Day poked him again.
“Uh, sorry, mediu?—”
Day hissed.
“Large.Largemilk, please.”
Day settled back down, purring.
The cashier rang him up, and Seymour quickly stepped out of the way so the people behind him could have their turn. He gave Day a small rub as inconspicuously as possible, whispering, “Just a minute, okay? And then you’ll have your milk.”
Day meowed, giving Seymour another nudge on his cheek.
“What?”
Day pushed more firmly.
Seymour realized then she was trying to get him to look back at the counter.
The woman was busy ordering something called a Dragon’s Blast, but the man was staring at Seymour intently over the rims of his sunglasses.
Seymour froze, as he realized he appeared mentally unwell under such scrutiny. He decided to find the counter especially fascinating, his pulse thudding hard enough to make his chest tremble. He couldn’t explain it, but he was pretty sure this was what gazelles felt like when there were lions around.
The man had zero problem with getting right in Seymour’s space, asking ever so sweetly, “Are you all right, sir?”
“Uh, fine. Just, mmhmm, fine.” Seymour kept staring off at nothing.
“Let’s try this again.” The man grabbed Seymour’s shoulder.
“Hey! What—” Seymour tried to push away, but the man’s grip was impossibly strong.
The man’s eyes were bright, so very bright, like stars, and now Seymour couldn’t look anywhere else. He didn’t even want to. Staring into those gorgeous, glimmering eyes consumed his thoughts, and he even found himself smiling.
Huh.
This was nice…
Distantly, Seymour was aware of Day hissing and trying to get out of his arms. That would probably be bad, very bad, but it was very difficult to care in that moment.
“Dagobert,” Sariel’s voice barked.
Seymour blinked rapidly, teetering as he broke out of whatever strange spell the man had cast on him. He shifted his grip on Day, and he leaned into Sariel’s arms wrapped firmly around him.
“Sariel?” Dagobert, the man, made a face. “Friend of yours?”
“Yes,” Sariel said shortly, his eyes narrowed.
“Ugh, fine.” Dagobert grumbled. “It’s far too early for this nonsense anyway.”
“Hey, what the fuck did you just try to do to me?” Seymour snapped. “What was that?”
Dagobert grinned. He hadfangs. “Be very thankful for your littleguardian angel.”
“Huh?”
“Seymour!” a young man behind the counter called out.
“Go get your coffee,” Sariel said, his eyes not moving from Dagobert.
