PromptBAE0181
Disclaimer: baeconandeggs/the mods is/are not the author/s of this story. Authors will be credited and tagged after reveals. The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chanyeol manoeuvred around the heavy front door balancing a pizza box on one outstretched hand. His foot caught something small and hard and sent it spinning away across the wooden floorboards. He bent down. It was a parcel which must have been sitting on the doorstep. He picked it up and put it on top of the pizza box.
Chanyeol sighed and checked his watch. He knew he needed to be getting back to the restaurant, but he was also feeling slightly invested now in finding out the contents of the box especially because he still strongly suspected it was in fact a ring.
Chanyeol gasped loudly in surprise. He briefly caught sight of a glittering gold ring in the open box before it slipped out of the velvet padding. Both the ring and the box hit the wooden floor with a clatter.
The large ornate chandelier overhead flickered momentarily filling the grand old foyer briefly with light and revealing a pale ghostly figure standing on the 2nd step of the ornate wooden staircase. His skin shone pearly white in the illumination of the sudden and fleeting light. The room was immediately plunged once more into darkness.
Chanyeol screamed, dropped the pizza box, and then immediately stepped on it, skidding on the smooth cardboard in his haste to escape. He slammed into the front door and scrambled desperately with the door locks as the lights flickered a few more times then finally remained on.
Inside the car was eerily quiet and Chanyeol was just relaxing a bit when the whole car seemed to lift up suddenly under him, bouncing higher on its wheels. Chanyeol was forced back in his seat as Baekhyun accelerated swiftly down the steep driveway.
They headed into the heart of town and Chanyeol sank a little lower in his seat, conscious of the number of people staring at the car and pointing. They had barely driven 2 blocks when he heard a siren behind them and saw flashing lights in the rear-view mirror.
Chanyeol caught his hand and knocked it away, turning the movement into an elaborate gesture of holding out his hand to receive the business card back from the officer. The false smile he was wearing was beginning to feel a little maniacal.
Officer Lee watched as Chanyeol fumbled around with the buttons on the dashboard accidentally turning on the wipers and finally managing to start the car. Then he turned and walked back towards this patrol car.
Chanyeol made an annoyed gesture and accidentally hit a yellow button on the steering wheel. There was an ominous whirring from overheard, he screamed, taking his hands fully off the steering wheel and trying to cover his head.
The group seemed to have decided Chanyeol was definitely deranged and possibly dangerous because they took off running much faster than they had been before while he groaned and rolled about in the car, clutching his groin.
A breeze through the window fluttered the loose pages on the desk and Chanyeol saw the pink paper flier for the restaurant flap gently out of the corner of his eye. He was determined to find a resolution to this and get Baekhyun to that party.
Chanyeol stopped and stared at the sprawling mansion in front of them set in a very well landscaped garden. The house was pristinely white like it had just been painted and interestingly shaped with many castle-like turrets and enormous arched windows.
Chanyeol was annoyed to note that Baekhyun was right, occultists definitely did dress better than he did. The man was wearing stylishly simple clothes which Chanyeol suspected cost more than his second-hand car had new.
The inside of the house was in stark juxtaposition to Baekhyun's. Where Baekhyun's home was crammed with strange curiosities and an endless mismatch of ornate old furniture. Sehun's house was bright and surprisingly modern.
He led Baekhyun across the combined bedroom-living room and over to one of the large windows on the left side of the room. He opened it. He took a deep breath then climbed out onto the small section of roof over the enclosed porch, pulling Baekhyun out with him.
He realised he was very wrong about the interior of the restaurant. The front area near the register was dark to better illuminate the front of the restaurant and make the amber coloured lanterns stand out but deeper inside it was unexpectedly well lit. The entire place was decorated with a golden wood veneer that seemed to glow under the lights.
He saw the people at a nearby table look at him and whisper. He released the glass and opened both menus and propped them up at the front of their table in a mostly futile attempt to shield them from the notice of nearby tables.
Chanyeol bent over Baekhyun, now lying on his back on the deck and Baekhyun looked up at him. His dark eyes caught the lantern light and held it twinkling in their depths like stars in the night sky, just like they had done on the night they had met.
He peered cautiously through the glass front door. The closed sign was already up, and he was hoping that maybe Kyungsoo and Jongdae had already gone home for the night. The light was still on in the dining area which was a bad sign.
He tried the door, and it was unlocked. Cringing and trying to walk quietly with Baekhyun still slumped over his back, he opened the door and crept into the restaurant. The small bell mounted on the door jangled loudly and gave him away.
He turned and saw his jacket sitting on the bureau near the dining room door. He went over and pulled his keys out of the pocket and put them in his back jeans pockets instead, then sidled up to the door and opened it a crack. He could hear voices talking quietly.
Chanyeol got up and went over to the small chest of drawers under the TV. He opened the 2nd drawer and pulled out a red t-shirt to change into. He opened the 3rd drawer and considered a pair of track pants but hesitated. He knew he would be hot and uncomfortable all night if he wore pants.
Chanyeol woke up on his back, light was sneaking in through the gaps between the curtains and windows, clinging there unable to get any further into the dim room. He closed his eyes again but after a minute, the sound of someone clattering around in the restaurant kitchen below reached him.
Baekhyun appeared to still be sleeping, so quietly, he opened one of the drawers and pulled out a clean pair of boxer briefs. He shimmied into them, before taking off the towel and hanging it on the bathroom doorknob. Then he quickly opened his t-shirt drawer, he picked up both the white and grey t-shirts and rubbed them between his fingers. He could detect no difference, but shrugging he slipped the grey one over his head.
He put the peas back in the freezer and collected butter and 2 kinds of oil from the kitchen. When he went back into the bedroom, Baekhyun was sitting on the bed with a bottle of hand soap, a small, wrapped bar of hotel soap, a bottle of body wash and some hair conditioner.
He watched Baekhyun eat enthusiastically, making appreciative noises and hand gestures. He smiled to himself. He has been feeling a bit uneasy about his cooking skills lately after not being able to replicate the pizza sauce, so it was nice to have someone so openly admiring his cooking even if it was just eggs.
Kyungsoo began screwing all the salt shaker lids back on and Chanyeol looked up realising Baekhyun was being suspiciously quiet. He looked around quickly and saw the top of his head behind the coffee machine.
They went through the menu plan and divided up the cooking tasks between them. Jongdae reappeared from the bathroom and Chanyeol wrote out a list of front of house tasks he would need to do in preparation for tonight, which Jongdae took unenthusiastically.
Chanyeol ducked quickly back into the dining room and went behind the counter. The coffee machine did not appear to have exploded and was no longer steaming. He slumped over on the cool tiles of the counter in relief.
Chanyeol endeavoured to ignore his disapproving presence and continued on with making the sauce. He was taking out his present frustrations by savagely squeezing a large bowl full of tomatoes by hand when Jongdae finished bringing in the wood for the pizza oven.
Chanyeol felt a pleasant flutter of anticipation as he read it over in full. It was quite a challenging recipe. He hadn't made any dessert more complex than tiramisu since he started at the restaurant, and he was looking forward to making something that showcased more of his patisserie skills.
He grabbed a pencil from the bureau and began jotting down the tripled amounts for each ingredient to ensure he made enough for the event. He made small edits to the flavour quantities to suit his taste and was happy to be able to skip the whole section on boiling animal bones to make gelatine and sub in the correct quantity of gelatine leaves instead.
When they were done, Chanyeol returned to the dessert recipe. He had decided to serve it in individual glass dishes, so he spent some time choosing the perfect sized dessert glasses from the cabinets that lined the left side of the kitchen.
Chanyeol saw him walk back and forth multiple times. Eventually, he looked up after pulling the perfectly baked pistachio genoise sponges out of the oven to cool before he could cut them into small circles to fit into the bottom of the dessert glasses. He realised Baekhyun was still over the other side of the room near Jongin who was very tentatively grating cheese for Kyungsoo.
Baekhyun jumped down from the counter and began wandering around again, but he kept coming back every few minutes and leaning against Chanyeol to watch what he was doing. Chanyeol would normally have enjoyed this, but it was also distracting him, and he was at a crucial part of the recipe. He was about to transfer the bavarois mixture to a pan to heat and from here on he would need to pay close attention and get the timing of adding the gelatine just right.
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