They both really like each other when they get a little bit mean..
Like Richie be like: "Didn't I tell you you had to take better care of yourself!? You never fucking listen to me! You're gonna run yourself into the ground outta fuckin spite! Stop doing this shit!"
"Oh fuck off Richie! I know how to take care of myself!" Syd steps around him, keeps working.
"Oh really, Syd? Because you haven't eaten a meal all goddamn day and now you have a headache and you're all tiiirred. Yeah I fucking wonder why."
"Shut the fuck up its hot back here and I'm working!!"
"Yeah yeah, here drink this (shoves water into her hand)(she gulps it) slow down! Don't choke! Jeeze."
"Thanks."
"Yeah, here. Eat this. (Hands her a peanut butter and jelly) Don't turn your nose up at it! You wouldn't have to eat my shitty pbjs if you'd remember to eat on your own!"
"I didn't Even sAy AnYthInG!"
"Yeah right, I know that look. Judgy as shit. Just eat it"
"I am"
"Good"
Chewing.
"There. You feel better don't you?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"See, you're welcome."
"Thank you for taking care of me."
"Glad to."
"Next time Don't come yelling at me in the middle of service"
"Don't tell me what to do. You feed yourself and I won't have to."
"I just want you to know that I wasn't trying to come at you or anything, earlier. I wasn't implying anything or uh. whatever."
"No, no. I can see that I probably overreacted. I shouldn't have said a lot of that stuff. It wasn’t cool.”
“You’re right, though. It’s none of my business if you date or who you date or if you don’t. But, can I just tell you where I was coming from and then you can tell me to fuck off?” he grins a crooked little smile at her.
“I..,” she wants to say she doesn’t think she’ll tell him to fuck off, but it is Richie, so the odds are pretty in his favor. “Okay, fine.”
They’re sitting out back after service. It’s been a really weird and stressful day for Syd and not because of anything kitchen related for a change. They really are working all the kinks out of their system and it’s so satisfying to watch it in real time, but Syd can’t let herself really enjoy it because, whaddya know? There’s strife in the household.
Okay, maybe strife is kinda a strong way of putting it. But there is a weird, fake, okey-dokey energy in the back of house that’s been driving her insane all day. Her and Carmy have been doing better, less chilly but still not where they were. Marcus came back today and she’s been, like… twitchy around him all day, like she’s trying not to say the wrong thing and inevitably she puts her foot in mouth. So much so that she finally just stopped trying and started just going with ‘Yes, chef. Heard, chef. Thank you, chef,’ which made everybody think she was in some pissy mood and then everybody started tiptoeing around her. It just got weird. And all the stress has her stomach hurting.
Not to even mention her meltdown on Richie. She’d just been so in her head about what if she failed The Bear like she failed her company, and what if she really ruined things between her and Carmy, and her and Marcus, and then her and Richie… and jesus fuck! What the hell is wrong with the men in this kitchen?!
She hadn’t meant to go off on Richie but when he asked her about dating again, she took a lot of her frustration out on him. Just couldn’t stop the shit from pouring out of her. It didn’t even make her feel better because he had the audacity to look kinda hurt afterwards. Ugh, rude.
“I don’t think you’re weird for not dating,” Richie scratched at the scruff of his beard. “Well, no. Okay. I did. No. I’m saying, I think a girl that is…” he searched for words that wouldn’t make him sound like a pansy. “As great as you... should be out having the time of her life. You’re young, smart, talented. Fucking…”
Beautiful as hell.
“- an amazing chef. I just can’t imagine people not wanting to take you out and enjoy your company or whatever. I was trying to understand why you don’t do that more. You deserve it.” Whew, fuck. That was a lot. Where the hell’s my lighter?
“Wooow,” Sydney said.
“Shuddup. You know you’re the shit, alright,” Richie chuckled, lighting another cigarette.
“You think I’m the shit?” Sydney snickered at him, watching him take a drag. Why does that make her stomach do that droppy thing? Girl, calm down, ew, it’s just Richie.
“I think you’re annoying as shit,” he modified with an eye roll.
“You think I’m amaaazing,” she teased.
“You think I’m hot in a suit,” he fired back.
Damn, he would throw that back in her face.
“I mean, the alternative was the same three pairs of trackpants and a Beef t-shirt. Can you really blame me? The suit looks…” she checked him out again in the dim glow of the street light in the alley. He just looked so different in it. Like he was taller all of a sudden. And had sharper edges and softer ones at the same time. But somehow still Richie. What a mindfuck.
“Yeah, no, the suit looks really good, Richie,” she confessed.
“Thank you,” he shrugged. “The suit feels pretty good. But you never answered my question.”
“Uuugh, Ri-chie,” she whined. “You do not understand how stupid hard it is in these streets.”
“You think I don’t have a hard time dating? Babe, I am a middle-aged divorcee that, until about a week ago, worked in a ‘shabby’ sandwich shop, don’t talk to me about hard, kid.”
“It’s not that... I don’t want to be like, ‘in love’ or whatever. I think that that could be a pretty cool thing, y’know. It’s just, the idea of having to like, get dressed up, put on a fake face, put on shoes that make you look taller, but murder your toes, and then go out and-and meet a stranger in a strange place, by yourself- Do you know how many black women disappear every day in Chicago? It’s fucking scary. And I am trying to build something here. I want to make a name for myself, I want to have something that I put my heart into to leave behind-” she stopped short. No, that’s way too personal. "Something."
Richie thought about it for a bit. He didn’t account for the whole safety issue in going out and hooking up with people. But as a man he rarely had to. A white man at that. And yeah, he had seen the stories on the news, a new one everyday it seemed about a young woman going missing or turning up dead after meeting up with a guy they met online. The thought sent a cold chill right down his back to his heart, to think that could ever be Sydney. Or god forbid his own daughter. And Syd was out here riding the train by herself late at night, every night, shit –
“You got a gun? You want me to get you a gun?”
“What?! No, I don’t have a gun. What the hell, Richie?”
“I can get you a sweet little piece, fit right in the palm of your hand, show you how to use it - ”
“No, Richie I don’t want some shady illegal piece.”
“Not shady! C'mon. I got a guy that’s totally on the up and up, he’ll set up clean- registered and everything.”
“Richie.” Syd fixed him with that exasperated look she saved just for him.
“I’m serious, Sydney.”
“I.” Shit, she thought. He’s legit worried about her safety all of a sudden. “That’s a surprisingly sweet offer, I appreciate it, I do. But no, I’m good.”
“But- “
“I literally walk around loaded with knives, every day.” She pat her bag, “I’m good.”
He took her at her word, like Tina suggested, and let it go. For now.
He makes a mental note to call Little Caesar for a hookup.
“So, it’s about safety and time, huh? Because all that other bullshit about dressing up and wearing makeup and heels, you don’t need that shit. You could walk down a street just as you are and guys’ll-”
“Wanna pick me up like a hooker?” Gee, thanks, dude.
“No! What? No, that’s not what I’m -. Look, all I’m saying is that you’re the kind of chick- woman,” he corrects himself before she does it, “that doesn’t have to try so hard. You’re already attractive, so why are you all worried about alla that shit?”
His stare is overwhelming, the sincerity there is… and those fucking Blue, blue eyes. She caved under them, turning her gaze to the ground as a burning flush crept up her neck, across her face, and tickled her ears. She smiled.
“You think I’m attractive, huh?” she teased him.
“Okay, y’know what. Where’s my gun? Right now, a hole in the head don’t seem so bad,” he mumbled under his breath, standing, ready to have this convo be over.
“Not funny.”
“I know, sorry,” he sighed. “Look, all jokes aside. You ever need a wingman out there in these hard streets, let me know. I’m your guy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, you just gotta warn me before you throw me in another cockblock situation. I’d like to be better prepared next time.”
“It wasn’t so much that I need you to... block. I mean, a little bit. I just, I knew I was going to freeze up. Dead moms are a little… close to home for me. And I knew you’d handle it well,” she shrugged and stared up at him. “Unlike me, you are really good with people.”
Shit. Too real, Syd. Nobody asked about your dead mom-
“When did you lose your mom?” he asked quietly.
Fuck.
“It was a really long time ago. I was four. So, I hardly remember her.” She tried to brush it off like she usually did, like she did when she finally told Carmy, but somehow, she couldn’t commit to the bullshit with Richie. Not this time.
“That doesn’t mean you miss her any less,” he told her. “My mom died when I was in high school. We didn’t always get along, but still. Broke my heart.”
“I didn’t know that. I’m sorry,” she cringed. She always hated when said that to her.
“Its cool. It was a long time ago.”
“Doesn’t mean you miss her any less.”
Wow, Richie thought. That’s a new smile from her. Not quite pity, really. But like they shared a… connection. And she understood that longing of wanting your mom back.
This kid’s too fucking much.
“Come on, it’s cold out here, I’ll drive you.”
“You don’t have to do that, the train’ll be by soon.”
“Just take the ride, Syd, Jesus. I swear to God, you just like to argue with me just to argue,” he jammed his hand in his pockets and stomped off to his car.
“Okay, fine,” Sydney got up and tottered after him on feet that sure as shit didn’t feel like walking to the L anyway. “You know, I think the suits made you even bossier, if possible.”
“Yes, it has, get in.”
“And don’t think I didn’t notice the lack of Arby’s cups.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 7/?
Fandom: The Bear (TV 2022)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sydney Adamu/Richard "Richie" Jerimovich, Sydney Adamu/Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto
Characters: Sydney Adamu, Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, Richard "Richie" Jerimovich, Tina (The Bear TV 2022), Neil Fak, Marcus Brooks, Emmanuel Adamu
Additional Tags: Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Age gap relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, SydRichie, Workplace Relationship, Interracial Relationship, mention of Donna - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers
Summary:
What happens after the season 2 finale, when Syd is pissed at Carmy, and Richie is pissed at Carmy so he decides to put in his two weeks notice after the opening and Carmy is in a punishment spiral and tells him to just leave then, go...
But Syd is the one that reaches out to Richie. Tina tried but Richie wasn't hearing it, and Carmy's refusing to actually call him, but he sent a 'We good?' text though. And Sydney, Sydney's like, well shit, I have to do everything myself. When Richie doesn't show up after the opening, Syd hunts him down at the bar in the Trade building, day drinking. They have a really weird heart to heart.
