23Sabine had honestly believed she'd been ready. She'd studied French. She read about European culture. She'd even looked at travel guides and maps of Paris. She honestly thought she'd been ready, but her first day on the job proved that she was, in fact, not.
A friend of the family had moved to Paris years ago, was expanding her restaurant business, and needed more help. Sabine had volunteered in excitement, promising she'd be a good worker.
Her first morning already had her doubting herself, and had been overwhelming is so many ways. So many people. So many orders. She understood so little. And she wasn't even interacting with the customers! She hadn't been able to communicate with most of the other kitchen staff. She'd burned three orders so far and had even broken a dish. She was almost ready to pack up and head back to China.
She closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath to calm herself. The first day was always the hardest. She was already halfway through, and a few part-time workers would be coming in soon to help with the lunch rush.
She opened her eyes to find the tallest man she'd ever seen, and she couldn't hide her small gasp of surprise. He was enormous, maybe twice her height. He could have wrapped a single hand completely around her head without a problem.
The young man had jumped back when she gasped, then started speaking in rapid French. She managed to catch the words, "sorry," "new," and "name," and some that she knew she'd studied, though she couldn't remember what they meant. He smiled and waited for her response, but she couldn't figure out how to string the unfamiliar grammar together, so she just smiled at him and turned away, feeling defeated and humiliated. She hadn't even been able to introduce herself. Her new coworker probably thought she was stupid or rude already. She wasn't sure which was worse.
She pulled out a cookie sheet, getting ready to start over on one of the batches she'd burned, but she stopped at a tap on her shoulder.
The young man was back, still smiling at her.
"Sorry," he said slowly. He explained that he hadn't meant to startle her and asked if she was the newest employee. He spoke clearly, making sure to give her time to interpret each sentence before moving on to the next one. "My name is Tom," he said. "What is your name?"
She'd understood almost all of what he'd said, and she smiled for the first time that day. "Sabine. Nicely meet you."
"You too," he said. "Do you want some help?" He was already reaching for a mixing bowl.
"Yes... please. And... thank you." The words were slow coming, but Tom somehow managed not to make her feel like she was taking too long or wasting his time.
By the time the batch had come of of the oven – not burned at all – Sabine was much more relaxed. And she hadn't stopped smiling.
Neither, she noticed, had he.
Author note: Hey, I'm back! And for Miraculous Fluff Month, no less. I'll be doing seven of these little one-shot prompts, in no particular order. They're not going to be connected in any way, other than the fact that they're all going to be nauseatingly fluffy. :D
Would you rather follow me on Tumblr? 'Cuz I'm over there now! (As of a few hours ago.) My author notes here are probably going to get smaller as a result. I'll just ramble on Tumblr instead. Haha. I'll still continue post all my writing here, though. Just search for sariahsue, if you're interested.
By the way, this has been my headcanon for how Tom and Sabine met for a while, so I was excited to see this prompt.
