"Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Seth carefully held a heavy tray in both hands—it was loaded with three meals and three drinks—and turned to push open the door with a shoulder. He met Tripp's questioning look with a small smile.

The man's concern was understandable, considering how clumsy Seth had been the past few days. But today, everything seemed to slide neatly into place. His coordination returned to normal and not once had he tripped over his own feet or knocked anything over. He was quite proud of that, actually.

"Okay," Tripp waved him on. "Table in the corner."

"Right." Seth pushed through the door, turning neatly on his toes, and headed for the table in question. It was the largest booth in the diner, able to seat six comfortably, though he'd sometimes seen no less than ten teens crammed into it. Today, however, there were only three.

As he approached, he could see that they were around his own age. All young men, one with thick black glasses, another with ginger hair and freckles, and a third with blond hair poking out from beneath the hood of his hoodie.

The one wearing glasses scowled at his two friends. "I told you, it wasn't my fault."

"Yeah? Then who was the one who kept getting caught in the mud?" The blonde one leaned forward over the table, brows raised.

"Hey! At least I wasn't constantly stabbed by bones, unlike some people!"

The blonde scoffed. "Gimme a break. Those are hard to dodge."

Seth stopped by their table, carefully shuffling the tray to one arm.

"Your order," he said, feeling a bit awkward for interrupting. He lifted the first plate, a corn beef hash that looked and smelled quite delicious.

"Awesome! That's one's mine!" Without any hesitation, the guy with freckles half stood, leaning across his friend to grab the plate from Seth's hands. "Thanks!"

That startled Seth and he nearly tipped the tray over. He stabilized it with his free hand, silently breathing in relief. He didn't want to ruin his record of zero accidents for the day.

The other two plates were Jake's burger special, so it was easy enough to set them down before the other two. He got a thanks from Glasses guy, while the blonde one ignored him to carry on the conversation.

"Y'know, the creepiest thing about that whole place is the fog. It's everywhere."

"Nah, the fog is cool," disagreed Freckles. "The worst thing is the Uncle Bob boss. That's the creepiest thing in the whole game."

Huh? Seth stilled, a class of coke in his free hand. They can't be talking about—

"Oh, that one's mine." Freckles leaned across the table again and snatched the coke from Seth's hand. He didn't seem to notice the scowl thrown his way by Blondie.

Seth blinked. "Ah. And the juice?"

"Mine," said Glasses quietly. He received the drink with another thanks.

After handing over the third drink, Seth left, but not without giving the group a considering look. They hadn't been talking about what he thought they were talking about, were they? Curiosity stirring, he made a mental note to check back with them in a few minutes. Maybe he could overhear some more of their conversation and find out for sure.

That idea made him a bit nervous, though. What if they caught him eavesdropping? Well, he was helping Tripp serve tables today. It was kind of was part of the job of making sure everyone had everything they needed.

I'll just tell them that, he decided. They couldn't get mad at him for doing his job, right? Feeling slightly better about his questionable plan, he returned to the kitchen. Just as he reached the door, it blew open and Tripp came rushing through.

Startled, Seth hastily moved aside, flattening himself against the wall. To his credit, Tripp noticed him at the last instant and stopped short, though with Seth's quick adjustment, there was no chance that they would have collided.

"Sorry about that," Tripp murmured. He regarded Seth intently, the faintest of creases in his brow. Then it eased, the usual smile appearing. "I'll have to pay more attention, I think."

Seth shrugged. "It's fine." It was no big deal in his mind. He slipped into the kitchen and began to deal with a stack of dishes. He found if he did a sinkful every couple of hours or so, it made the end of day clean-up not so bad. After he ran the water, he figured it was enough time.

"I'll check on the tables," he told Jake, though the big guy never gave any indication he heard. He passed Tripp at the till—his boss was busy ringing a customer through—and slowly wandered out into the dining area.

Rather than making an obvious beeline to the booth in the corner, he took his time. A nearby table had dirty dishes, so he stacked those and picked them up. A brooding middle-aged man sat alone at the next table. Seth hesitantly asked if he needed anything, but he just got a negative grunt in reply.

That came as no surprise. This guy came in at least twice a week in the evenings, and barely said more than was necessary. Seth didn't know the man's name, so just called him Mr. Broody in his mind.

Satisfied he'd done enough, Seth slowly headed over to the booth. It'd only been maybe ten minutes at the most, but most of the food had vanished. And not only that, all the glasses had been emptied. Seth felt rather impressed.

"...said that they were pretty freaked out," Freckles was saying.

"That's weird, man." Blondie had an elbow on the table, his chin propped up in a hand. "I mean, they're just NPCs, right?"

Seth perked up. So, they were talking about a game! Then, maybe...

"Oh, hey!" Freckles noticed him lurking nearby and waved at him.

Seth stiffened, heat rushing to his face. Oh great, now they would know he was purposefully listening in. How was he supposed to deal with this now? Tripp had always told him to be polite to the customers. Seth knew that even with the man telling him, but here he was doing the exact opposite.

"Can we get refills?" Freckles asked, raising his empty glass.

Oh. Seth nodded. "Yeah, for sure. A coke, orange juice and iced tea, right?"

"You got it!"

Pasting on an awkward smile, Seth turned and went back to the kitchen. When he returned a few minutes later, he caught a few snippets about someone waving a stick, but that didn't really help clarify things much.

Somewhat frustrated, he took their dirty dishes away and asked if they wanted dessert. That got their interest really quick and he received three orders for what Tripp affectionately dubbed "a heart attack in a bowl."

Since Jake was busy with prepping next day's meals, Seth took it upon himself to get the desserts bowls ready. It wasn't that hard, really. Just ice cream, brownies, whipped cream, and a whole pile of syrup.

All three of his customers were slumped over the table when he arrived, looking rather dejected. He stopped beside the table and stared. Surely, he hadn't taken so long with their dessert that they'd starved to death? Just what had happened in that short while?

"Hey, your dessert?" He began to take them from his tray, setting them on the table because he wasn't sure what else to do.

Blondie turned his head, his cheek pressed against the surface of the table. "Hey," he said. His eyes focused on Seth.

Hand on the last dessert bowl, Seth froze. "Wh-what?"

"You ever get stuck in a game because people are idiots?"

The question was so unexpected that Seth went blank. It only lasted a second however, for images and memories flooded his brain like a tsunami. He remembered the frustrations of running a dungeon with a tank that literally laid down on the job. Then there was the fun time of trying to learn a 10-man raid with the most toxic group one could imagine. That was the first time he'd been kicked from a group. And then there was the bizarre dude in Ironback town, the one that purposefully set him up with an impossible task so he couldn't move on.

He thought about all that, and found himself nodding. "Actually, yes."

"Huh? Really?" Blondie lifted his head. So did Glasses. Both of them seem rather startled by Seth's answer.

"Yeah." Seth pushed the last dessert bowl towards Glasses, then tucked the tray under his arm.

On the other side of Blondie, Freckles huffed. "I bet it wasn't as bad as two idiots who kept getting themselves killed, along with a healer who kept dying to garbage of all things."

"Eww." Blondie made a disgusted sound. "Who puts that kind of attack in a game, anyway? It's so gross."

Seth tilted his head, managing to appear calm although his heart raced. His palms felt sweaty, but he barely noticed. He was pretty sure these guys were talking about a particular dungeon in Eliona, but he hesitated to ask.

"That last Boss is like an evil Yoda gone crazy." Freckles muttered, and Blondie snorted.

The urge to ask grew and grew, Seth's curiosity feeding into it.

But what if I'm wrong? What if they weren't playing the same game as him? What if they just looked at him funny and laughed at him? What if—

"Are you talking about the Chosen Den?" A slightly strangled voice blurted out the words.

Three faces turned to look at him in surprise, and Seth realized with rising horror that the question had come from himself. Instantly, a raging fire burned his face, making him wish the ground would open up and swallow him right then.

"How did you know?" Freckles exclaimed, eyes wide.

At the same time, Blondie straightened in the booth seat. "You play, too?!"

That positive response was like the wind beneath Seth''s wings, sending him soaring up into the skies. he instantly forgot about the embarrassing blush warming his cheeks. "Yeah! I had to do that dungeon with a tank who didn't do anything! She just attacked one thing at a time, and only used one skill, and she died so many times."

Blondie winced. "Ouch, that sounds really painful. Please tell me you kicked that tank."

"Obviously they did," Glasses lifted his spoon. He had already started digging into his dessert. "Otherwise, they wouldn't have finished the dungeon."

Seth rubbed the side of his neck sheepishly. "Actually..."

"You didn't?" Freckles looked horrified. "Why the hell not, man?"

With a nervous laugh, Seth shrugged. "We made it through. It might have been easier to try and find a new tank, but once you're far enough in, might as well try and finish."

"Mmm." Blondie took a moment to appreciate a syrup-laden spoon of ice-cream. Then he nodded. "Good point. You must have had a heck of a healer, then."

A new wave of heat flooded Seth's face, and he dropped his gaze to his toes. This was a new feeling, one that he wasn't quite sure what to do with. It was like being warm, happy, nervous and embarrassed all at once, a big jumbled mess.

"Well," he mumbled, "the attackers were really good. There was a cyromancer that slowed them down, and a rainblade that was able to tank some of them. And someone from my clan. He was pretty good, too."

Freckles shook his head. "Crazy."

"Hey, what's your character name?" Blondie leaned closer. "Maybe we'll look you up some time and we can run a dungeon together."

Seth hesitated. There was the usual wariness, and the quiet whispering thought: they're lying. They're just pretending to be nice. It's not real.

It was quickly drowned out by a spark of excitement. Finding some more friends to play the game with would be amazing. He knew without a doubt that Awesome Dude would eagerly welcome them, too.

A smile grew. "It's Severance. What's yours?"

"Severance, huh?" Glasses stuck his spoon in his mouth and hummed.

Blondie on the other hand, grinned back. "We're Sheesh, Yikes, and Whatsit."

Say what now? Seth blinked. "What?"

A loud laugh came from Freckles. "You heard right. It's dumb, but kinda funny, right?"

At least the guy was aware that it was dumb. Seth just shook his head. Weird names were nothing new in Eliona. He was already used to seeing all kinds of strange ones.

"I—" he began, but a new voice interrupted.

"Excuse me."

Turning, Seth saw that Mr. Broody was trying to get his attention. He gave the customer a quick nod to show that he heard and turned back to the three at the booth. "Sorry, I better get back to work."

"Sure, sure," Blondie waved him off. "Maybe we'll meet in Eliona sometime."

"Yeah." With a small smile, Seth hurried to see what Mr. Broody wanted. As it turned out, the guy only wanted some coffee. And it wasn't even decaf. It was strange for someone to want coffee so late at night, but Seth wasn't about to judge.

By the time he finished getting Mr Broody what he wanted and then dealt with the sink of dishes, the three guys from the booth were gone. Seth was a little disappointed he didn't get to talk to them again, but the idea of meeting them in the game filled him with anticipation. Maybe they'd even come to the diner again.

"You're in a good mood," Tripp remarked.

He'd come in while Seth was putting away the last of the clean dishes. While Jake finished cleaning off the stove, Tripp leaned against the counter and watched.

"I guess." Seth shrugged. He grabbed the dirty washcloth and wet towels from the sink, then shimmied past Jake's great bulk to get to the bin by the back door. He tossed the laundry inside, then squeezed past Jake once more.

"Feeling better, huh?"

That made Seth pause. Tripp's observation was accurate, because he was doing a lot better. The nausea was gone, as was his clumsiness, and he was feeling pretty proud of himself for making some potential friends. It was a good day.

He couldn't help but smile. "Yeah."

"That's good." Tripp didn't say anything else, but his dark eyes followed Seth, who busied himself with grabbing a mop to give the floor a quick wash.

Seth, too busy being on cloud nine, didn't even notice. He was already imagining himself with three new best friends in Eliona.