a sigh as he walks by. "It's really bad for our knives.."

Sehun, cleaning up his station, walks up behind Chanyeol and pokes him. Chanyeol lets out a surprised yelp and turns around to see Sehun. "Waddup, maknae?"

Sehun whines. He knows he's the youngest. He hates the constant reminder of it. "Is it true that Luhan likes Baekhyun?" he asks.

Chanyeol nods. "I mean.. haven't you noticed how close they are?" Chanyeol points behind Sehun. Sehun turns around to see Luhan at Baekhyun's station helping him out with the gazpacho. "See, just look at how buddy-buddy they are and everything," Chanyeol comments.

"Lucky Baekhyun.." Sehun whispers.

"Lucky Luhan," Chanyeol adds. The two look at each other. Both with sad yet sly smiles on their faces. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Chanyeol asks.

"Does it involve updating my blog about this?"

"Oh, for goodness- No! You should stop updating your blog during your shift!" Chanyeol barks. "I'm thinking that we could help each other out."

"With what?" Sehun asks.

Chanyeol facepalms and shakes Sehun by the shoulders. "I'll help you get Luhan and you'll help me get Baekhyun," he whispers.

"Wait.. you like Baekhyun?" asks Sehun as he tilts his head.

Chanyeol puts on a face and slaps Sehun across his cheek.

"What was that for!"

"For being an idiot!!"

Sehun rubs his cheek and averts his eyes back to Baekhyun and Luhan. "So.. what are we going to do?" 

"Oh, you'll see.." Chanyeol chuckles.

"...dude, you have a creepy laugh." Sehun observes. "Don't ever laugh again."

✧✧♚✧✧

"Am I late?" Tao asks as he enters the kitchen. The whole kitchen cheers and greets him in their.. special way. Joonmyeon bows and smiles, Baekhyun waves with a knife in his hand, Luhan pushes Baekhyun's knife hand down and sticks his tongue out at Tao, Chanyeol and Sehun wave frantically, Jongin makes a peace sign at Tao as he cleans the butcher knife, Yixing is too busy grilling and yells a Chinese greeting at him, Kyungsoo introduces himself to him with big eyes that seem paranoid of the younger fellow, and Jongdae passes by Tao and pats the younger one's stomach. 

Tao buttons up his chef jacket all the way to the collar and begins getting settled into his station. 

"Evening, Tao-ssi," Joonmyeon greets as he walks up to his station. "So, for tonight's menu, I was thinking we could make a light berry crumble for the guests."

Tao looked at the Chef de Cuisine with killer eyes. "I was thinking more of a crème brûlée*.." 

"Oh, that works too." Joonmyeon nods as he steps back slowly. "Wonderful. Genius. Great. Good idea, Tao-ssi." Joonmyeon laughs nervously and walks back awkwardly.

Tao goes to the far end of the kitchen to get the ingredients: heavy cream, a vanilla bean, vanilla sugar, eggs, and water. He also gets the main tool for this dish, a small torch. He walks back and he recieves glares from other chefs who seem paranoid. He doesn't notice it though. He arrives back at his station to see six custard bowls already at the counter. Next to them is a little Jongdae. "Hey, Tao," he greets.

Tao bows at his hyung but pushes him aside as he gets to work. He gets a saucepan from the side and places it on a medium-high heat stove top. He then places the cream , vanilla bean, and it's pulp into as it comes to a boil.

"Y'know," Jongdae says as he stands near Tao with his arms crossed. "We have a new chef in the kitchen."

"Yeah, I know," he replies as he turns off the heat and covers the saucepan. "Kyungsoo, right? He seems nice. A bit jumpy, but nice."

"You should fully introduce yourself to him. Maybe show off a little wushu? I think he'd be impressed."

"Not now, hyung. I need to watch this saucepan. I have remove the vanilla bean so it won't get ruined in fifteen minutes."

"Oh, I'll watch it," Jongdae smiles. 

"...really.." Tao glares.

"Of course! Have I ever let you down?"

"Well.." Tao thinks for a second.

"That's not the point!" Jongdae says as he pushes Tao from his station. "Just introduce yourself to him and I'll take care of the dessert, okay?"

"Alright," Tao waves back as he heads off. "But, you better watch that pan or else," Tao threatens.