[crow]

Still, the sentiment lingered. She didn’t know if she was going to be able to look at short guys the same way again for a while either.

“Oh, is that so?” was what she said, though. She tried her best to look interested. “What kind did they get?”

“Oreo buttercream frosting, red velvet, a couple of our new Cinnamon Gooeys… Oh! I gave them some of those free samples we had. They really liked the, uh… the one… that we ran out of.” He deflated upon those last words, looking down with a dejected expression. “B-But at least we made some sales!”

[crow]

“Yeah? Good job,” she said. And it was kind of nice to see Neo taking some pride in his work after all. “Hey, you’re pretty much a full fledged employee already! You can probably show Confetti the ropes when he starts.” She nudged him with an elbow, and he laughed a little.

“Really? You think I could teach him?” Neo didn’t look so sure, but Peach nodded.

“Sure you can. Don’t worry; we’ll all do it. But he’s got plenty to learn from you--- just like you learned from me, remember?” she said.

[crow]

It wasn’t that long ago that she’d been mentoring him, actually… Though in her own opinion, she had a much better grasp of how things were run by the time Neo had come along.

It was more out of necessity than anything that she had learned things as quickly as she had, since Ferdinand definitely didn’t have enough time to properly run the store and be their baker, much less deal with his strange condition on top of it. She wondered how he had ever managed any of it before she came along.

[crow]

But hey, if she could sell one more person on the idea of supervising Confetti, maybe she could get a break from having to babysit him once in a while. That was worth a lot more trouble than it took to build up Neo’s confidence a little.

“Boy, do you think Ferdy’s getting really mad right now?” said Neo, looking towards the freezer again.

“I dunno,” said Peach, which was her way of talking around the fact that she really hoped he was. And that she was pretty sure he actually wasn’t, more’s the pity.

[crow]

Changing the topic again, she said, “Hey, it’s just about time to close up, isn’t it? If they’re not finished by the time we’re done, we might as well get started on prepping his futon too.” After the day she’d had, she didn’t really want to be doing any favors for Confetti, but the guy did need a place to sleep. And the shop definitely did need closing.

“R-Right,” said Neo. He snuck one last glance at the freezer door, as if it might somehow divulge its secrets to him.

[crow]

It didn't do anything of the sort, however, so eventually he straightened himself out and went out to bring down the shutter over the window.

Peach, for her part, began taking out the last leftover cakes, and storing some in the fridge, packing others into small discount and giveaway bags. They got donated before they went stale, but after the day was over and they were no longer of the quality that Ferdinand liked to offer to paying customers. Something about his pride as a baker, and also good practices for a store that sold edibles.

[crow]

Goodness knows they had a hard enough time with the inspectors given Ferdinand's condition, without dodgy practices to make it worse, so Peach didn't quibble.

Ferdinand mentioned that he would pay his former employees in cakes sometimes, when money was short. Maybe that was why there weren’t any employees anymore by the time the curse fell on him.

She still saw him use them as bribes sometimes, but what Ferdinand did on his own time was none of her business. Peach found life was easier if she didn’t sweat the details about things like that.

[crow]

The cakes weren’t bribes for employees anymore, since those employees were simply herself and Neo--- other cakes, to whom that would have been tantamount to cannibalism.

They did eat every once in a while, but they found what was palatable to them were the same ingredients from which they’d been made: flour, sugar, milk, that sort of thing. Ferdinand said it was sort of disconcerting to watch someone just eating spoonfuls of it, but Peach had fired back at him by asking him how he thought she felt, watching him at work.

[crow]

It was an odd job overall to work at a bake shop, to be sure, for someone who was actually a cake themselves, But on the other hand, it meant she had easy access to food for herself, and Ferdinand was maybe the only person in the world who could even begin to guess at some of their needs.

Plus she didn’t have to hide this big secret by herself all the time, which was probably the biggest bonus. And she got to keep an eye on Ferdinand too.

[crow]

That was important, because what happened with his curse had a chance of affecting all of them, so even if she couldn’t do anything about it, she liked to at least stay in the know. And the more they could figure out about it, the more Peach and her fellows would know what the rules were, in the meantime.

When she was done packing things into the bakery bags, she cleaned out the used trays, wiping them down and shelving them for prep in the morning.

[crow]

By then, Neo was coming back in too and locking everything behind him. They were nearly done, save for a last cursory clean-up. There was still no sign of Confetti and Ferdinand. Peach was a little more subtle about checking than Neo was, but even she was starting to get curious as to what exactly was taking the two of them so long.

“Are they still not out yet?” said Neo, unable to contain his curiosity, or maybe his apprehension. That was another one of those things where it was hard to tell when it came to Neo.

[crow]

Peach shook her head in answer to his question, but rather than satisfying him, Neo frowned instead. “You don’t think something happened in there, do you…?”

He meant something else when he had asked the question, of course. What Neo meant was something like one of them slipping and falling and smacking their head on something--- accidents, things like that. But all Peach could think of was the scene she had overheard, and then witnessed, when she went to fetch Confetti from the man who had bought him.

[crow]

Oh god. He wasn’t…? He couldn’t be. That would be like… like making a pass at your father. Peach didn’t see Ferdinand as a particularly patronly figure, but he was still their creator, and it was just so weird... Not to mention, she didn’t even know which version of Ferdinand they were dealing with right now! It was entirely possible that Confetti was in there making passes at a child!

“... Hey, Peach? Are you okay? Your face turned kind of a funny color,” said Neo, his brows knitted together in concern.

[crow]

“We have to go in immediately,” said Peach, with all the sudden conviction of someone who had reached a horrifying conclusion. Which, well, she had. She wasn’t sure if she was ever going to reach a worse conclusion about anything, and if she was, she didn't want to know about it right now.

“What?” said Neo, obviously surprised. “Now? Oh, but you’re right, we should, shouldn’t we? We don’t even know if they’re okay…” He was possibly worried about getting into more trouble, and given his position at the moment, she didn’t blame him.

[crow]

She hadn’t expected any real opposition from his front though, and even if he had endeavored to try, she would have just powered through him. It was Neo. It wasn’t that hard. “B-But don’t you think we should prepare ourselves first? What if---”

“No,” said Peach. “There’s no more time to waste.” Grimly, she approached the door of the freezer, laying a determined hand on the handle of the door. She counted down from three, took a breath to brace herself, then threw the door wide open.