Page 71 of Dragon AU

“I’m fine!” he said, but he shuffled over anyway, figuring fewer people wanted baked goods than coffee so he had less room for error.

Everyone wanted a baked good.

Multiples of them. Bagged separately and charged together and “does this have any nuts in it?” and Milo started feeling overwhelmed like he never had before.

A customer brushed his hand as they took the bag and Milo pulled back as if singed. The soft hum of background music felt like an assault on his ears and his apron was tied too tight.

He loosened it a bit, but then it kept flapping around him and he didn’t like that. He kept pushing it around until all the pushing caused him to knock their little flyer display off the counter.

“Shit,” he hissed, bending down to pick up the scattered papers. He found himself in the corner between their pastry shelf and the counter.

The tight space felt grounding for some reason. He pushed his back into the corner and hunched over, gathering the leaflets spread around the floor and cradling them in his lap. He kinda wished he was home.

He was pretty tired.

Did he have a shift at the bar?

No, that was yesterday. Today was the coffee shop and then delivery tomorrow morning.

So he just had to get through his shift and then he could go home.

Maybe being around his people would help whatever he was going through. Ethel might make him her special soup if he acted annoyingly miserable enough. Which he could totally do. He was a master at being annoying. And miserable. And any combination of the two. So he should…

“Um…hello!” A face popped over the counter and Milo looked up, curled into the corner with a lap full of flyers.

“YES!” He jumped up. “Hello!”

“I just wanted my cookie,” the man said.

Milo nodded like a bobblehead. “And you should totally get it. Your cookie! You deserve one!”

“I sure do!” the man said, perking up. He flashed a smile Milo’s way. “Especially coming from someone so cute.”

Milo…recoiled.

“Um…” he said dumbly, his brain absolutely refusing to come up with anything clever and charming to say to redirect the awkward flirting. He just stood there.

Not only did he not say something clever, he didn’t even say something dumb. He just stared silently at the man with his paper bag in hand, cookie suspended just above it before being dropped in.

The rustle of the paper bag brought Milo’s brain somewhat online. Enough to shove the bag into the man’s chest and wish him a pleasant day in the loudest way possible, virtually shooing him out of the shop before looking around himself as if someone was gonna jump out at him and accuse him of using the cookie as a flirtation tactic.

Milo had zero flirtation tactics, cookie-based or otherwise. Anyone could tell you that. So there was nothing to see there.

“He didn’t pay.” Lyra’s voice came from behind him, making him yelp and jump a foot in the air.

“W-what?”

“He didn’t pay for the cookie,” she repeated before frowning at him. “Milo, what is happening?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I’m fine. Maybe need more coffee.”

“If you drink any more coffee you’ll start tasting sounds! You need to go home. Eat real food. Sleep.”

“Oh my god don’t fire me!” he said, wide-eyed and stomach churning. “I’ll get it together. I just really need this job. I have people relying—”

“MILO!” she yelled, interrupting the rant. “Nobody is being fired.”

He deflated on the counter. “Oh, thank god.”