Agoraphobia

Adrenaline

Takemichi never ever wanted to make Mikey sad; he knew he'd never forgive himself if he ever did.

Takemichi was in the bakery once again, but this time he was helping out. He as wearing a plain white shirt and slacks. It was casual wear, but that was a call Mikey had made. "I don't want others ruining the cute aprons I got you" Mikey had said when Takemichi asked why and, of course, Mikey did buy them so it only made sense he didn't want to give other people a chance to accidentally mess up stuff he bought. (Mikey was just jealous, but don't tell Takemichi that.)

With Emma and Akkun behind the counter and Draken and Baji in the seating area, he felt relatively safe. Mikey was upstairs, busy with the week's shipping documentation, though it still filled Takemichi with a warmness that Mikey didn't want him to be downstairs in the first place. Mikey wanted to keep him safe in his office, but Takemichi had disappointed him with his want to help out Emma.

He eventually received Mikey's okay to go to the first floor and that filled him with relief. He never wanted Mikey disappointed in him so he was able to happily help out Emma. Mikey had said that the first floor could be dangerous since it was the easiest way for something to happen so close to the outside world so he had Draken and Baji in Emma's café to watch over him. There was even a man he just met, Wakasa, who sat on a bench next to the front door.

He was proud of himself, he was out the house and not an absolute wreak. He was here, with his friends and not holding them back from doing their work. Though he was a bit nervous from the strangers that were staring through the giant glass walls, but Emma was so happy that Takemichi could ignore it to a point and that too was enough for Takemichi.

"Can you take this to the serving window, Take-chan?" Emma held a box out to him, the clear cellophane showed a row of colorful cupcakes. They looked really good, all different colors and sparkling with the love and hard work that was put into making them. These would make someone happy today and Takemichi's small part in all this helped that happen and it only made him smile.

He took the box with a hesitant nod and a small smile. His healing was doing better and he was able to walk without his cane for short distances, even if he limped pretty heavily without it. He made it to the window and handed it off to one of Emma's employees so gave him a bright smile.

"Thank you Sano-sama," The girl bowed her head and Takemichi blushed in embarrassment. He wasn't married to Mikey, but everyone still called him that and it made his giddy heart beat a wild rhythm and the fact that Mikey encouraged it. Takemichi could faint.

He glanced towards the window where the employee was handing off the confections through a slot in the glass after taking their order and the fuzzy faces all swayed and morphed and he tried to not look at them so they would go away. He hated looking outside, he hated the way their plane faces would turn in his direction and stare. he curled his shoulders inwards as he walked back towards Emma who was packaging another alongside Akkun.

The girl nodded again and he smiled shakily and nodded back, he wanted nothing more than to flee in the opposite direction, but fighting that instinct. How would that look on Emma? On Mikey? So he planted his feet in place as the employee gave another thanks before handing him back the empty tray.

Emma had been short staffed, she would normally do the running back and forth, but the woman who worked the counter with Akkun during the rush hour had called in sick so Takemichi volunteered to help for the hour someone was needed. It was simple and he knew he could do this no matter how sore his back felt.

It was nearly ten minutes until the hour was up when things slowed down enough for the front. The girl he had been working with, Ara? Well, she had her hands full and decided to give him something a little extra to do. Takemichi was always happy to help others so agreed the second he was asked.