Sky ate pretzels as Callie twirled in a skirt and roller skates . She hummed as she gracefully rolled figure eights around in the lobby of the cafe.

" Callie don't scuff the floor. The convention center is one thing but Flames and Sky will have to clean up any mess you make ." Marie lectured.

"No Marie it's fine ! I got it ." Flames said fast as he continued to watch Callie's movement while leaning against a mop. " it's not every day you get to watch a celebrity dance ."

"You said that two days ago flames ." Sky corrected .

"Still not every day ." Flames replied while smiling.

Callie laughed and Marie huffed and said. "Well don't fill the bucket with your drool since your obviously gawking ."

"I am but honestly looking this long is kinda liberating .Back where I come from I wasn't exactly allowed to stare at women or else there be A LOT of trouble. It took courage to start again so this is nice." Flames said as his eyes changed to a distant cold stair still smiling .

"Well then I'll dance for you as long as you'd like ."

Flames smile returned to normal as Callie continued.

"I love these outfits ,Why'd we stop wearing these Marie ?" Callie asked.

"Well they have these problems being on skates and we added the splats our self since the old dirty men said they didn't go well with the look."

" True but that was a good thing . If they weren't such dirty men we wouldn't have gained courage to stand up for ourselves."

"So Flames gained courage to look at women while Callie and I got the courage to stand up for our own dignity . What about you sky ." Marie asked

"I … don't know ." Sky said timidly

"Well you should gain the courage to fire those dirty dogs who work at the café yourself instead of waiting for someone else to do it ." Callie explained while still dancing.

" or to finally start your own café ? Instead of having us come to your dream café ." Marie added

"Dream café ?" Sky question

She then inhaled and starting coughing as she had slept with a pretzel in her mouth . This caused the Squid sister magazine to fall from off her face

Her morning walk became her time to think about the advice given to herself from Dream Callie and Marie . She ended up confusing herself as she wondered who was giving her the advice . It wasn't Callie and Marie since she had never met them ,so was it her inner desires telling her what she wanted ? As she pondered if the three of them were her Id ego and super ego she walked into the café with it being already open not surprising her .

"Sara." Buck senior called out. "Are you ok? You seem to be distracted and you've only just walked in."

"Oh sorry sir I just have a lot on my mind ."

"Me to . I'm thinking about firing flames ."Buck senior said casually .

Skys heart dropped as she felt the anxiety of losing her best worker . Stunned by fear she could see buck senior staining at her as if he was waiting for a response . As she was still lost for words he continued instead.

" also thinking about letting go Roland ,Preston and , tucker."

Sky grew calmer and didn't really listen to him as he said this as he still thought about flames .

" Sky?"

"Oh ummm . The workers you mentioned they all play an essential part to running the café ."

"Ok. Then there efforts should be easy to spot . Anyways I think we need to trim some fat off." Senior said while rubbing his chin .

"Oh well allow me to help you with the make a decision ."

"No , just make it for me ." Buck senior said as he took off the apron he wore . "I don't really stay here enough to make that decision so I'll let the manager do it ."he said while pointing to her.

He then waved over his shoulder and then walked in and washed his hands.

" Yo just took out a bunch of trash you guys had in that office for buck senior , and put a load of official looking records into his trunk."

As flames washed his hands he could see the look on skys face was the same as every time he had asked about the three dudes, so he figured buck senior probably asked this time or worst he was the topic of discussion. That would suck to lose out after working super hard but wouldn't be the first time , however what about sky .

"Sky." Flames said sternly .

"How long have these dudes been doing this ?"

"Around a year flames , but that's not important ."

"No yeah I get it . This place isn't the coffee spot you wish to make , you're just here practicing ."

"Yeah , man ."

"You should , however, practice some discipline."

" Flames ….."

"Not for me . But for yourself ."

As flames finished saying that buck jr. walked out of the bathroom and yawned .

" And this café . You might not know it yet sky but dad is ready to let this place go if you don't cause you know ."

Flames staired at buck confused as sky continued to look at the ground . Buck seeing this then continued .

" Sky what are you going to do ?"

" Well if this place isn't anymore then I'll open a new coffee shop and finally start my own . Roland Preston and tucker will be out of a job and I can hire you back on flames ."

Flames couldn't find much flaw in this logic .

"It doesn't feel right tho . Feels ….."

"Cowardice." Buck senior said from behind him . The room got

"When did you?"

The room got quiet as no one knew he was standing there" I forgot my car keys but that's not important .If that's how you really feel than Sky don't worry about it . Tomorrow is Friday after that I'll make some changes to take care of everything and give everyone a chance ."

Without another word he just left as Sky continued to look down at the ground . Seconds passed and Sky moved into the back room. Flames looked back and then turned to buck jr.

" you knew about this ."

" I knew this was a possibility . Something dad has talked about but I don't know . And no I'm not allowed to tell you things, I'm surprised I didn't get chewed out for just that ."

"Well then don't tell me what will happen. Tell me what we have to do to save this place ."

"Ah ….. there's not much you can do today . Honestly just wait till tomorrow."

"And then what ."

Buck jr then shrugged .

"Right can't say huh . Maybe sky would know, well if she wants to save this place ."

Flames then walked behind the counter towards the back room . He then stopped suddenly when he heard the low sound of crying. He silently stood , looking at the ground. After finally gaining some confidence he opened a door leading into raphe's bedroom. The second game controller waiting for him on his bed .

" Hey flames I thought you were gonna get changed for bed ?" Raph had asked

Flames then explained. " yeah I did but I figured I'd wear the helmet for a little longer . I need it for good luck since ya know we're gaming ."

"Ah sure ."

"so what we playin ?"

"Super squid paper buddy's. It's got a crap ton of playable characters and optional bosses. "

Flames then got happy as raphe returned more to his normal self . For some reason he had been acting weird towards flames and his constant wanting to get him alone felt like he was going to confront him about being an octoling ,but as he happily explained the game flames was put at ease even tho he knew the reason that raphe gave for the twins not coming was a lie. He sat comfortably with controller in hand as flames attacked a bird creature that was talking raphe freaked .

"Dude ! We can't take him on he's too high of level ."

Flames noticed the great health difference and slowly thought to himself .

" no we can do this easy."

Two minutes later the boss had died as raphe looked on in awe

" how'd you do that ."

"Well with the multibounce I figured as soon as I got the handle on it I could start dropping fools ."

" see flames you're so impressive inside and out of video games that's why I….."

Flames looked at him as he stumbled on his words and his face grew bright .

"Dude , you good ?" Flames asked

"Flames I'm in love with you!" Raphe blurted out as he staired at him .

"Oh . You know I'm a guy right ?" Flames had asked not shocked by the news.

"Yeah flames I'm … uhhh I'm gay."ralhe whispered quietly in case someone else was around .

Suddenly a lot of things started making sense to flames as he remembered how raphes family always called him a her and raphe would never correct them . The invitations to eat and go out with them a lot started to make sense as well as flames didn't have time to question why he didn't bring the twins since he was so busy explaining why he always wore his sport helmet to everything they did to protect his secret , which raphe now staired at waiting for flames to say something

"Raphe I can't accept your feelings cause I can't return them . I love you as a brother in arms but I couldn't give you the love you deserve . I understand ya know like how it's easier to show your family me and tell them you're straight but that's not being truthful to them and more importantly not bring truthful to yourself ."

Flames against his better judgement took off his helmet and put it down on raphes bed.

"And if you can't learn to be truthful with yourself how are you gonna be truthful to others . Do you really love me or do you love how I fit ideally in your life ?"

The dark room hid most of flames facial features as raphe was distracted by the fact he was being rejected his gaze started to drift down towards the floor.

"I know I have strong feelings ."

"And I know that ,and I know you're in pain right now but all pain is temporary and I'll be here for it ok?"

Raphe broke down as tears threaten to spill from him till flames grab his face and made them lock eyes

"I don't like tears come here ."

Flames forcefully pulled him into a hug and then caused him to lay his head on his lap while he gently stroke his tentacles . The sensation was nice it raphe still couldn't fight the tears forming coming out flames only looked down at him and continued to tenderly hold him until he looked back up and was now at the door sky hide behind . Flames deep sighed and said in his mind - I really don't like tears.-

He then opened the door alerting sky to his . As she tried to wipe away the tears flames sat at the other side of the table .

" naw don't worry bout it . Listen . I keep talking a big game about how I trust you and your judgement but then turn around every ten minutes about how we should cut them boys off. So if you honestly believe your moves are the best for the team I do as well. Buck senior puts a lot of faith in you and I should to." Flames said standing back up." now don't sit back here for too long we got work to do."

Flames then left back into the café as sky continued to sit there . Minutes passed and then the three of them worked rather quietly. Until the breakfast rush was over. Sky looked at the clock and noticed it was about time for their other coworkers to come in. like clockwork they walked in and sat at the table closest to the door waving her over. Sky walked over to take their order.

"Your usual ?" SKY asked with annoyance in her voice .

Preston nodded and continued his story

"So , like I'm like no way I'm working this shit a lone and I went to turf . Thought old man buck would have caught wise but he never did . "

"He might soon." Tucker commented as sky walked away .

"How if he never comes in?" Roland added.

" He has been stopping by more frequently to check his sons progress. Probably cause it takes him forever to start trusting people ."

"I don't even think he has trust in himself honestly ." Preston stated.

"Yeah ? And why is that ?"

"Two years ago before the accident the old boss wouldn't make any decisions with passing it by the real person in charge ."Preston explained.

"The investors ?" Roland question .

"His late wife ,Beverly ." Tucker informed.

"right , so he handled the business end of things but really he would take them to her to either get her approval or ask her something . I remember she told me that it was cause he was super invested in making her dream as she wanted but I think it's cause he lacked confidence . Now that she's gone , well who's dream is he makin now ? Mark my words he's gonna shut down this place before he ever fires us."

Preston said as sky came back and put down the tray with their drinks . Tucker began drinking his tea and then said .

"So have you taken a looking into a apartment ?"

" yeah, the heights? They are nice and cheap and only a short subway ride away from the square . I like those ."

Sky had heard enough as she grew more angry ,however it was out of envy more than anything . She didn't care if they helped at work honestly cause after a certain point they became useless. More of hinderance then actual help . Plus with flames and even buck the running of the cafe was smoother than ever before . It did help that buck senior was being more proactive with numbers regardless she was still angry at how while they chase their dream she stayed not chasing hers. Guess I really do lack courage . She thought to herself flames then saw her face and asked .

" what's wrong ? You scared about tomorrow ?" Flames asked.

"Not in the slightest." sky reasured

"That's good but why is that ?"

"He was talking about firing people and I'm sure I'm the last one he's considering for that ."

"Ah . Question . Has he ever fired anyone before ? "

" yes , however he's never done it without Beverlys telling him to ."

"Ah." Flames looked down. " has he asked you anything about it ?"

"Yes and flames I havent made my decision ."

" hmm mr buck seems a little more wise than that tho I think he's up to something ."

"Yeah well only tomorrow will tell."

They contniued to work as buck senior watched them from far enough away through the store windows while sitting in his car. He looked from them to his opened wallet where he kept his favorite picture of his late wife. Staring at it he softly spoke.

"I wonder if you would have helped these kids gain confidence by now."

Realizing he was talking to himself again he sighed and closed the wallet