Page 13 of Dragon AU

“What’s wrong?” she asked, and he shook his head like she could see him.

“Nothing, it’s all good.” He tried perking up but failed miserably.

“I will poison your soup. What is it?”

“I delivered food to the dragon jackass today. We got into it, exchanged words, and he called me a dragon.”

“Mhm…” she said. Just as calmly. Just as matter-of-factly as Ray had.

“Ethel, I’m not a dragon!”

“And I’m not a geriatric, spiteful old lady who’d stab a bitch with a knitting needle. Of course you’re a damn dragon, boy!”

“If I’m a dragon, how am I only now finding out?”

“Apparently you’re dumb as a rock.”

“I’m not dumb! I’m just not a dragon and I don’t know why everyone keeps saying I am.”

“Who’s everyone?”

“Rowan, Ray,” Milo said. “Now you.”

“Well, it’s three against one.”

“This isn’t a democracy! My species is not for you to vote on.”

“It is when you’re being obtuse, boy. And why does it matter, anyway? It changes nothing about who you are.”

“Do the rest of the house know too?” he asked and she hummed. He closed his eyes, digging his nails into the rough material of his jeans.

“They hate dragons,” he whispered.

“Please,” she scoffed. “Clarence hates himself in the morning and the rest of the world in the afternoon. Glenn barely knows who he is half the time and Conrad is gullible as fuck. He doesn’t hate anyone. Shelly loves you beyond whatever prejudice she has against dragons. Which is none. She just wants to look quirky.”

“How the fuck is this even possible?” Milo covered his eyes with his hand.

“You don’t know your parents, Milo,” she said, tone softening now. “And you’ve never shifted or shown it much. I think we all just collectively assumed it was too painful for you and you’d learned to keep it in. We never thought you actually didn’t know.”

“This is insane.”

“A little bit, yeah. But no more insane than working three jobs to support five geriatric randos, chaining yourself to a tree to save their home, and biting the dragon CEO of one of the biggest construction companies in the world. So…I’d say it’s very on-brand.”

“Shut up.”

“No thanks. Do you want to take the night off?”

“We need the tips.”

“We’ll make do, Milo. You don’t have to kill yourself for us.”

“I could use a distraction anyway,” he said. “Call me if you need me.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She hung up.

“Fucking hell,” he whispered, running a hand through his messy hair before standing up to clock in.

He walked out and headed behind the bar, head reeling. He stared at his hands as if they might break free of his brain’s control and just claw his own face off. He kept glancing at himself in reflective surfaces, looking for any sign of this supposed dragonhood everyone knew about. He saw nothing. Just boring, human Milo.