Author's Note:

This drabble ended up a little long, but I had fun writing it.

The prompt was: Character ~ Erza, Theme ~ Work (Boss) Not sure I stuck to the prompt very well, but c'est la vie.

~Impracticaldemon

Coffee and Cupcakes

Lucy was having a bad day. Her cozy little café was bustling—which was great—but her two employees, Natsu and Gray had gotten into a bar brawl the night before and were home with broken hands and assorted contusions and lacerations. To begin with, she'd been concerned and wondered how they could have gotten so badly hurt, but now she didn't care and had mentally rechristened them "Idiot One" and "Idiot Two".

To make things worse, her friend Erza was coming to stay for a few days, and they'd arranged for Erza to come by the café for lunch and to pick up the key for Lucy's place. Since Erza loved Lucy's strawberry cupcakes, that just meant baking extra cupcakes—not a problem unless you suddenly had no wait staff or counter staff and no extra pair of hands to make coffee or run the dishwasher.

Lucy somehow survived the morning rush, but when Erza arrived—early as usual—she found her friend sitting at one of the tables with a coffee pot in one hand and a giant mug in the other, looking beyond frazzled. Two customers walked in behind Erza and Lucy groaned.

"Lucy! What on earth is going on here?" demanded Erza, surveying the detritus-strewn café.

"Idiots One and Two are out of commission and the students all started back to school last week," Lucy replied grimly. "Also, hi Erza, welcome to independent business hell."

Rightly interpreting the reference to Gray and Natsu, Erza immediately became all business. Without bothering to ask any further questions, she went to Lucy's small office, dropped off her purse, grabbed Gray's black apron from the kitchen and hurried back to the exhausted blonde.

"Erza Scarlet reporting for duty, ma'am. Shall I bus tables or take orders first?"

Lucy looked up at her with unfeigned relief. "You'll help? Yes of course you will! Thanks Erza!" She took a deep breath. "Right! Take orders, please. It's probably faster for me to clear tables and get food and coffee ready, right?"

"Right boss!"

With a cheerful smile, the statuesque red-head went to the table to take the orders of the man and woman—apparently a couple—who had followed her in. They were engaged in a low-voiced argument, but when Erza tried to move away again, she heard the man say to his partner:

"Well if you looked like her then I wouldn't mind you getting an extra cupcake with your coffee, would I?"

Eyes narrowed, Erza stepped up to the table.

"Coffee and cupcakes, ma'am?" she asked the dark-haired, slightly plump woman, who looked on the verge of tears.

"She'll have coffee, black," answered the man. "I'll have a double-double and a strawberry cupcake."

Erza saw that the woman was about to rush away from the table and laid a firm hand on her shoulder, handing her a paper napkin for her tears. Then she turned to the man, face set in an expression that had terrified many a greater foe.

"You, sir, are not worthy of my employer's strawberry cupcakes," she told him in chilling tones. "Not only are you a bully, but you are a hypocrite. How dare you embarrass your daughter this way in public?! First you undermine her independence by refusing to let her order her own food, and then you teach her that it is appropriate for a man your age to order extra cream and sugar with his coffee AND a sweet treat!"

The woman had stopped crying and was staring at Erza in shock. The man had gone bright red in the face and was sputtering in outrage. The three younger people who had walked in just as Erza was taking the man's order were watching in rapt interest. Lucy was standing behind the counter trying to pick her jaw off the floor.

"B-b-but I'm not his daughter," the dark-haired woman said at last, still gazing up at Erza.

"Oh, I am so sorry," apologized Erza, deeming it safe to lift her hand off the woman's shoulder. "He walked so well that I didn't realize he needed a nurse with him." She leaned down confidentially. "Don't worry ma'am, I quite understand—it's his mind then? Well, that explains his odd behaviour, doesn't it?"

"YOU-YOU-YOU—!" The man shot to his feet, hands outstretched.

Erza had him back down in his chair an instant later. He looked very surprised. The three young people applauded. More people pushed into the café to see what was going on.

"Excuse me," said Lucy from behind Erza. "I'm the owner, may I be of assistance?"

The man got to his feet again, watching Erza warily. He pointed an accusing finger at her.

"This waitress is a DISGRACE! I demand that you fire her immediately!"

Lucy looked at Erza, who stared back at her innocently.

"I understand, sir," Lucy responded, only a slight tremor in her voice betraying her amusement. "You have my word that she won't work here after today."

The woman turned a concerned look on Erza. "What about you, um, Gray?" she said, pronouncing the name on the uniform a little dubiously.

"Oh I'll be fine," replied Erza with a reassuring smile. "I'm not sure I'm cut out for the service sector anyway."

[END]

Please let me know if you enjoyed this little fic! ~ Imp