Author's Notes: Writing drabbles/oneshots is my favorite way of improving my writing, testing out new ideas, and just killing time. So that's why I'm writing a collection of the such. However, as I am sometimes short on inspiration, I will gladly accept requests from anyone.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise. I'm not entirely sure who does, but I'm sure their name can be found somewhere on the internet.

Tea

Classes wouldn't start for another week, but the clubroom complex was open. And of course, Haruhi emailed everyone asking us to meet her there at an absurdly early hour.

I arrived yawning, only to discover that the door was locked. She had posted a handwritten sign with instructions telling all SOS Brigade members to meet her at some point at the edge of town, and she left us an address. Typical Haruhi to make me climb up the hill to school just to have to climb down again.

"You're late!"

That all too familiar phrase greeted me as I arrived. The other members of the Brigade were all present. We were standing inside some claustrophobic building. Mikuru smiled sweetly at me, brewing tea. Itsuki was watching her. And Yuki… Nagato was being her usual bibliophile self.

But the most prominent figure was the hyperactive Haruhi, scowling up at me. He cheered up fairly quickly though, when I asked, "So what's going on here?"

"I managed to rent out this place for free!" she exclaimed, excited.

Um, does it count as renting if you don't pay? Oh, I can only imagine the dastardly plan Haruhi thought up to get a hold of this building. The girl's a conspirer.

"So, since I want to improve the club room, we're going to start selling Mikuru's tea here for money!"

Wow. Since when did you need money? Don't you usually just blackmail people to get what you want?

"You're going to be our cashier! Now, keep a lookout for customers!"

Sighing reluctantly, I slumped down on a chair, bored.

Yuki, who for some unknown reason was in uniform, stood up after Haruhi whispered something in her ear, and walked to the front of the amazingly small building with a sign. Apparently she was stuck trying to attract customers. Good luck, Nagato. Sure, Asahina's tea was good, but who was going to come and buy from a bunch of random high school kids? And the prices displayed were outrageous. I could tell that this was going to be a complete waste of time.

The hours ticked by. Even Yuki looked bored. Then again, I couldn't really tell and might have been imagining it. People passed by the store, but to be perfectly honest, Nagato's intense staring scared them away. Exasperated, Haruhi sent Mikuru out there to 'get those customers and drag them in if she had too'. Yuki resumed her reading without comment, but I say she looked eager to get back to her book.

Haruhi started pacing back and forth, and we had nothing better to do than watch her. She was completely fed up.

And I pity the Computer Club President, who for some reason passed by the store. Haruhi was on him in a flash. She tackled him and flung him into the store. I sighed. He looked traumatized, and was probably already scarred for life by Suzumiya.

"Wh-what do you want?" he whimpered.

Haruhi grinned triumphantly. "You should be honored to be our first customer! Itsuki," she said, snapping her fingers as though summoning a dog, "Give our guest some of our finest tea!"

"Coming," Itsuki said. I have no idea how he could still be smiling. He politely handed the Computer Club President a cup.

Not knowing what else to do and terrified of Haruhi's wrath, he took it and sniffed it suspiciously, before sipping it.

"Is it good?" Haruhi demanded slyly.

He nodded cautiously.

Haruhi's evil grin broadened. "Another satisfied customer!"

What the hell? He was our only customer, and he didn't even come of his own free will.

"Now," she said, her eyes twinkling, and with her hand outstretched, "Pay up."

"W-what?"

I could only watch as he reluctantly handed her the money and walked away, downcast but looking relieved to finally be away from the freak who was our brigade leader.

The karma gods weren't happy with Haruhi's trickery. For some reason, the street was deserted from that point on. By late afternoon, Haruhi had forgotten about her earlier victory and tiny insignificant profit, and was repeatedly kicking the back of my chair out of boredom.

"Stop that." She wasn't listening. I stood up and went over to Itsuki. "'Sup?"

His smile had dissipated and he glared at me seriously. "There's a closed space forming," he told me ominously.

What? Damn, it didn't take much to piss her off these days. "What do we do?"

"Whatever she wants us to."

I glared, and he laughed. "It's alright. My colleagues won't be happy, but I'm afraid I have to interrupt whatever they're doing and get them to come here."

"And waste their money?" I asked, half-amused.

He nodded, and took out his cell phone, dialed a few numbers, spoke for a while, then was his smiling self again. "It's been taken care of."

Sure enough, within ten minutes, people started mysteriously appearing and they all seemed suspiciously eager to taste Mikuru's freshly-brewed tea. Most of them glanced at Itsuki at least once. I found myself extremely busy counting our profit. Haruhi seemed delighted, but after a half hour or so, she slumped down on a chair again. I went over to her.

"What's wrong? Business is great."

"I'm bored."

What? She can't be serious. "Isn't this what you wanted?" I demanded, trying to stay calm.

"Yeah… I don't know. This is actually kind of boring." She perked up again. "I'm going to go see what else there is to do!" And with those parting words, she ran out of the shop and darted down the street.

She left me there blinking, perplexed. Wow. I guess the initial excitement of selling tea already wore off. Our customers, who were all obviously members of the Agency, seemed to be thinking somewhere along the same lines as me. When it became apparent that Haruhi wasn't coming back, they all left.

Itsuki sat there, sipping some leftover tea while Mikuru cleaned up. Nagato had remained indulged in her thick novel during the entire thing. The esper smiled at me. "Well, that certainly was an interesting experience."

Author's Notes: So if anyone has anything they want to see written, or a oneshot plot bunny to donate, I'd be grateful. I however reserve the right to refuse or modify a request. I'm sure you all understand.