“No, I got it.” Joshua lunged, grabbing them before Arthur could touch them. “Hiya.”
“Hiya,” Arthur echoed. He eyed the shop hopefully. The lights were off, but he’d talked people into closing late for him even before he got his face on billboards. “Do you get a lot of business for apology flowers?”
Joshua pushed that annoying bit of hanging fur out of his eyes. “Yes. Other than birthdays and dates, apology flowers are my most popular kind of sale.”
“Great!” Arthur fluffed up his mane pointedly, hoping that Joshua would take the hint and invite him inside. “Are you good at getting girls to forgive you?”
Joshua’s wet nose twitched. He looked confused. Arthur doubted he’d ever done anything bad enough to warrant a serious apology.
“No?” Joshua said, sounding uncertain. Then, as Arthur was about to try something else, he added, “But I’m good at listening. In the warmth, though. My fur isn’tthatthick.”
* * *
Arthur sighed in thanks as Joshua closed the shop door behind them. It was practically toasty in here—as toasty as a flower shop could be, anyway. It was possible Arthur had been out in the cold too long.
“Okay,” Joshua said, adjusting a display of roses. “What happened?”
Arthur started in on his explanation. Joshua nodded attentively, and Arthur realized he was flattered. He was used to people going above and beyond for him, but he was pretty sure he didn’t need to charm Joshua into anything. He was just a sweet guy. Even in high school, Joshua had been known for being outrageously kind. Stupidly so, one might argue. He got made fun of for it. But Arthur couldn’t help but admire him a little, even if he did occasionally join in on the teasing.
“So,” Arthur said when he finished. “What do you think I should do?”
He expected the minotaur to repeat that he didn’t have much experience in this. But Joshua replied immediately.
“Leave her alone,” Joshua said. “That’s what she asked. Right?”
“But I don’twantto,” Arthur protested. He couldn’t stop himself from wincing as he said it. It sounded perfectly sensible until it came out of his mouth. He started to try again, to tell Joshua he genuinely wanted Emma to be happy, but Joshua was already talking.
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Whatdoyou want?”
“I want…” Arthur said before hesitating. He could feel a growl deep in his chest. He did it so rarely that it felt foreign to feel the growl surface outside of a scene where someone had told him to do it or when he was too out of his head to notice. But here it was, ripping out of him.
“I want her to stop fighting me on this,” he snarled, pacing. “I want her toletme make her happy. I know I could do it if she justletme. I could air out all that shit she’s been keeping locked up. I could make herlikeme again.”
“So tell her that,” Joshua said simply, surprisingly undeterred by the growling. Arthur remembered him being freaked out when anybody growled in school.
“And if she still wants you to leave her alone, then put up with it,” Joshua continued. “Can’t make someone like you.”
Arthur laughed, narrowly missing knocking over a vase of lilies as he whirled to pace another length of the floor. “Yes, I can! I was voted the most likable man in Hollywood last year! Directors love me. My costars love me. Thepaparazzilove me. Do youknowhow hard it is to keep smiling when they’re in your face, asking the rudest goddamn questions?Everyonelikes me except her. She just—”
He flexed his flat claws, fangs gnashing. “She scrapes all of mycharmingaway! And if she doesn’t like what she sees under that, then—”
He stopped, mortified. What was he doing, airing his personal shit to Joshua Haberdash? He barely knew the guy. He could practically hear his parents’ voices. His mother saying,Don’t burden other people with your worries, dear. It’s unseemly.And his father, telling him to cut it out. They never shouted, never raged. But their tones would get stiff and uncomfortable, both of them averting their eyes whenever he dared to get upset or voice an emotion that they didn’t want to deal with. Which was most of them. Arthur had learned very early on that if he wanted people to be happy with him—which was of utmost importance—he had to stuff any negative emotion behind a smiling mask. Luckily for him, he was good at it. Most of the time he forgot those emotions were there, and if he couldn’t, he had averyconvincing smile.
He pulled it up, ready to change the subject. But Joshua—the soft touch that he was—was already speaking.
“I tried to make people like me,” he admitted. “When I was a kid. It only made them tease me more. They knew what I was doing.”
“Should’ve gotten better at acting.”
Joshua chuckled. “We can’t all be charming, I guess. Anyway, it took me a while to realize that worthwhile people will like you for you. You don’t have to be something you’re not. And if other people don’t like it, who cares? As long as you have your people. And as long asyoulike you. Right?”
He tugged anxiously on the lank hair hanging over his eyes. Arthur had to give it to him—it was a pretty decent speech up until that weak ending.
“Sure,” he said. “I just…”
He stopped. He couldn’t think of anything to say except the ugly truth: He had never liked himself more than when he was with her. No, that was a lie. She made him uncomfortable sometimes, made him squirmy and shaky and embarrassed. He’d never felt ascompleteas he did with her after all the shaking and embarrassment was over. Once upon a time, he’d really believed she made himbetter. Made himreal. She saw him, even when he tried to hide.
Nobody had really seen him since.
