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darthhope999 · 1 year

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Running a restaurant is HARD!

Characters: Cyclone, Lightningstrike, Cobalt, Ajax, Atomic

Do not ask me how wolves can rub each other’s back, let’s just say they are… built different. I do not know where that reference came from. Think I should give all the wolves phones?

Word count: 3012

Ao3 link

“You should take a break,” Lightningstrike said, watching Cyclone struggle to prepare multiple orders at a time with only Cobalt’s help.

“I don’t have time. You gonna help anytime soon?” Cyclone’s voice was as strained as Lightningstrike had heard in a while.

“Hey, I’m here to help. You’re the one who banished me to waiter duty after I nearly burnt the place down.”

“Well, take this to whoever ordered it,” Cyclone shoved a tray in Lightningstrike’s face, immediately turning away and rushing back to the beeping oven.

“Alright!” Lightningstrike called sarcastically, knowing Cyclone’s attention was already on something else.

He picked the tray up and walked out of the kitchen. Three families sat, waiting for their food, in booths and at tables. Two families sat, eating their food and chatting with each other.

Lightningstrike was surprised to see how much business they were getting. The restaurant was normally either empty or filled with only one or two families. Figures they’d get so much business the first week Rusty and Dawn were gone.

“Hello,” Lightningstrike said cheerfully, trotting up to the nearest family and setting the tray on the table. Cyclone was normally the one to hear and remember all the orders, despite that being Lightningstrike’s job. But he wanted to give him a break, especially since Cyclone hadn't told him who the order belonged to.

“Sorry for the wait,” He was really just guessing who it belonged to.

“We didn’t order that,” The woman’s voice was harsh and distanful, and she glared at Lightningstrike.

“Okay, my bad,” He said cheerfully, taking the tray back and trotting away.

“You ought to remember who orders what, people might think you don’t care,” The woman called after him. He cleverly ignored her, it had been his fault after all.

“Hello! I’m sorry for the wait,” Lightningstrike walked up to the next family and set the tray down. Once more, he was guessing, but he did have a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right this time.

“Oh! Thank you,” The man on the left smiled and took the first plate off of the tray, passing the second one to the man on the right.

Lightningstrike nodded, “Enjoy!” He said, glad that he hadn’t mixed the orders up again.

“Lightningstrike, are you wasting time?” Cyclone’s voice echoed from the kitchen.

“No, just messing up orders!” He shouted back, ignoring the glare from the woman.

What did they expect? The only real adults were on vacation.

“Well, get in here!”

Lightningstrike hurried back to the kitchen, hoping no one had set anything in fire.

“What’s up?” The moment he walked in he was greeted with the heavy smell of smoke.

“Spirits! What happened!” He cried, watching Cobalt dump water on the burning oven.

“Cobalt left the oven unattended for too long,” Cyclone snarled, actually looking frustrated, which was very out of character for him.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Cobalt cried, rushing around the kitchen desperately.

“You should have been paying attention!” Cyclone snapped.

“Okay, let’s all calm down, I’m sure he didn’t mean to-”

“Of course he didn’t mean to! The point is he got distracted!” Cyclone snarled, spinning to face Lightningstrike.

“Okay, alright! Everyone calm down!” Lightningstrike called, flinching as he watched Cobalt’s desperate cries as he tried to save the oven from the fire. “We can never allow Rusty to go on vacation again.”

“Cobalt, just take this,” Cyclone pushed another tray towards Cobalt.

He nodded, breathing heavily and scrambling to follow out Cyclone’s orders.

Lightningstrike waited for Cobalt to rush out of the kitchen before turning to face Cyclone, “Think you were a little harsh?”

Cyclone sighed and dropped his head to the ground, “I know,” He whispered.

“Yeah.”

The two stood in silence for a few seconds before Lightingstrike asked “I swear we had three more employees?”

Cyclone shook his head, “Jardi and Emerald called in sick and Azazel just didn’t show up.”

“Which means that he’s likely sick as well.”

“Yeah, figures they’d all be sick right when Dad decides to go on vacation,” Cyclone sighed.

. . .

Luckily, only two more families came in after the oven fiasco and neither ordered anything that needed the oven.

Night was falling and the restaurant was mere hours away from closing. Which meant that Lightningstrike, Cyclone, and Cobalt were sitting at one of the tables waiting to lock the door the moment the clock hit ten.

Then, of course, the bell above the door rang, signaling customers.

Cyclone sighed, “Great,” He muttered.

However, it wasn’t customers that walked in, but Atomic and Ajax.

Lightningstrike’s face lit up. “Hey, guys!” He said excitedly, leaping out of the chair and running over to them.

“Lightningstrike, hey! Ajax got off work early so I dragged him down here,” Atomic explained, doing some head bump thing with Lightingstrike.

Ajax smiled gently, “Yes, Atomic has been complaining that he’s bored every day he comes home since I’m at work for hours after him. So I decided to take off work today.”

“Well, it’s certainly been interesting here,” Lightningstrike smiled, “Cobalt nearly burned the place down, I mixed the orders up, and all three of our employees are sick.”

“Right when Rusty’s gone too,” Cobalt added, jumping down off of the chair behind Cyclone.

“Well, I doubt you two will have much fun hanging around here,” Cyclone said.

“You’re right, which is why I am going to be dragging you and Lightningstrike to the new restaurant down the street,” Atomic said, grinning.

“Oh no, absolutely not, I have to run this restaurant,” Cyclone said, shaking his head.

“I can handle that, it’s the least I can do,” Cobalt suggested.

“Yes, Cobalt can handle it, come on,” Atomic shoved his head into Cyclone’s side and pushed him towards the door.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Lightningstrike helped Atomic shove Cyclone out the door. “Thanks Cobalt!” He shouted over his shoulder.

“Cobalt can’t even use the oven without starting a fire!” Cyclone snapped but he was resigned to allowing Atomic and Lightningstrike to drag him out of the restaurant.

“Alright! Alright! I’m coming geez!” Cyclone stumbled as Atomic pushed him over.

Ajax was laughing behind him, “Guys, let him go,” He laughed.

“Yes, let me go!”

Lightningstrike playfully knocked his head into Cyclone’s side, pushing him off the sidewalk and into the street.

“Hey!” He shouted back, a grin creeping onto his face.

The four friends walked down the street, joking and pushing each other over. Lightningstrike was glad to see Cyclone relaxing for once since Rusty had left on vacation.

They approached the restaurant, it was rather small with only two or three tables within it. A curved neon sign shouted the name of the restaurant, The Land LightHouse. Lightningstrike guessed that meant they sold seafood.

The four walked in, looking around at the many water themed decorations. The scent of cooked fish hung in the air and two families sat at tables laughing and eating seafood.

“I smell fish,” Atomic observed, smiling and walking up to the tallest table where a human was standing, ready to take orders.

“Hello and welcome to The Land LightHouse!” She said cheerfully, “What would you like to order?” She pushed a menu across the table in their direction.

It took the friends about fifteen minutes to order, Atomic kept changing his mind, much to Ajax’s dismay.

However, they finally managed to order. Lightningstrike and Atomic got some fish and chips thing, Ajax ordered a salad… just a salad, and Cyclone ordered some shellfish plate.

They were directed to the last remaining table and told that their order would be prepared shortly.

“So, how’s your restaurant been going?” Ajax asked as they started to wait.

“Oh, just great,” Cyclone muttered sarcastically.

“Oh, come on, it’s going fine, we’ve had more business than we’ve had for a long time,” Lightningstrike nudged him.

“Uh huh, I’m never going to allow dad to go on vacation again.”

Ajax nodded, “Good idea, Dawn will probably just leave without him.

“Oh, yes that’d be funny,” Atomic laughed.

“Uh huh,” Cyclone rolled his eyes.

“Have you been in contact with Ghost?” Ajax asked, trying to make conversation outside of “leaving Rusty behind”.

“No, last time we spoke he said he’d likely be out of town for the next few weeks. Some work thing.”

“Oh, yes, I remember that conversation,” Lightningstrike nodded, “Scorch shouted something about Ghost leaving him and Everest behind.”

“Hey! Hope the wait wasn’t too long. Enjoy your seafood,” The waitress swooped in and passed four plates out.

The wolves thanked her and dug in.

The conversation switched over to food, the ocean, and mocking Ajax for eating a salad in a seafood restaurant.

“Shut up, I don’t want to eat something that was once alive!” Ajax responded, pretending to be angry.

“Uh huh, sure,” Atomic stuck his tongue out.

Cyclone was about to cut in with yet another mocking remark when an uneasy feeling rolled through his stomach.

He closed his mouth, frowning slightly as the feeling became more prominent. He suddenly could feel the shellfish swirling in his stomach. Oh no.

Cyclone swallowed thickly hoping the gurgles his stomach was starting to emit couldn’t be heard.

“Oh, yes! I watched some commercial about that!” Atomic was shouting a little too loudly, Cyclone didn’t know what they had been talking about, his mind being too focused on the rumbles that were starting to get louder.

He still couldn’t pay attention, his thoughts going to the very uncomfortable feeling in his belly. Perhaps the shellfish had still been alive when he ate them.

Cyclone gulped and clamped his mouth shut, feeling a sickly burp rise in his throat. He discreetly pressed his paw to his stomach, feeling it rolling nauseatingly. It emitted a quiet gurgle, luckily only reaching his ears.

Atomic’s voice cut into his thoughts again, “We all finished eating? ‘Cause I got something else to show you two,” He sounded excited. That was not good.

“Oh boy, you gonna get us in trouble?” Lightningstrike asked.

“No, I got tickets to the amusement park on Light street,” Atomic said with a singsong voice, excitement dripping from it.

Ajax rolled his eyes, “Yes, we had to stand in line for hours, I thought he was about to jump into the pond just to get out of the heat.”

“Yeah, the lady in front of us kept shooting us annoyed looks every time I was too loud.”

“You, being loud?” Lightningstrike scoffed, “One can only imagine.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, the point is, we get to ride a ton of amusement park rides in the dark!” Atomic’s voice was still way too loud.

Cyclone felt his stomach lurch at the mere thought of riding a roller coaster. He pressed his mouth down tighter, stifling another sickly burp. It only made his nausea much worse, his stomach rebelling at his attempts to ignore it.

“We are going to ride the tallest roller coaster we can find!” Atomic said, nearly bouncing up and down in his seat.

Cyclone was overly aware of every uncomfortable gurgle his stomach made and every sideways glance from the other table. He knew they weren't looking at him, they were definitely looking at Atomic and his rather obnoxious shouts. But the anxiety of puking in public did nothing to ease his stomach.

The others were still talking about roller coasters. Cyclone’s stomach already felt like it was on a roller coaster, he didn’t need to go on another.

“Yes, I practically had to take out a loan to pay for them, but, you know, Atomic helped,” Ajax said sarcastically.

“Hey, you insisted,” Atomic said, smiling at Ajax’s annoyed expression.

“Well, we can pay for our tickets?” Lightningstrike suggested.

“No, it’s fine, I really don’t mind,” Ajax replied, annoyed expression dissolving into a smile.

Cyclone would have thanked them along with Lightningstrike but he didn’t dare open his mouth. He could feel hot liquid start to travel up his throat.

“You four finished?” The waitress swooped over again, a smile plastered on her face.

“Yes, I think we are,” Ajax answered for them, getting nods from all three. Cyclone was immensely grateful that he hadn’t had to respond.

“I hear you're going to the amusement park?” She said as she picked up their plates.

“Woah, I wouldn’t talk to Atomic about it, he might go on a year long rant,” Ajax joked, earning a laugh from her and Atomic.

Once she had gathered all their plates, given them the bill, and thanked them for coming, Atomic leaped out of the booth and hurried them out of the door.

Cyclone didn’t say anything the whole way, he was struggling to even walk straight. He knew if he went on any rides he was going to puke, just the five minutes it took them to reach the gate had his stomach doing backflips. But he really didn’t want to ruin it for the others, Ajax had done a lot to get the tickets.

However, as they walked through the gate Cyclone was becoming much too aware of the frothing mess his stomach had become. He gulped back another sickly burp, trying desperately to swallow the bile that shot up his throat. The taste of shellfish mixed with acid to make him want to gag all that much more.

Another gurgle escaped his stomach, luckily Lightningstrike was too busy talking with Atomic to notice.

“Okay, we need to go on that one!” The two agreed, Atomic nodding at a very large, very twisty roller coaster.

Just watching it flip upside down made Cyclone need to gulp back yet another wet burp. Acid shot up his throat, trying to force its way out of his mouth. But he was not going to puke, not here, so he swallowed it back down. He felt it settle very uncomfortably on his churning stomach. His belly was swirling as if it were in a washing machine, bubbling and frothing until he could barely breathe through the nausea.

“Uh, Lightningstrike, I gotta use the restroom, I’ll be back,” He didn’t even wait for his response before dashing off, very thankful that the restroom was nearby.

The moment he pushed into the stall he jerked over the edge of the bowl, tears leaking from his eyes as his stomach heaved and emptied everything he had eaten into it. A cramp gripped him and sent him falling to the ground, dry heaves wracking his body.

Sweat dripped from his neck as he retched into the toilet bowl, gagging at the horrible taste that coated his tongue.

Sickly burps bubbled out of his throat, one after the other, bringing with them the horrible feeling of nausea.

He groaned, hunching over and wrapping one of his paws around his frothing stomach. It had not been a good idea to wait so long before allowing his body to expel whatever had irritated it.

“Cyclone?” He heard Lightningstrike’s voice outside the stall. “You okay in there?”

“No,” He thought about saying yes but he was convinced otherwise by a painful cramp ripping through his abdomen.

Lightningstrike was immediately concerned by the desperate tone in Cyclone’s voice. He shoved open the stall to see him hunched over the toilet, body lurching as his stomach struggled to eject its contents.

Lightningstrike gasped, walking up to him and starting to rub his back. “I thought you looked sick,” He said sympathetically.

“I’m sorry,” He gasped, head still hanging over the bowl.

“No, no, no, don’t apologize, it’s not your fault,” Lightningstrike said hurriedly.

“I don’t think dinner agreed with me,” Cyclone whimpered, his stomach gurgling very sickly, sending another wet burp up his throat followed by more acid. He groaned.

“Shh, you’re okay,” Lightningstrike whispered, wishing there was more he could do.

“You should go have fun, I’ll be fine,” But his voice was so pained Lightningstrike couldn't even imagine leaving him there.

“No, we’re going home,” He said sternly, earning a groan from Cyclone. “I’m sure Ajax won’t mind,” He said more gently.

Tears dripped from his eyes into the bowl, “I should apologize,” He gulped.

“Cyclone, I don’t think you know Ajax.”

Lightningstrike didn’t realize that Cyclone was crying until he heard the tears dripping quicker into the toilet.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright. Come on, it’ll be okay,” Lightningstrike continued whispering comforting things into Cyclone’s ear as he led him outside.

He was pressed into his flank, shaking and groaning every time his stressed stomach emitted another sick noise.

“Spirits! Cyclone, what happened?” Atomic and Ajax rushed over, immediately concerned.

Cyclone just shook his head, he really didn’t want to puke again, he didn’t think he’d be able to take it.

“I think we need to go home, sorry guys,” Lightningstrike explained quickly, grimacing as he felt Cyclone shrink against him as the sickly sweet smell of cotton candy and other junk food wafted over them.

“Yeah, of course,” Ajax said, pulling Atomic away to give the two some space.

Lightningstrike hurried Cyclone away, muttering a sorry as he nearly ran into a lady pushing a stroller. He swore he recognized her.

Luckily, they were not far from Cyclone’s home and they were able to get there in time for Cyclone to be sick in the comfort of his own home.

Lightningstrike sat beside him rubbing his back and whispering words of comfort in his ear as his stomach rebelled and forced everything in his digestive system into the toilet bowl.

“I’m guessing you don’t have anything in your medicine cabinet?”

Cyclone shook his head miserably, choking out more bile, a groan escaping his mouth.

Lightningstrike sighed, “Yeah, I guessed. I can go pick something up?”

“N-no, please don’t leave,” Cyclone begged, turning to look at his boyfriend with watering eyes.

“Okay, alright, I’m not going anywhere.”

#cyclone #Lightningstrike #food poisoning #?#illness #sickfic #emeto #vomiting #pain #whump #puking #stomach ache #cyclone/Lightningstrike

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