“I’m banned from my favorite dry cleaners,” Eerie said, examining his nails.
“What? Why?” Teddy asked.
“They ruined my blouse and I asked you to go talk to them about reimbursing me for it,” he said.
Teddy pressed his lips together as he remembered. “And I never went.”
“No, but I did,” Eerie said.
“Shit.” Teddy rubbed the back of his neck. “What did you do?”
“I did what you taught me,” he said. “Smiled. Asked nicely. All that.”
“You smiled at them?” Echo asked, whimpering under their cardigan.
Eerie did a reenactment and a chill went around the room.
“I’d ban you too, man,” Heir said. “Shit’s scary.”
“Eerie’s smiling abilities are not the subject at the moment,” Saint said, bringing everyone back on topic. “Echo, your turn.”
“There’s a new barista at the café,” Echo said. “Again.”
Teddy looked at them, their round eyes glossy with feeling, and sighed.
“You haven’t been able to go?” he asked, and Echo shook their head. They had terrible anxiety around new people. Voice gone, eye contact impossible, flight reflex at full power when they encountered someone they had never seen before but had to interact with.
“Been drinking house coffee,” Echo said miserably. “And Trace refused to buy the good kind, so my arteries might be closing as we speak.”
“I did buy—” Trace started.
“I’m sorry,” Teddy interrupted. “I’m guessing everyone has something like this to share?”
They all nodded, other than Heir who just shrugged one shoulder, nonchalant as ever.
“I want to give you space to voice it if you need to.” Teddy leaned forward. “I’ll be open and listen.”
“And he’s back.” Trace clapped his hands. “Intervention over. We can all fucking disperse now.”
“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Saint said. “We don’t need to pile on you. You seem to get the point, but we’re worried, and we want to help if we can.”
Teddy sighed and slumped into the chair. He caught Trace’s eye and silently begged him for help, but the big man had nothing to offer.
“I’m just a bit under the weather, Saint,” he said finally. “There are some things I’ve been carrying around for a while and assisting on this case pulled them to the surface. I just need some time to readjust and I’ll be fine.”
“You sure about that?” Heir asked.
Teddy nodded. “Completely.”
“Are you gonna go with me to get coffee tomorrow?” Echo asked, and Teddy smiled at them, tempering the urge to sigh and run away.
“First thing in the morning. We’ll get you comfy with this new barista and you’ll be ordering your own drinks again before you know it.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be comfy with him,” Echo said. “He’s terrifying.”
“I’m sure he’s perfectly nice,” Teddy said.
Echo whimpered and hid inside their cardigan again.
