“Okay, we need to get some toothpaste with milder flavor, this ball of disaster here is not a fan of that particular invention.” Jiyong pointed at Daesung with his eyes, remembering last time all too vividly. Toothbrush-wrestling was not his favorite sport. They entered the hygiene aisle, facing a wall of toothpaste. So many choices, how was he going to pick out just one? Maybe he should get a couple, just in case, since there was no way to know how they tasted until they tried it at home. Buying a few tubes would increase the odds of finding a tolerable flavor.

As they rolled past, Daesung's hand shot out of its metal prison, trying to grab a particularly colorful packaging, yellow with the name in all the colors of the rainbow. “Oh hey, doesn't kid toothpaste taste like candy?” Jiyong speculated out loud.

“Just let him choose. Open it and let him sniff, problem solved.” Seunghyun suggested nonchalantly, like it was no big deal. “Eww!” he shuddered, thinking that if Seunghyun had come up with the idea so easily, finding it only natural, there were bound to be others too. It made his skin crawl thinking that he might have bought a tube that had been opened by some strange person, that for all he knew found it too bothersome to wash his or her hands after going to the bathroom, sticking his or her nose almost into the tube while sniffing it, spraying bacteria all over the toothpaste. The toothpaste that he would later buy and use on his own teeth! Gross!

Even though it went against everything he believed in, he took Seunghyun's advice. Apparently caring for a wolf boy made you abandon all your principals. Like a fish out of water, the only thing he could do was jerk fervently around, hoping he would somehow reach his pond again. He looked furtively both ways, before picking up a random packaging. He was pretty sure this was against the store's laws, did the store have special laws? It was probably filed under sabotage or vandalism. Whatever it was, he didn't want to be caught red-handed doing it. His hand was shaking, making the tube inside bang against the paper walls of the box, creating a stress inducing sound.

Seunghyun was watching him with an incredulous expression. He wasn't surprised, he knew him well enough not to be surprised, but Jiyong could see he still didn't get why he was making such a fuss over opening a couple of tubes of toothpaste, acting like he was committing treason. “Give it here.” Seunghyun said as he shook his head, pointing down the aisle, “You go stand lookout.”.

Jiyong jumped at the chance, letting out a sigh of relief as he handed Seunghyun the merchandise. Now they were a team, a band of thieves hunting for gold, Daesung their resident detection dog, sniffing out the good stuff. He thanked the heavens again that there were hardly any people in the store at this hour, not fancying getting recognized and going on to create the weirdest scandal to date, the great toothpaste scandal.

Seunghyun chuckled as he opened what had to have been the twentieth tube, finding it hilarious how picky Daesung was, scrunching his nose up with every single sniff, followed by a look of utter disgust. Jiyong could see the minute changes in Seunghyun's demeanor, his posture straightening, his movements more intense, his eyes more focused. He was on a mission. He was usually a pretty laid back guy and it took an earthquake to get him to take action, but once in motion, there was nothing that was going to stop him.

Jiyong chewed his lower lip nervously, watching an old lady with a cane as she slowly, slooowly headed their way. He glanced down the aisle to see if Seunghyun and Daesung had made any progress, watching as Seunghyun stuck the tube under Daesung's nose. It was way too close to the nostril opening, making it all too easy for drops of snot to become the new secret ingredient. He shivered in disgust.

The old lady crossed the main aisle like a bulldozer, not stopping for anything. He tried to slow his breath down since he was starting to hyperventilate, seeing spots. He swallowed, his mouth drier than the Sahara desert. What to do, what to do? He had to decide what to do, whether to risk getting caught by waiting a few moments more or shut it down right now, having a toothpaste battle with Daesung every night from here on out. A few seconds more, he would give it only a few seconds more.

Ah! It had to be the last one. Why did it always have to be like that? A stressed out Jiyong sighed out of relief when Seunghyun threw two tubes into the cart not two seconds before the old lady turned into the aisle. They were safe. Phew. The old woman looked at him with a scowl as she passed by him, like she knew what they had been doing. Thankfully, she had no proof.

“Mmm, I think we need another cart.” he pointed out as he rejoined them, skeptically looking at the two tubes that lay in the space between Daesung's feet. He had a hunch they would not get to lie there for much longer. One was some special bio-formula, claiming to be all natural and free of chemicals, as if chemicals didn't exist in nature too, he snorted. The other one was a colorful Dora the Explorer tube, probably sweeter than sugar on top of some more sugar.

“Ah, come on, it's annoying to drive two carts, we can just throw everything in with wolfie, you're worrying way too much, I mean, what could possibly happen?” Seunghyun waved his worries off with not a concern in the world. Barely a second later Daesung had managed to open the Dora tube and squeeze most of its contents on the floor, though some of it had ended its life in his mouth, and thankfully only a small amount went into decorating his T-shirt. Seunghyun chuckled heartily, lifting his hands up, signaling that he was wrong.

“Let's get out of here before anyone notices.” he sent him a wicked wink as he fetched another Dora tube, keeping it and the other one out of Daesung's reach.

“Wait, I need to get a new toothbrush.” Jiyong stopped him, jogging to where the toothbrushes were hanging.

“Oh, pick me up one too!” Seunghyun yelled after him. Jiyong's heart skipped a beat. If he wanted his own toothbrush, did it mean he was going to stay stay? It did, he knew it did. At least for tonight. How would his girlfriend react to that? He was sure she wouldn't be happy about it, she didn't really like it when they spent too much time together. He suspected that Seunghyun hadn't even told her of his plans yet. Boy, she was going to get annoyed. He knew he shouldn't be happy about it, but he was. More than he cared to admit.

“What?” Seunghyun asked as he saw the grin on his face.

“Nothing.” he answered as innocently as he could, dumping a big load of toothbrushes into the cart.

They fetched another cart and started filling it up with what felt like the contents of the store's entire stockroom.

“Ooh, let's buy some meat and barbeque! I'll get it real quick.” Jiyong said excitedly as he thoughtlessly let go of Daesung's hand. Daesung was still a bit wary of his surroundings, watching everything with scrutinizing eyes, currently staring at a can of beans as if it could be some secret weapon that was placed there specifically to take him out. The moment he let go of his hand, Daesung let out a low, scared squeal. It tucked at his heart strings, making him want to double back and never let go, ever again.

He glanced back at him with a guilty conscience, but saw that he had already grabbed Seunghyun's hand and was holding on to it as if his life depended on it. Seunghyun had an exceptionally weird expression on his face, a strange mixture of surprise and fear along with a varied selection of unidentifiable emotions. He thought he had seen all the expressions Seunghyun had to offer in their long life journey together, but he couldn't have been more wrong. It gave him a slightly anxious feeling, being a creature of habit, wanting everything to be so-so, but at the same time he was happy that they had plenty of new experiences left to share.

He smiled to himself, they were so awkward and cute, standing there, holding hands. They were such a mismatch, both terrible at reading each other and probably equally scared of each other, but the way they were trying their best to handle it, clumsily reaching out to each other, it lit a fire under Jiyong's heart, making it feel all warm and fuzzy. It was a shame he didn't have his phone, for this was the very definition of a Kodak moment.

He tried to be as fast as was humanly possible, not daring to leave them alone for too long, fearing the occurrence of some kind of disaster they alone were capable of creating. He hoped and prayed the two of them would become friends, and that with time Seunghyun would realize that Daesung was in fact not a savage beast but the sweetest little angel with the heart of gold.

Having secured three of the juiciest steaks the store had to offer, he headed back. There had been a short line at the meat corner, so it had taken a bit longer than expected, making him slightly agitated. If something drastic had occurred, the noise would have echoed through the store, there would have been a noticeable commotion, he thought in an effort to comfort himself as he turned into the aisle where he had left them. It was empty. There was nobody there.

His heart punched his ribcage repeatedly and with great force, unfairly blaming it for losing the boys. He ran down the aisle in search for them, barely able to breathe. Never had a simple trip to the supermarket been so stressful. Where could they have gone? He glanced down the next two aisles as he ran past, did he choose the wrong way? He doubled back just in case.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he found. He stopped in his tracks, frozen in disbelief. He had found them alright, but not exactly in the state he had left them. Daesung was having a laughing fit, swinging a huge silver platter around so that it glittered, his eyes as wide as they would open, following the reflection of the light. Meanwhile, Daesung's T-shirt lay on the floor a bit further down the aisle. Seunghyun was desperately trying to head in that direction, but since Daesung refused to let go of his hand, he was having some trouble, moving inch by inch, dragging the whole cart along, slower than a snail on vacation. Jiyong didn't know whether he should laugh or cry, maybe both.

“What...?” Jiyong started but had no idea what to ask, instead going after the T-shirt.

“Don't ask...” Seunghyun pleaded. He looked exhausted, tiny drops of sweat trickling down his forehead. Speechless, Jiyong couldn't help but laugh. What a ridiculous farce.

“Can you take the plate and I'll put his shirt back on.. somehow..” Jiyong nodded in the direction of Daesung's new toy.

“Are you crazy? There is nothing that will make him part with that silver treasure! Believe me, I've tried.” Seunghyun hissed with widened eyes, like a character straight out of a horror movie. Jiyong snorted at his silliness and reached for what he imagined was originally designed to be a cake plate. He pulled and he pulled, but Daesung was stronger and determined not to let go. This was his plate and he was prepared to do anything to protect it. At first he only laughed harder at Jiyong's failed attempts, but in the end he started growling. It was then that Jiyong gave up. Instead he prayed that it wasn't made of real silver, since it was clear that they would be forced to purchase it.

At the cash register, Jiyong adjusted his sun glasses so that they would cover as much of his face as possible. He did not fancy getting recognized while in the company of a hyper, full grown man in a shopping cart, with only one arm through a raggedy T-shirt that barely covered anything, waving a gigantic cake dish around. If he was absolutely honest with himself, he was embarrassed to be seen with him.

“Can you hand me the cake platter, please.” the young woman at the register asked him. Jiyong and Seunghyun exchanged furtive looks. There was no way that Daesung was letting go of his precious flat gem without a bloody battle.

“Minzy, is it? Is it alright if I just read you the barcode, that would be awfully helpful of you.” he flashed her his most seductive smile. If there was ever a time to use his gift, that time was now.

“Oh! Eh, yeah, yeah, of course, of course.” she giggled, smiling as her cheeks turned red.

Struggling with Daesung, they read her the barcode. Jiyong watched the screen like a hawk, waiting for the final verdict. How much was he going to have to bleed to give Daesung what he wanted? He exhaled out of relief at seeing the price. The plate was overpriced for sure, but nothing a top star like him couldn't handle. He would rather pay than create a scene that could possible jeopardize his career.

“I'll pay.” Seunghyun reached for his wallet.

“Yeah right! Cuz you've got sooo much more money than me or..?” Jiyong coughed mockingly, slyly handing Minzy his credit card.

Seunghyun looked at him hurt, sincerity shining from his eyes, “This is how you treat your seniors? What happened to showing a little respect?”. Jiyong was caught off guard, surprised that he was actually taking it as an insult. That was so unlike him. He usually couldn't care less about things like age and respect, ignoring all customs and formalities related to the subject. Jiyong started to feel bad that he had stepped over the line, injuring Seunghyun's pride.

“Hah!! I got you a little bit, didn't I?” he laughed uncontrollably, his convincing poker face disappearing in an instant, like it had never been there in the first place. Ah, that bastard. Sometimes, Jiyong wondered whether Seunghyun hadn't chosen the wrong career path. Seunghyun was an even better actor than him, which was no small feat for when it came to acting, Jiyong was the definition of amazing.

Laughing, the trio exited the supermarket and headed for the car.