Remember to vote if you would let Park Jimin throw you off a cliff and do a backflip after you to slam down on you afterwards and thus annihilate your body or if you like cereal. No one will ever know which one you chose.

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Y/n

The blue team could suck Y/n's juicy ass.

Jimin literally. The others metaphorically.

The red and blue teams gathered in the blue kitchen, all lined up with their eyes set on Gordon Ramsay, who stood in front of them with his hands behind his back and a pencil tucked behind his ear.

Hell's Kitchen was a minute away from opening, meaning the first dinner service for the show would commence in a few minutes, and afterward, they'd get to relax and decide on elimination. The losing team would send one person home, and that would happen each dinner service until the winner was chosen. In total, it'd take five to six weeks, maybe up to two months if needed, and in that time, they weren't allowed to contact their families or friends.

Yes, they were stuck in hell.

"Tonight is the first dinner service of this season, so don't make me look like a fool," Gordon said, and Y/n did her best to pay attention, though her eyes wandered to Jimin on occasion. Each time, he had his gaze dead ahead, nodding to what Gordon discussed.

Dammit. Why was he so hot? Attentive men made her weak in the knees. Bonus points if they looked like... that.

"I hope you all studied the menu in your downtime."

They did. After needing to clean everything and go through the recorded punishment for losing the first challenge, the women went to the dorm and studied the menu, discussing the best ways to go about it and referring to previous seasons when necessary. Y/n was on hot apps that night, which meant she had the risotto, one of Hell's Kitchen's most infamous dishes.

She wasn't confident. Did she know how to cook it? Yes. In her sleep. But what she had learned was that any chef who was too confident failed in a heartbeat. You'd hear them talking in their confessional (which the red team had done plenty of in the first day alone) about how confident they were, and then, two seconds later, they'd fuck up. Y/n didn't want to have the same fate. She was sure she'd mess things up, but she didn't want to jinx it and make it worse.

"Yes, chef!"

Gordon grinned. "That's what I like to hear. I expect mistakes, and that's alright, but I need you to bounce back. Don't let the same mistake get you twice, communicate, and remember you're a team. This may be a competition, but you will be eliminated if you sabotage and only look out for yourself. I want someone who can put competition aside and help their team, not a lone wolf who howls at any chance to sabotage. Understood?"

Everyone agreed, and with that, they departed to their respective kitchens. Y/n threw one last glance to Jimin, who returned it and gave a little wave with his tiny hand. He had such a tiny pinky that looked like it could be squished. Y/n wanted nothing more than to grab it and see how soft his skin-

Okay, Y/n, shut up.

Y/n giggled like an idiot, returned the wave, and skipped off to her station while Seulgi gave her the most bombastic side eye she had ever seen. So bombastic that it could be considered criminally offensive, too.

"Ew," Seulgi said with a gag, making sure the stoves were on. She was on hot apps as well, but on the fish side of things, and she settled in... well, not like a fish out of water. The opposite, in fact. All her pans were set up in a matter of seconds. It didn't help that her narrowed stare didn't show a hint of surprise, confusion, or lack of focus. Even while she mocked Y/n. "I came here to cook, not see a live action porno. Keep it in your pants, yeah?"

Y/n sighed with heart eyes. "You have a way with words, Seul."

"Never call me that again."

The other girls on the team laughed at them, and Y/n giggled to herself again before settling in and getting set up. Gordon shouted in the distance about wanting to open Hell's Kitchen, and it begun. The customers piled in. It took ten minutes for the dining room to be packed and drinks dispersed. That was when Gordon went to the blue kitchen to go off about an order, and less than twenty seconds later, he was in the red kitchen, firing out the table and number of guests, and then, the order.

"Two risotto two scallops."

"Yes, chef," the team called out in sync, and Y/n scrambled to begin the risotto pair while Seulgi waited on scallops. As they took ninety seconds, that meant they had to wait until the last minute to drop the scallops. And, of course, Y/n couldn't fuck up. If she fucked up, she would sink the entire team.

Anyone who watched Hell's Kitchen knew scallops and risottos were the bane of every HK chef's existence. That meant fucking up would result in Gordon kicking their asses.

Well, if it was Gordon doing it...

Focus, Y/n. Focus.

Y/n forced herself to return to the task at hand instead of fantasizing about Papi Gordon, though she made a mental note to giggle over him at one in the morning.

Re-focusing was a... choice. As soon as she did, her senses snapped back to her, and she felt the heat of the kitchen that scorched her sweating face. She dabbed herself down with her white sleeve and grabbed the metal pan by the handle, tossing the needed rice inside. Y/n did the instinctive stick your tongue out when you're stressed method where she poked that slab of moisture against her lower lip and prayed to the risotto gods that her appetizer would turn out at least edible.

"Y/n!" Seulgi shouted over the chaos. "How long?"

Y/n glanced at the state of her risottos and realized that, shit, Seulgi needed constant times, otherwise they'd send them out at bad intervals. If one was too early, the other could die, or it could force Ramsay to take the risk of sending one without the other, leaving half of the four top without food. No chef wanted to leave their diners hungry, so Y/n did her best to adjust to the flames of Hell's Kitchen and popped her thinking cap on.

"Two minutes! Drop your scallops in thirty seconds!"

Seulgi's eyes widened as she observed Y/n, but she was quick to nod. "Thirty seconds, heard!"

And thirty seconds slipped by in a snap. Y/n heard the sizzle of the scallops hitting the hot pan, followed by the fishy aroma rising from Seulgi's side of the kitchen. Felicia rushed around to support the team, and Yuna, a short, quiet woman with long, dyed brown hair, handled the garnish station with little peeps of words when she was ready to walk the risotto and scallop garnish.

Gordon, who had left to check on the blue team, reapproached the red kitchen. "Ladies, how long?"

"Ninety seconds, chef!" Y/n called out on instinct. She had spent a long time working on a brigade—five years, to be exact. Ever since she could breathe, she could cook, and that instinct managed to overpower the overwhelming kitchen that was Gordon Ramsay's restaurant.

"Good, communication. On opening night, no less. Keep it up, ladies."

The women responded with a chorus of yes, chef, and Y/n returned to cooking, tasting when needed and adding the right amount of seasoning. Any hint of her past goofy demeanor left, and Chef Y/n locked in. And then, the ninety seconds passed by, and she rushed up to the pass with Seulgi and Yuna, setting the dishes down next to Chef Christina, who had been Hell's Kitchen season ten's winner.

Y/n tried not to fangirl over seeing Christina's classic black glasses and thick, dark ponytail in person, but it was almost impossible. Christina had cute chubby cheeks and a nose that just... fit her. It was not quite a button nose, but it was short and matched her adorable pale face; however, when she got angry, she got angry. The rule of thumb was to never piss off Gordon Ramsay, but even beyond that, never piss off his right hand woman.

Y/n returned to her station, wiped it down, and proceeded to clean her sweaty forehead, all in time for Ramsay to return and check what they had sent up.

Any sense of self disappeared the moment Ramsay dipped his spoon into the risotto to taste it. Every heartbeat felt louder and stronger than the last, and her hands tightened on the handle of a new pan, her stomach bubbling with nausea and her lower lip dry from how much she had nibbled on it.

And then, Ramsay turned around.

"Who cooked the risotto?"

Fucking dickhead shitfuck.

Gordon placed the pan of risotto on the table near her when she raised her hand, but he fired out his next words before Y/n could so much as ask what was wrong.

"Nicely seasoned, that risotto."

Oh sweet mother of Jesus, Y/n was about to moan.

"Thank you, chef," she managed to say through her shaking legs and hot face. As soon as Gordon moved away, complimented Seulgi's scallops as well, and was distracted by sending out the first round of appetizers, Y/n squealed and did a little bounce before she cleared her throat and went back into serious mode. Well, as serious as Y/n could be, anyway.

Once again, Gordon turned and read out the next table, which included more hot apps. More risottos, one of the most famous Hell's Kitchen dishes. And once again, Y/n and Seulgi nailed their apps. Not a single scallop got sent back, and neither did any risottos. Yuna's garnish was the cherry on top, and Y/n approached the shy, short girl who had to be no more than 4'10. She had bright cheeks that glowed even in a kitchen setting, and her cheeks somehow appeared squishier than Chef Christina's. When Yuna smiled with her thin, pink lips, a single dimple poked against her left cheek.

"Kicking ass, girl," Y/n said, high fiving the shorter and younger woman. Yuna giggled, her small form hiccupping a bit as she did so, and she gave Y/n a quiet thanks before returning to work.

Gordon came back with more orders, that time entrees. Diya and Karen were on the meat station, and Missy and Ophelia were on the fish. Seulgi, done with her fish appetizers, joined the duo to make a trio, and Y/n joined up with Fiona on desserts and began prepping them for the end of service.

Most of her teammates hadn't been too outgoing, so Y/n didn't know them well. She knew Yuna couldn't speak over two decibels, and Diya had the sweetest smile she had ever seen, but otherwise, the others didn't stand out to her much. Aside from Felicia and Seulgi, of course. Felicia was an icon with that pink coat she had entered the competition with, and Seulgi was Seulgi.

Anything for hot women.

Speaking of hot women, Y/n stood next to Fiona, who somehow looked a complete mess despite being on desserts, which was the easiest station. Her thick, medium-length black locks were tied into a tight bun Y/n imagined hurt her poor skull, and her tan skin was glossy. Her brown eyes darted around every ounce of sugar she had in her bare hands, and Y/n spotted dark spots on the backs of her hands along with a few blemishes on her sharp face.

Fiona had the sharpest face on the team, with her cheekbones high and prominent and her jaw as sharp as Jimin's, if not somehow sharper. She could be a model with that kind of prominent bone structure, and to top it off, she had a sharp but thin nose that kept her symmetrical face balanced.

"Karen, how long do you need?" Missy asked, disrupting Y/n's observations of her teammate. She craned her head to see Missy—a pale woman with a shorter stature and curly blonde hair—almost burning everything she touched while Ophelia—a taller woman with her braids pulled into a ponytail and her nails bright pink without a chip in sight—did her best to do damage control.

"Not as long as you," Karen responded with an appalled expression upon seeing the flames jumping from Missy's pan. Karen pushed her thin-framed, metal glasses up and shook her head, her messy bun dropping locks of gold in her face as she prepared her beef wellington—another Hell's Kitchen classic.

Missy huffed and insulted Karen, but Karen didn't bother responding. Y/n wished she could be that unbothered.

"Welp," Y/n said, turning back to Fiona, "it's gonna be a long night, isn't it?"

Fiona sighed. "Yep."

It was safe to say Missy single-handedly sunk the red team. And guess what? They all got kicked out of the kitchen and lost the service to the boys, who had a near-perfect service. That meant they had to eliminate someone and face the wrath of Gordon Ramsay later.

Yay.

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Remember to vote, comment, and follow for more like this pls tanks muah.

Also, I just wanted to say thank you for such a positive reception on this story. I received well over 100 reads in less than 12 hours. I've written almost 20 chapters for this story already, so the rest of April and all of May are completely covered update-wise, and I've already scheduled them to publish, so you will definitely have updates twice a week for the entirety of May and coming up on the entirety of June!

I made this note a few days ago ^^ and wasn't expecting to log on and see 500 reads on this story in less than a week (maybe more by the time this is posted). I was definitely not expecting that many votes, comments, and reads so quickly, and I'm astonished, to say the least. I really don't know how to thank you other than by saying a massive thank you.

Due to how positive the reception to this story has been, I am going to do a writing sprint this weekend and try to get close to 30 chapters done. After that, I'd like to start updating three to four times a week. This story is expected to be 42 chapters (expected, based on my chapter-by-chapter outlines), so if I can get 30 done, I'll be just about done with the story and can update more frequently.

So thank you for all your support. I was not expecting this story to blow up the way it did, and I hope that by posting more updates, it will be a way to show my gratitude!

If you like this story, you would also like The Gamer's Guide to Romance, which is available on my profile. And it's completed, so you can read it while waiting for this book to update! It's just another completely unhinged story with Y/n being... Y/n, and Jimin being a goofball (but also a cutie patootie).