On Thursday night, Kim decided to pay attention to her side of the restaurant for once in her waitressing life. Just that afternoon, she'd spotted a discounted Mac in the ads, and with her own laptop on its last breath, it was a deal that she wanted to take. She'd done some math and figured that with a week's worth of extra tips and a punctual paycheck, she could have her prize as soon as Wednesday. She just had to swallow her pride and put on her best smiles.

With her resolve fueling her, she plastered a chipper facade onto her face and approached her next table.

"Hello, my name is Kim, and I'll be your waiter tonight. Can I get you started with some drinks?"

The boy closest to the edge of the booth jumped in surprise. "Sorry, what?"

Her eyebrow twitched, her smile faltered. "My name is Kim. Can I get you guys some drinks?"

"Uh, what's uh, what kind of drinks do you have?"

Before she could answer, the two boys across from her laughed. "Come on, Black Star. She's not that cute."

Kim squeaked, "Excuse me?"

Quickly, the boy closest to the window waved his hand and corrected himself. "Sorry, not you. I meant the girl sitting over there by herself."

Without looking to where he was pointing, Kim continued on as if that blunder never happened. "For drinks, we have Sprite, Sunkist, Pepsi-"

"Pepsi for me," the boy to her right said. He gestured next to him, to the same boy who spoke up before, "Kilik'll have one too, probably." A nod confirmed his order. "And Black Star? For you?"

The one sitting alone on his side of the booth rubbed his head. He was still flustered, still flipping through the pages of the menu in attempts to find the beverages section, but he gave up soon after his friend brought him to attention. The boy, Black Star, apparently, muttered, "Just water."

"Right. I'll be back with that soon."

As she left, she heard them begin to bicker again.

"She's alone. Go make a move, Star!"

"I'm not getting up for that."

"Your loss."

"Shut up, Harvar."

"Seriously, he's right. What's gotten into you?"

"You shut up, too, Kilik."

Kim tapped their order into the POS system, trying to forget about their topic of conversation. It wasn't her first time hearing customers talk about their respective love interests. As a waitress, she was easily mistaken as a prop or a side character to some greater story, and so Kim had heard plenty of interesting things from people who didn't bother to restrain themselves.

She confirmed her entry, then moved onto her next task.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the group of boys growing rowdy again. They dug their fists into each other's heads and laughed as if they had no other care in the world. Rather, they had just one, and that was apparently caused by the not-that-cute girl that they were referring to before.

Kim wasn't curious, but she was very nosy. When she walked back to deliver the drinks, she took a peek in the general direction she remembered being pointed towards. There sat a petite girl, about Kim's age, ash blonde and doe eyed. She'd been at the restaurant for the last hour and a half, surrounded by books and an endless order of coffee and garlic bread for her table of one.

Though she wasn't seated in Kim's section this time, the girl, a regular, spurred a flurry of whispers amongst the staff whenever she arrived. She came every few weeks, sometimes with a couple of friends or her father, but most frequently as a solo diner. Given the amount of time she spent in the restaurant, she must have sampled the entire menu at least twice, and she always offered a generous tip before she left. The staff were always happy to see her, and some knew her by name.

Weirdly enough, Kim was not one of the lucky few with that sort of information.

It was always business and tips when it came to the restaurant. She didn't want to turn it into one of her stomping grounds, especially when she had so much else to do outside of it. Sure, she's made friends here before, but Kim has no desire to be part of the gritty details and workplace drama. It was only her money maker, her bread and butter. Soon enough, she'd be out anyway.

She fought the urge to take another look at the girl, worried that she would be caught in the middle of the act. The group was completely wrong: she was that cute, so much so that the wait staff fought over whose area to seat her in. Kim had been the lucky person last time, and somehow, it was enough to pacify her for the time being.

As she made her way back to the boys' table, drinks at the ready, she hitched her customer service smile back up onto her face. "Here you are!" she said sweetly, "Can I take your—"

"One more minute," a boy interrupted. Harvar, was it?

Kim forced wider. "Ok, take your ti—"

"No, it's fine," Black Star groaned, running both hands through his blue hair. "I'm ready now."

"You sure?" his friend teased, "We can wait."

Black Star looked unamused. "Fuck off, Harvar."

"Right, ok, your order?" Kim tried again, peeved at the interruptions but reluctantly amused, too. She had a natural tendency to poke at others already, and so the group managed to coax a few sarcastic comments from her as they went on, accidental at first, but eventually purposeful.

It took her a while to extract their order of one appetizer and three entrees between their ongoing banter, but each dish came with interesting details, and despite everything, Kim found herself hanging onto their conversation. They were fun to be around, and unsurprisingly, they were as welcoming as if they knew her all along. The group had even managed to get a rise out of Kim, laughing when she hit Black Star on the back of his head with her notepad.

"Come on, stop bothering the waitress, Black Star," Kilik said.

"She's not stopping me, besides, they're plenty of me to go around!"

"We're tired," Harvar said, but his tone suggested otherwise.

"And I'm not."

"But you still won't go up to the girl over there, even after showing me your moves?" Kim jutted her thumb behind her, turning to look as she did and catching the brief movement of pigtails. "Tragic."

Black Star's ears turned red while the others snickered. Harvar held up his hand for a high five, which Kim found within herself to return.

"S-shut up! It's different."

She snorted. "Relatable. But watching you two making eyes at each other is going to make the entire restaurant lose their appetite."

"We're not- I mean, she's not- Wait I'm not- We really are not!"

Kim left Harvar and Kilik to their teasing. All three of them were ballsy; she'd give them that, but they weren't enough to pull Kim away from her tips— at least, not yet.

She slid into the kitchen to report to the line cooks that another one had fallen for the girl.

"God, I want to see what this chick is like."

"Maybe once you wipe the grease off your face," the guy from the back corner yelled, guffawing.

"Ay, Kim, you afraid of some competition?"

Scoffing, she pinned the table's order onto the board. "Please, if Lydia failed, what makes you think I'd be arsed to try myself?"

"Lydia ain't you, though."

Once the food was ready, Kim hoisted the large tray onto her shoulder and crossed the distance again to deliver it; on the way, she couldn't resist the urge to check on the girl for a brief moment before moving on.

"Right-o. Is there anything else I can get you guys?"

"Actually, yeah." Kilik nodded towards the girl. "You can get this fool her number. He still hasn't shut up since you left."

"Well, y'all are the ones who can't stop dissing me!"

Kim raised an eyebrow. "What's in this for me?"

"Satisfaction of helping out a thirsty boy?"

"Peace and quiet?"

"I can't believe you two," Black Star groaned.

She raised an eyebrow. "This is actually kind of sickening, but in a romantic way."

Kim really was surprised that, despite all his boyish charm, he didn't have the guts to talk to the regular girl himself. He'd proven it enough while talking to her, but why not do it once again to the girl who seemed equally as smitten? If it was anything like what he was showing Kim, he should've had no problem.

People were strange.

"No gain, no deal," she said, turning to leave.

"Wait."

Black Star's tone managed to stop Kim in her tracks. She saw a shift in his demeanor, a playful smile surfaced along with a glint in his eye. He leaned forward and put his weight onto the table. "How about my number, too?"

Kilik and Harvar howled with laughter. "Black Star, you sly, sly dog! Leave some for the rest of us!"

Blinking, then cocking her hip, Kim smirked, "You think you can handle me?"

"Absolutely."

"And her? At the same time?"

"Get me her number and find out."

She smacked him upside the head again, said, "Nice try. Drink your water now, thirsty," and left to swoon in peace, out of sight.

Once away, Kim let a true smile emerge on her lips. She hadn't felt her interest build since the first time she'd served the regular girl while she was still new to the job. Both of them attracted her, enticed her.

But, would she get a couple extra dollars if she helped?

Before she could go back into the kitchen, her coworker stopped her.

"Oy, Kim? My shift is ending but I still have three tables. Can you cover? Table 13 and 14 are still on entrees. But table 18 needs her check."

Lightbulb.

"You got it, but you owe me."

"Oh please." Her friend rolled their eyes. "Taking my tips should be good compensation. I got to make the bus on time, so they're all yours."

"Good point. You can leave now."

They snorted. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Not wasting any time, she hopped to the register to gather what she needed. After checking to see if the boys were looking over- which they weren't- she snuck over to the girl's table across the restaurant.

"Hey," Kim said, sliding into the seat across from her, placing down the receipt and hushing the girl's surprise. "I'm not supposed to be doing this, but you know the guy with the blue hair— hold it! Don't look over." She snapped her fingers, commanding attention again. "Come on, you've done it enough tonight. But yeah, him. He wants your number, so can I get the digits and a name to go with it?"

"Oh," the girl squeaked.

Cute.

"I, uh. I know who you're talking about. Hard to not notice… Name's Maka, and let me get a piece of paper."

"That was kind of easy. More than I thought, actually."

Maka blushed and tore off a corner of lined paper. "I mean, why not, I guess."

Kim hummed. "So, he definitely wasn't the only one watching, huh?"

The deepening color on her cheeks confirmed Kim's suspicions. Without looking at the phone number, she snatched it away once Maka's pen stopped and held it between her index and middle finger.

"You're cute, really," Kim said. "I'll be back to collect the bill. Expect a text soon, or whatever."

In no time at all, she was back at the other table, flicking the paper at the boy's head. "I work fast," she put it simply. "Don't forget to leave generous payment."

There was a small sting in her heart that came with helping two people get together, especially when she was feeling a type of way for them both. She didn't stay for long once she was sure that Black Star had taken a look at the contents inside of the paper, only saying briefly who it belonged to, the girl's name feeling strange on her lips.

"You treat her well, you hear?"

And with that, Kim left the table alone for the rest of their time, doubling on the others more vigorously. By the time she'd looked back to Maka's table, she was gone, books and all. Though a five dollar bill replaced her, Kim sort of wished that the person was still there instead.

She dropped it into her apron and decided to forget about it while she cleared the table.

After an immeasurable amount of time had passed, she eventually found herself back at with the boys, taking care of their bill and exchanging a few more words before they left, half-heartedly. The continued to speak in hushed voices whenever Kim came close, and she figured that she may have overstayed her visit. It wasn't a waitress' role to get involved with the customer after all.

"I'll leave you to it then, thanks for dining with us today," Kim said as she dropped off their card and their copy of the receipt.

However, that wasn't the last surprise of the night.

On the line meant for tips, a ten digit number was filled in instead of an amount. Kim snorted, "I would have preferred cash, but whatever."

She was added to a group chat by the end of her shift.

---

Written for Soul Eater Polyamory Week 2018
Day 4: Fighting Team

Prompt:
-Person A is at a restaurant with family members or friends when they see someone also dining in the restaurant, but they're alone (Person B). When the waitstaff-person (Person C if OT3) comes back to A's table and asks if there's anything else they can get them, Person A replies "Yeah, that person's phone number," and points to Person B. Cue them actually going up and getting B's number for A. OT3 Bonus: Person C asks if it's alright if they get Person A's number as well and they all begin to have phone chats and group texts. Persons B and C make fun of Person A for "using their waitstaff as a wingman".

Thank you to Alliope, Psychadelicrose, and soundofez for betaing!