kitchen

@francisco lachowski [ might or might not be too long but you dont have to follow it welp ]

It's just another typical mid-afternoon in the kitchens of Haverhill Hospital, and Jongdae is exactly where he belongs, toiling away without rest. The benefits of being the only kitchen hand this silly hospital has is that he has freedom in the kitchen and it's the place where he can sneak to when he needs time to himself. No one's there to judge him if he sings to the sounds of the empty kitchen just so he doesn't feel too lonely. Everyday, the only noise he hears in the kitchen is the familiar and rhythmic bubbling from the pots, the satisfying sizzle of the pan, and the soothing trickle of water with an accompaniment of the light clink and clank of dishes as he washes up. The cons? It gets lonely sometimes, it really does. The music of his kitchen is both comfortingly familiar but also too quiet.

That's probably why he prefers the cafeteria. It's lively, crowded and if it's not crowded there's at least one person there other from him. He's learnt after years of working here and helping out as a kid that hospital staff have the worst time management ever. And God so help him if he sees another doctor peek into the cafeteria awkwardly again at 2AM because that's an ungodly time to eat and these people seriously just need to stop. Right now, he's busy (honestly, when is he not?) preparing for the dinner service later in the evening. He absentmindedly wishes that someone would pop by to visit him just about now as he belts out a song to the soft, steady rhythm of carrots being cut into thin slices.

[ I AM SO SORRY SOBS BENNY FORGIVE ME]

@benjamin whishaw As if some heavenly being had sensed his wishes, a guy in what looked like one of the doctor's coats enters the kitchen. Jongdae shoots out of his seat, smiling gleefully. However, turns out the doctor (or at least he assumed that the man was one) had come here asking him for a light instead. He'd really hoped someone was hungry and just decided to drop by really. Jongdae nods slowly in response, "Sure."
He finds it ironic that a doctor would be smoking but it would be rude for Jongdae to in. And maybe he just smoked frequently, and not like, extremely frequently, he hoped. Not that Jongdae approved of smoking, really.

He moves to one of the drawers near the stoves, pulling it open and rummaging around. Finding the small silver lighter he'd been searching for, he goes over to the doctor dude and hands it to him rather reluctantly. "Do you smoke often?" He asks tentatively. Jongdae glances over at the oven, it should be about done in 6 minutes give or take. He looks back at the man again, staring at the lighter and the thought that he really, really shouldn't smoke because its oh so unhealthy makes him blurt out a, "You shouldn't smoke though. It's really bad. I mean, you probably already know that but. You still shouldn't."

Jongdae used to have an elder brother, Jongdeok. Jongdeok used to sing. He used to have a clear and beautiful voice. Jongdeok used to be the only person Jongdae looked up to and wanted to be like. Well, that was until he started smoking and not coming home. He eventually never did come home one day. And to be very honest, Jongdae and his mother had seen that coming all along.

Jongdae never understood why his brother left them the same way their father did. He knew, had an inkling of why exactly his brother did that, but he'd never understand. Jongdeok looked up to their father the same way Jongdae looked up to him. Their father had been a warm, loving man who smiled more than he talked. Maybe it was a thing in their family, but his father loved to sing too. But his voice had been ruined by his addiction for smoking. And he'd left unannounced, unexpectedly. And they never knew why.

Jongdeok broke after that. He changed too. He never talked to Jongdae or their mother, stopped teasing Jongdae, stopped smiling, stopped singing and started smoking. Jongdeok quit school. Then he started going out late at night and came back home in the wee hours of the morning reeking of alchohol, cigarette smoke, sweat and perfume. Either that or he never came back at night. They'd tried to get him back to his senses desperately. Mother was so angry and sad this one time, she slapped Jongdeok. It was the first and last time Jongdae had seen his mother raise a hand against any of them. Each time they tried, his brother laughed humorlessly and waved them away, cigarette in hand, walking out of the house doors. Before he left, he started smoking even more, never even looked at him or mother anymore. That was how they knew, when the day before he left, they sat at the dinner table, eyes watching him, tired and sad. He suddenly turned to look at them and they saw the guilt, fear and confusion and the swirling, conflicting war of emotions in his eyes. That day, late at night when they were both asleep, he left.

Ever since then, Jongdae hasn't really realized, but he's made a certain biased connection between smokers and his brother and father. Seeing someone smoke makes him nervous and scared. Of what, he can't really put a finger on. But the fact that he unconciously sees his brother or father in any smoker at all still remains. And right now, he can't help but think that he desperately wants to snatch the lighter back.

@benjamin whishaw [ starter for benjamin whishaw ]

Jongdae glances over to the pot of minestrone soup he's cooking for the next few days' menu. Looking up at the clock hanging on the kitchen walls, he notes that it should be done soon. Jongdae turns back to the soapy pan in his hand and scrubs at it furiously. It's the last of the dishes that needed to be washed for the day and he can't wait to put it in the drying rack.
He had bought some strange thing he never tried before last night, some powdery thing called fish floss. He had tried a spoonful of it and choked. ("Aghhhck— What in th—cough! It's like eating—cough— sweet sand!") Never try 'fish floss' as it is in one big spoonful, he noted to himself. He read up about it online and it seemed to usually go well with stuff like congee. After a glass of water, he had tried a smaller spoonful of it and faintly wondered if it would go well with cheese and bread. Then, he made up his mind to bring it to the kitchen and try it out once he was done with the dishes.

He placed the pan in the drying rack and went over to the soup, stirring it a few times before turning off the fire. He figured he'd let it cool and heat it up again tomorrow when he came in to work so it'd be ready to serve. Jongdae searched in his bag for the container of fish floss and placed it on one of the kitchen counters. He retrieved a slice of processed cheese, and a tub of margarine from the fridge and grabbed one of the loaves of bread they had on the way. He applied some of the margarine to a slice of bread before spreading what he thought was an appropriate amount of fish floss over. The cheese was added and he topped it off with another slice of bread, making it somewhat like a sandwich.

Jongdae popped it into one of the ovens, setting the timer to ten minutes. Cleaning up the counter he used was done in a matter of a few minutes. He flopped into one of the chairs he had brought in for resting in here during breaks and watched his creation in the oven curiously. Now, if only he could get someone to feed it to... Well, he was pretty sure it wouldn't cause any upset stomachs. He hoped... Maybe he could grab a (unfortunate) staff member who was passing by or something... Jongdae leaned back into his chair, eyes drifting towards the kitchen's main entrance.


[i hope this is ok if it isnt you can kill me chOkes ]

@matt smith @Luhan [ /backs away slowly/ UM. UMMMMMMM. /clings to lu for safety purposes/]

@matt smith [ /facepalms/ wHat ]