Page 28 of Space Daddy and a Boy Called Twink

I went to work, glancing over my shoulder occasionally. His eyes lingered on me, and the expression in them…let’s just say Ihaven’t had a man look at me like that in a long time—or maybe I should saya Furkerfor the first time?

I placed his muffin in the convection oven and set the timer before heading over to the bar with his coffee.

“I don’t know that it’s right to leave you drinking this,” I said. “I wouldn’t mind trying a Javanilly shake for you.”

“What is that?”

“Basically, a Javanilla shake from Seattle’s Best,” Eric replied. “But they got the trademark, and our café needed to get some of those customers without getting sued.”

“I don’t want Twink to have to do too much,” Daddy insisted.

“I’m sure that’s the easiest thing he wants to do for you.”

“Eric,” I snapped.

“You have to let me enjoy this.”

“You’re enjoying it plenty.”

He shrugged, quirking a brow. “You’re not wrong.”

“I need to practice anyway,” I told Daddy. “Javanilly is one of the more complicated beverages to make. Maybe I should use you as my guinea pig to figure out this gig.”

“What do you do with these guinea pigs here?” he asked in that very direct way of his—since I learned his secret, he’d become more forthcoming with his questions about Earth, and particularly things he encountered around town, and I was only too happy to clarify.

But the odd question earned another look from Eric, and when I laughed to deflect, I might’ve overdone it because Eric’s attention sharpened.

“Isn’t it getting time for you to clock in?” I asked him, not just because of the attitude he was giving me, but because I wanted to chat with Daddy alone.

“I have another twenty minutes,” he replied, but he must’ve noticed my cross expression because he rolled his eyes. “Fine, dude. Have fun flirting. I’ll catch you later.”

After he headed off, I glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot before asking, “So how are the repairs going?”

“The findoneum vines are healing up nicely, and I’m patching up the raydicore crystals, but I have yet to procure anything similar to the hyperblemic crystals or a means to repair the one I have, which is an essential component to traveling the universe, especially with regard to moving at hyperspeed, so it’ll take some time.”

It was impossible to ignore the bizarre words he used. “Hyperblemic, raydicore, findoneum…those are more placeholders?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And these are just randomly made up?”

“Sort of what feels right based on my limited understanding of the language.”

I laughed. “Well, that’s one way to do it, but I hope Daddy isn’t just working.”

“I’ve spent some time walking through the park.”

He mentioned during earlier visits that he did this to adjust to our language and customs, so he could blend in.

“I don’t think you’re gonna have a lot of people figuring out who you are,” I said. “I mean, they might think you’re weird or that you have neurodivergent behaviors, but no one’s gonna be rallying people around to drag you to Area 51.”

“What is Area 51?”

I was about to say something, but I stopped myself. This might not be the time to get into all that. “Eh, I’ll tell you about it another time.”

I started working on a Javanilly shake, using the laminated recipe sheets available to help me through my shift. Daddy didn’t take his eyes off me, something I didn’t mind. When I finished his shake, I passed it to him, eager to see how he’d react.

What started as a sip turned into a gulp, which turned into him downing the entire thing. As he finished, his eyes widened, and he took a breath. “Oh, wow. That’s amazing. Very,verysweet.”