Chapter Text
“Green! Get me something to eat!”
“Green! I’ll take some eggs over expert mode, please!”
“Green! Cook me up anything on the menu! I couldn’t care less!”
It was exhausting. The endless orders. The endless customers. Of course, Green loved their job. Running the Flower Cafe was the best occupation they could ask for, and they were great at it. That didn’t mean it couldn’t be exhausting.
Then, as they went to the counter to take another order, this customer surprised them. “Y’know, Green, I feel like the rest of us flowers gotta do something for you sometime, right?” They looked up to see that it was Orange. “You’re always there for us.”
Green nodded, smiling a genuine smile and giving Orange a free cookie for her idea. She hid it well, but the little one had a huge heart under that mask.
“Anyway, the six of us were talking about this and…” Orange’s face lit up as she proposed her idea. “We decided, wouldn’t it be great for you if we ran the Cafe for a day? You could have a day off!”
Green was touched. The rest of the flowers really cared for them a lot, didn’t they? They were all so sweet, so caring, and Green loved every single one of them. Not in a weird way. Green held up a sign: Sure thank you!
Orange returned their smile. “Sweet! We’ll be here at 8:00 tomorrow, enjoy your day off!”
Little did Green know, that was the worst decision they had ever made.
—
It was 8:00 AM the next morning when everyone realized they had no idea what the hell they were doing.
They all came in at once, and immediately Seth and Flowery started arguing about who should be in charge.
“Why would you be in charge? I am the master tactician of the group! It would be blasphemous to elect anyone but me!” Seth shouted.
“But I… am super good at knowing how cafes work!” Flowery pointed to various things in the kitchen. “Coffee pot… makes coffee. Stove… grills things. See, I’m a natural!”
Seth shook their head. “How about an election?” They suggested, then remembered their group was made up of five idiots and them. Meaning they would all probably vote for Flowery.
“If you all will listen…” Blue started, looking around, “Though it is important to elect a leader, I believe it would be advantageous if we decided jobs for everyone first.”
“I sec’nd,” Yellow declared.
Seth deemed Aqua probably needed to be wherever was the farthest from the kitchen, knowing she’d definitely burn the place down if she were in there. Orange also, because they were sure the customers would not want to find out a mouse was cooking their food.
Flowery could pass decently as a waiter, they figured, same with Blue, as both of them were good at talking to people. They knew some basics when it came to cooking, so they could probably make it in the kitchen, along with Yellow. Or— Maybe Aqua could be a waiter, and either Flowery or Blue could work with them in the kitchen…
“Helloooo? Anyone home?” Flowery said. “I know you’re calculating the physics of the world and whatnot, but we do have a job to do.”
“I was—” Seth sputtered. “Okay, how about this? Aqua and Flowery, you can wait tables, Yellow, Blue and I can work in the kitchen, and Orange can man the cash register. How’s that?”
Flowery scoffed. “I don’t want to wait tables! Let me work in the kitchen! I bet Blue would be a great waiter!”
“I would rather be a waiter than a chef,” Blue intervened.
“Okay, fine, you two switch. Everyone else good with their jobs?”
“Uuu, yess!” Aqua giggled. “I can throw plates of food at people!”
Seth sighed and pinched the bridge of their nose. “Blue, can you… make sure she doesn’t do that?”
“And I wanna do somethin’ TOUGH!!” Orange pouted, crossing her arms. “Nothin’ tough about a cash register.”
“Is there anything ‘tough’ about working in a cafe?” Seth retorted.
“No…” Orange replied, her voice even smaller than usual.
Everyone got to their positions (Orange found a stepstool so she could reach the cash register), and by the time they got their first customer, Seth was actually feeling kind of good about this.
So much for that feeling.
They were soon proven wrong by seeing how bad everyone was at their jobs. Their first order was a muffin. Simple enough, right? Nope. Seth found themself shaking their head as Yellow and Flowery tried to turn on the stove. For a muffin. You don’t use a stove for a muffin.
Yellow had somehow managed to burn his finger once already, which was beyond Seth. Once Flowery figured out how to use the stove, they found some batter in the fridge that Green must use for the muffins, so Yellow put it in a frying pan and set it on one of the spots, which he had cranked to max heat.
“Yellow, you idiot! You don’t bake muffins on a stove!” Seth shouted, taking the pan from him. “You’re gonna burn the only batter we have!”
“Doggone it, you’re right, ain't ya?”
“Of course I’m right! Shut up and try to find a muffin pan!”
“Seth, what’s a muffin pan?”
“Oh my GOD Flowery—”
He laughed. “Just kidding, jeez. I know what a muffin pan is!”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t,” Seth muttered under their breath.
“Hey, I think I done ’n found it!” Yellow grinned, holding up a…
Bucket.
“Yellow, what do you think a muffin pan looks like?”
“This here!”
Suddenly, a sharp CRASH and Aqua’s unmistakable giggle came from the other room. Seth looked to see what was going on, and, wow. What a sight to behold.
Aqua was covered in food and rolling around, shards of what once was a plate littering the floor around her. Blue was profusely apologizing to the customers, trying to use a broom to clean up whatever was on the ground. Which, in case anyone was wondering, is not how you clean up food on the ground.
Then, when it felt like things could not get worse, they did.
Yellow suddenly started screaming. And not just screaming, he was sounding like someone just chopped off his leg.
“What could possibly have caused that reaction?” Seth said. Their eyes were closed out of frustration, but when they turned around and opened them, they were wishing they hadn’t.
Yellow’s sleeve was on fire, a trail of smoke filling the room as he tried to blow it out while also flailing it around rapidly, only to make it bigger. Flowery was not helping by fanning it with a kitchen towel.
“Ugh, stop giving it oxygen! You’re just feeding it!” Seth grabbed the towel out of Flowery’s hands and suffocated the fire. “How did that even happen?” They hissed once the fire was out.
“Well, ya never told me to turn this here stove off…” Yellow started, “An’ uh, my sleeve got caught on it.”
“But I found the muffin pan!” Flowery cheered.
“HURRY UP IN THERE!!!” Orange yelled from the cash register. “There’s like 30 people in line here!”
“We’re trying!” Seth yelled back. “Yellow almost lost an arm!”
“Don’t get blood in the food, Yellow!” Aqua shouted. “Or do! It’ll add flavor!”
“That’s enough, Aqua…” Blue said, still trying to take orders, clean up ground food, and babysit Aqua all at once.
Seth cringed as they heard clattering behind them. “What did you do now, Yellow…”
They found themself looking at a giant pile of dishes, cooking utensils, pots and pans, and Flowery and Yellow wedged underneath it all.
“So, uh…” Flowery tried getting up, just to make the pile clatter even more. “I was trying to get a spoon, to stir the batter, and this whole stack was kind of balanced on top of everything, so when I grabbed the spoon…”
Seth sighed. Why was their team so stupid, why did Flowery think he needed to stir the batter that was already made, and why…
Why was the stove still on?
The fire spread through the wooden chair Flowery used to get the spoon, and before anyone could expect it, their kitchen was on fire.
Oops.
Smoke filled the air, causing the smoke detector to go crazy. Seth dove to the floor, trying to get under it so they could keep breathing.
“Guys, what’s going on in there?” Orange said.
“A lot more than I have time to explain,” Seth responded.
“I’m comin’ in!!!” She bellowed in reply, busting the door open with her boxing glove.
“Okay, who burned down the kitchen.”
Blue’s voice came from the other room. “Orange, what’s happening?”
“Well, uh, no easy way to say this.” Orange turned toward the door. “Like, the kitchen is pretty much in flames right now?”
“The kitchen’s what?”
Suddenly, a dark presence fell over the cafe.
The dark presence that could only be Green when they’re disappointed.