He paused outside of the restaurant, taking a few deep breaths before heading inside. His pale cheeks and nose red from the chill outside. He shivered into the warmth of the restaurant. He shook a few glimmers of snow from his coat and cleared his throat, "Ah....Mr. Stark?"
Three sets of eyes turned up to greet Loki, one pair he was intimately familiar with, Tony, the other two, judging from the familial appearance related to Tony.
The other man's face bloomed into one of a welcoming smile, "Ah! Mr. Ruser! Good to see you again."
Loki was trying to not stare at Tony, and he definitely hoped that the elder didn't notice his slight paling at seeing Tony. Loki shook hands with Howard, "Mr. Stark, good evening. I suppose I'll be training tonight, is there anyone that will be training me? Perhaps I should meet them?"
"I will be, and we'll have a quick meeting at 4:45 with the rest of the staff so you can meet them then."
The woman stood, "Have you eaten yet?"
"Oh... no, but I'm fine.." he smiled sheepish and she tsk'd and pushed Loki into the seat she's just abandoned, "Non sense, you look like you haven't eaten in days, you sit here and Tony will fix you up something, there's always one meal on the house here."
Howard nodded, "Besides, you can't sell the food if you've never eaten it."
Loki tried not to feel shell shocked, but here he was mouth open trying to find a polite turn down, when he could find nothing he nodded, "Tony... what ever you think is best... I trust you."
Tony smirked at the comment, but kept everything distant, "Smoked Salmon over a bed of yellow rice with asparagus, hows that sounds? It's the house special."
"Sounds amazing."
Maria patted Lokis shoulders and kissed Tony and Howard's cheeks, "Good night boys, be good, and good luck!"
Tony headed to the kitchen, and when Loki turned back to the table Howard was there talking to him. he barely realized the time pass as Howard was walking him through his expectations of how he wanted Loki to be with customers. There was a moment when the spell was broken when a dish was set down in front of him. The smells were tantalizing, and he felt his stomach lurch in anticipation.
"Oh.. this smells amazing."
"Well... tell me what you think?"
Tony stood off on the side, and slowly Loki ate, and moaned softly, "Oh... god Tony, this is amazing... thank you... this is ... amazing."
Tony was beaming and Howard finally had to swat his son with a dish rag, "Get out of here you egotistical prig! Go get the kitchen staff ready!"
"Ow! Alright! Alright, I'm going."
Loki found himself eating quickly, enjoying the first real meal in a few days, he hadn't eaten in a few days in order to make sure his children were fed, and the meals he did get were when Loki and Tony had gone out. He found himself more focused on the meal and didn't hear much of what Howard said. Howard finally left him, "when you're done eating, put your dishes in the sink and meet me by the front bar."
Loki nodded and continued to eat, when he finished and was resisting the urge to lick the plate clean. He sighed and finally stood and went further into the kitchen, "The dishes go here?"
Tony's head popped head out from under a hood, "Yup that's the place."
He smiled, "Good, that was wonderful Tony."
"Thanks, I've been wanting to cook for you for a while, just... we seem to keep missing each other."
Loki fiddled with a fork, "Well all you had to do was ask."
"I have, but we seem to keep missing each other, and you always decline when I ask you to come over for dinner."
"It... it's hard to get out in the evening. You could cook lunch or breakfast too."
"Yeah, but those don't have the same kind of ambiance I'm trying to go for," he looked over his shoulder back towards the front of the restaurant and then added, "And I'll be a good boy I swear, dad wont know anything."
Loki offered a smile, "I trust you Tony."
Tony went to open his mouth, but Howard's thunderous voice ricocheted around the kitchen, "Anthony Edward Stark!"
Tony twitched, "Jesus fuck dad, I'm 35, not 15, can you please STOP doing that!"
As the two men bickered, a lithe blonde walked up beside Loki, "You must be the new guy Mr. Stark was telling us about."
Loki jumped faintly but offered an easy smile as she realized her posture was open and welcoming, "Yes.. that would be me. I'm Loki, you are?"
"Mikel," she guided Loki out of the kitchen and towards the front, "Don't worry about them, they're always yelling at each other, I think it's one of those dysfunctional, functional family things."
Loki laughed, "I'll keep that in mind."
After a few moments Howard and Tony joined the wait staff in the front, Howard talked about what to expect with the days crowds, and then Tony covered the house specials and a few notes he wanted to cover about the regular menu. With a clap, Howard said enthusiastically, "Alright people, lets go out there and have a good night, we've already got customers at the door. Loki, you're with me."
Loki nodded and joined the older Stark accepting a note book he provided. Together they worked the floor, and eventually Howard let Loki work the last two hours of the night by himself. The elder Stark clapping his new employee on the shoulder, "You're doing great, the customers love you, if you need anything I'll be in the kitchen."
"Thank you Mr. Stark."
"Keep it up."
Loki smiled thankfully and moved through the night with skill and ease. Right as door closed to the customers, Howard bid everyone good night, and left Tony to close everything up. Once the last customers were out of the restaurant Loki joined the rest of the staff with cleaning up, wiping up tables, busing dishes to the kitchen, and general cleaning tasks. Almost 45 minutes later Tony stuck his head out of the office door calling out, "Alright folks, come get your tips!"
Then he called each staff member by their name, and Loki just smiled a small secretive smile as Tony saved his name for last. He bid Mikel goodnight as she walked from the store and then slipped into the office.
He met Tony's smile and leaned against the desk as tony asked, "So, how was your first night?"
"Busy, but I like it, the staff is friendly."
"Yeah, good, as much as Dad can be a grouch, he's good at HR, always picks good eggs to work here. Also, you're tips."
Loki took the small collection of bills and tucked it into his pockets, "You run a well managed restaurant."
Tony laughed, "Thanks, learned from the best, I practically lived here since I could walk."
"It shows," he pushed off the desk and back to his feet, "Well, I should be getting home."
Tony reached out and grabbed his hand, "Hey, when are you working?"
"Hum?" he had to fish around for his phone to find his schedule, "I am working 4 days, counting tonight, Tomorrow, Friday and Sunday."
"I'm not working until dinner tomorrow, want to get lunch tomorrow?"
Loki considered before nodding, "Yes, I can do that. Where would you like to meet."
"My place? I'll cook."
A small laugh escaped, "You really want to cook before you have to coming into work and cook?"
"Surprise! I actually like my job." Tony was smiling with excitement, "If I could spend all day in a kitchen I would, and if I get to cook for people I like? Talk about icing on the cake!"
Loki laughed to himself as Tony stood and locked up the safe and pulled on his jacket, "Well then we will have lunch."
"Perfect." Tony leaned in and place a soft, chaste kiss to Loki's cheek, "Until tomorrow."
"Tomorrow." Loki promised and went to grab his jacket and headed out to make the long walk home.
The scene Loki walked into was, was not what he had anticipate upon getting home. His eldest was trying to drag his youngest to her bedroom, and his middle was sitting on the couch reading.
"NO! I wanted to wait for papa!"
"Helena! You have to go bed!"
As soon as everyone registered that he was home, Helena wiggled from Fenrir's grip and tackled his shins. He sighed, "Helena, bed was two hours ago."
"I wanted to wait for you."
"Darling, you can't do this, you have school tomorrow."
"But I wanted you to kiss me goodnight."
He picked his daughter up and walked her to her room, he tucked her in bed and kissed her forehead, "Sleep, I'll see you in the morning."
She gave him a kiss in return and with lights out, she was quickly passed out. He exited her room to find his two sons climbing into bed, he followed after them to kiss them both goodnight as well. As he sat on his eldest's bed the boy started to apologize. Loki hushed him, "Sleep Fenrir, I'm not mad. Thank you for your help."
The mollified the boy who relaxed as Loki stood, "Goodnight papa."
"Good night Fenrir, Jeorge, sleep well." he leaned over to kiss his middle child who gave a soft yawn and hugged his neck before rolling over to sleep.
Loki backed out of the shared room and turned off the lights, he closed the door and found himself sighing and resting his head against the door. Things had to get better.. at least now he had a job. As long as he didn't handsy with Tony, or Tony with him, there wouldn't be any reason Howard would want to fire him. He could start saving up, maybe afford a car, but... he still had to pay all those bills. He turned to go his room and went to shower before flopping in bed. And for the first time in a few weeks, the stress of his situation didn't keep him awake.
