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Ray hummed. “You literally are a dragon.”
“No, I’m not!”
Ray paused before sighing. Again. Seriously what the hell.
“I know it’s a sore spot and you don’t like talking about it, so I’m not gonna mention it anymore,” Ray said. “So how did you get him to stop the demolition?”
“Wait, wait,” Milo said. “The fuck do you mean sore spot? I don’t have a sore spot.”
“Babe…” Ray said. Which was bad. He only baby-talked Milo when he was being particularly dumb or difficult. “You have a horrible opinion about your own species, the internalized dragon-hate is strong, and you never, ever, ever shift on purpose, or even allude to the fact that you’re a dragon.”
“Because I’m not!” Milo said. “Is this a joke? Are you in on this with that jackass? Because I can’t believe you would betray me like this, man, I thought we were friends.”
“Wait… Milo, are you serious?” Ray asked.
“About what?” Milo gripped the steering wheel harder because he could feel a panic attack building.
“About—you do know you’re a dragon, Milo, right?” Ray said.
Milo’s head was spinning a little bit. Had someone washed the windshield lately? Was getting kinda blurry.
“I’m not a dragon,” Milo said. “I’ve never been a dragon.”
“But…you are. You have the eyes and the scales, sometimes. I never said anything when I saw it because I realized you didn’t like talking about it and I didn’t want to trigger whatever trauma it brought back.”
“There is no trauma.” Milo tried to read the neon sign of his workplace and failed. It looked like it was in a different language. “No dragon, either.”
“Milo…”
“I have to go. Work.”
“Milo, wait—”
Milo cut the call and shook his head. All of them were insane.
He got out of the car and went inside on autopilot, walking straight into the staff bathroom and leaning against the sink. He stared at himself in the mirror, at eyes still that same electric blue. Human. His skin still the same pale, almost translucent color. Human.
He was human.
So they could all just shove their stupid theories.
He pushed himself off the sink and walked back out, picked up his orders, and drove on autopilot until the end of his shift.
He returned the delivery car and splashed some water onto his very human, very non-scaly face before switching uniforms and rushing to catch a bus to his next job, only stopping to grab an energy drink.
The bar he worked in three nights a week was just a few stops away from the wing place. It made it easy for him to hop over without being late all the time. He walked in and went into the back room to drop off his stuff and catch his breath before his shift started.
He slammed another energy drink before pulling his phone out to ring Ethel to see how they were holding up.
“Is—”
“We’re all still alive, Milo,” Ethel said before he could even get a word in. “Doctors’ appointments done, dinner eaten, meds taken. Glenn is back from the library and we’re just gonna play some cards before going to bed.”
Milo sighed in relief. “No demolition crew sightings?”
She tsked. “The bite must have scared them off.”
He laughed, but he knew it sounded forced and she’d see straight through it.
