We all know Night has an older brother. An older brother that’s always been there to protect her from harm and bullies. And we all know where that landed him. Her older brother, Alex, is a six foot four muscular man with piercings and a few scars adorning his dark skin, a rather scary-looking man despite his obvious soft spot for his beloved sister.

Excuse me, adopted sister.

Night not being his blood-related sister never bothered him growing up, but it certainly raised gossip whenever the two were seen together at school through the years. The reason being Alex and his mother are of Mexican descent while Night is just a pale-skinned blonde. It still didn’t matter because when she was brought into the household at the young age of eight, Alice and Alex helped teach her Spanish and how to cook certain Mexican dishes. And that’s where this story is going to start.

Alex Zurake is the owner of a cozy little Mexican restaurant in Downtown Beigoma City, the food quite popular as it is genuine cuisine from his culture. His amazing little sister and her puppy of a husband both work there full time, Night working as both a manager and a server while Hartz bartends. And his nephew? Jin works there on the weekend as a server as well whenever he isn’t busy with school. It’s a family establishment, so it’s only fair to have some of his own family with him as his staff.
    “Good morning, Alex!” Night smiled as she and her family walked through the side door, greeting her brother with a wave and a hug.
    “Hey, good morning you three. Ready to start the day today?” Alex said as he hugged her back, being mindful of her growing baby bump.
    “As always! Time to open and bring in some money!” Hartz grinned, parting from the group to swipe his work card to clock in. Jin, as always, was quiet as he took his coat off, tying his server’s apron around his waist. Red eyes looked over to the teenager and Alex smiled softly, reaching over and ruffling his black hair gently.
    “Brighten up, mijo! Today is going to be a good day.” He told him, pinching Jin’s pale cheek gently. Jin looked up at his uncle and smiled softly, nodding in agreement.
    “You’re right, it will be a good day…”

Night watched with a smile and turned to clock in, walking off to set up expo and greeting the wonderful cooks that were already here.
    “Hola boys! Buenos Dias!” She smiled as she set up the expo line, the two cooks on line smiling and greeting her back.
    “Buenos Dias Miss Night! Server today or a manager?” One asked her, the blonde holding up her server’s book.
    “A server, so you’ll see me running around everywhere.”
    “Don’t run around too much, don’t want you hurting yourself or the bundle of joy in your belly.” The other cook told her.

Everyone treated each other like family in the restaurant, always looking out for each other and making sure everyone was okay. The cooks treated Night like their own little sister and the mother is sure they would fight someone for her if they did something to wrong her.
    “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Oh! My son is here today, so keep an eye on him. He gets overwhelmed kind of easily and slips into the walk-in to cool off. If and when he does, can one of you check on him to make sure he’s alright?”
    “For our favorite mamá, always.”
    “Thank you boys!”

~~~

The restaurant opened at eleven o’clock like normal and within two hours, the place was jumping with guests and more on the waiting list to be sat. Alex had jumped on line with the other cooks to help out with all the orders they were receiving, leaving his little sister in charge of his manager’s card and to handle any situations that could arise.

More like would arise.

A lot of times, the guests are more than understanding about them being busy and having to wait a little longer for really good food. And then there are times where certain guests aren’t so understanding… Night, being an experienced and seasoned server, is certainly able to brush rude customers off and not let anything they say get to her. Jin, however, is a little different as the teen is a bit of a people pleaser due to trauma. He would do whatever he can to make sure his tables are happy even if it took a toll on him, only to get either a shitty tip or get stiffed. To this young man, whenever this happens, he tries his best to improve his serving ability. But there have been some tables that have treated him so poorly that he’s run off to the back in tears, standing in the walk-in to calm down and level his head.

Almost three hours into the lunch rush was when you could tell guests were getting a bit annoyed when their food wasn’t coming out quickly, but Night and the rest of the servers were doing the best they could to explain what’s been taking so long.
    “I don’t understand why it’s taking over twenty minutes for our food to come out.” An older woman said in annoyance, Jin’s hands folded nervously in front of him.
    “I’m really sorry ma’am but we’re just really busy today… Your meals should be out shortly…” The teen server explained gently, his anxiety starting to rise slowly.
    “You said that more than five minutes ago! Honestly, can you do anything right, or are you just this useless?” 
    “I-I, u-uh… I-I’m sorry, I-I don’t really know what you want me to do…” Jin said softly with tears in his eyes, further angering the woman.
    “I want you to be useful and get our food! God, you’re probably the stupidest teenagers I’ve ever talked to!” She said angrily, slamming her hand on the table. Jin flinched and nodded before rushing off, a tear streaming his cheek as he went back to the kitchen.
    “Dear, I think you were a little harsh… He’s only a kid.” The husband said, trying to pacify his wife’s anger.
    “It’s his fault for not listening to his superior.” The woman huffed, crossing her arms.

Jin’s panicked breathing came out in a puff as he sobbed in the freezer, pacing the floor quickly to calm himself down. He knew he was doing the best he could, but that woman was so angry at him for no reason. The door to the walk-in opened and in walked his mother, the blonde looking incredibly pissed off.
    “Table number, now.” She spoke, her voice eerily calm as Jin looked at her.
    “W-what…?”
    “Give me the table number of the bitch that made you cry, I’ll handle her.” Night was beyond livid, she was fucking infuriated. No one makes her son cry and anyone brave enough has to deal with mama.
    “T-twenty-one…” The teen finally said, his mother coming up and kissing his head gently.
    “You take as much time as you need to calm down, baby boy. Mama is going to take care of that table for you.” She said sweetly, giving him a small smile before walking out. 

Night took the plates that were supposed to go out to her son’s table, gold flecks in her grey eyes as she smiled. She called out as she was walking through the out door to the dining room, walking over to the ‘problem’ table.
    “Well hello folks-“ She had started to say before being interrupted.
    “It's about time, just set the plates down. And what happened to our server? He was supposed to be the one to bring out our food, not you.” The woman in question complained, snapping her fingers. Off to a great start… Night’s eye twitched angrily as she took in a breath, trying her best not to rip her head off.
    “Jin, your server, is taking a break so you’re stuck with me until he’s back.” The mother said as she set the plates down, folding her hands together. “Can I get you folks anything else at the moment?”
    “Yes actually, you get me a refill and a manager because, and I can already tell, my fajitas have tomatoes on them when I asked for them removed. It’s obvious that our server doesn’t know how to ring food in correctly either.”

That’s it-

    “Oh, you want a manager? Well, do a double take because you’re looking at her, and I don’t appreciate the way you’ve been treating my staff.” Night spoke harshly, her arms crossed over her chest.
    “You’re not a manager, you’re just a little server thinking she’s bigger than she actually is. As for your ‘staff’, this dining experience has been absolutely horrendous thanks to that stupid little emo.”
    “Ma’am, you will refrain from making fun of that poor boy you hurt with your words. If you’re going to keep acting a fool inside a family establishment, I'll have to ask you to leave.”
    “Get me your manager, right now. You can’t talk to me like that-“
    “I most certainly can because I’ve already told you that I’m the manager.”
    “Then get me the higher up to you! Give me the number to corporate!”
    “This is a small business, not corporate run. The most I can do is get you the owner.” Night snapped, her hands on her hips. The angry woman slammed her hand on the table before standing, glaring at the pregnant server.
    “Get me the owner’s phone number immediately, I won't get berated by an overweight bitch who thinks she’s larger than a pathetic little server…” She hissed, having the audacity to get in Night’s face. The mother laughed right in front of her, golden eyes glaring.
    “Better yet, the owner is in today, so let me grab him…”

Night walked away and went into the kitchen, her fist coming down on the expo line angrily and causing the other servers on shift to jump.
    “Alex, you better get out into the dining room and handle this raging bitch before I knock her the fuck out.” Night called out on line, her brother looking at her and raising an eyebrow.
    “Good god, what did she do to get you this heated?” Alex asked, taking his gloves off and walking around the corner.
    “She’s insulted and made Jin break down in the freezer, overall un-fucking-ruly, and went as far as to call me overweight when I told her I was the manager. Now handle it before I do and go to jail.”
    “Alright, alright, I’ll handle it.” Alex sighed, walking out of the kitchen and to the table. He didn’t even get a word out before the woman spoke.
    “And who the hell are you? You look like a criminal.”

Oh jeez, Night was not kidding about this woman…

Alex raised an eyebrow, shaking his head.
    “I’m the owner of this restaurant and you can go ahead and leave. You’ve not only caused a disturbance amongst my other guests, but you also had the audacity to insult my nephew and my sister.” The owner stated, his hands on his hips as he narrowed his eyes.
    “I don’t believe you.”
    “Lorraine, stop.”
    “¿Eres estúpida? Ma’am, why else would I be out here when I could be back in the kitchen helping my cooks.”
    “What’s your name? I’m going to report you to corporate-“
    “Oh Dios mio estúpida perra… This is a family-owned business which, technically, I’m ‘corporate.’ Now leave my restaurant before I call the police.” The Mexican threatened, pointing to the door. Lorraine’s husband stood and grabbed his wife’s arm, pulling her away from Alex.
    “I’m sorry everything escalated this way, we’ll leave.” He said sincerely, pushing his wife towards the door. The husband soon pulled out his wallet and handed the other man forty dollars. “Give this to the young man that was our server, please.”
    “Sure thing. Have a good one sir.” Alex nodded to him, the man waving back before they left.

Night stood behind him with her arms crossed, huffing.
    “Good riddance.” She mumbled, taking the plates and the cups that were on the table. “Thank you for taking care of that, hun.”
    “Well, she made the worst mistake ever, she harassed my family.” Alex said, the siblings walking back into the kitchen. Jin was helping expo finished meals to take out the table, his eyes slightly puffy from crying but his mood definitely better.
    “Hey sweetie! Feeling better?” Night asked, throwing out the uneaten food and setting the plates aside.
    “Yeah, so I’m going to finish up with my other tables…” Jin said, picking up a couple plates.
    “Here, this is from the husband from that table.” Alex smiled, holding up the forty dollars he was handed. Jin smiled softly and set one plate down, taking the money and slipping it into his apron.
    “Thank you, uncle Alex…”
    “Anything for my favorite sobrino.” The raven-haired man smiled, ruffling his nephew’s hair gently.

~~~

Jin stretched out his arms with a heavy groan, sitting down at the bar as he counted out all the tips he made. Despite it being a somewhat stressful day, it was still pretty successful, which made the pain worth it in the end. His parents were still working while his shift ended at four o’clock.
    “Do you want something to drink, buddy?” Hartz asked after taking care of his other guests.
    “Just water is fine dad, I’m not really hungry…” Jin said softly, finishing with his tips and putting the money away.
    “Good day?”
    “Yeah, pretty much… Made a decent amount today…”

Hartz smiled as he set the glass down with a straw, reaching across the rail to ruffle his son’s hair. 
    “I’m glad, bud! Do you want me to take you home after the other bartender gets here?” 
    “Yes please… I need to lay down after today…” The teen laughed softly, rubbing his eye slightly.
    “You got it! Mama is gonna hang back and help manage tonight, so she’ll be home later tonight.”
    “Sounds good…”

The time came to leave about forty-five minutes later and Night came over to give her beloved baby boy a hug.
    “I’ll be home later, okay? I’m just helping out for a few hours.” She told him, brushing his hair from his eyes gently.
    “You’re good… I’ll see you later mama…” Jin mumbled, hugging her tightly. Night smiled and kissed his head, letting him go and waving. Jin and Hartz waved back before walking out of the restaurant, out to the car so they can go home.~

NightBear15 signing off...

~~ I apologize in advance for anyone who speaks Spanish that reads this. Spanish isn't my first language, so I relied HEAVILY on Google Translate.

This one shot feels all over the place, but I like the result of it so- ~~